Knowledge and the Study of Education

Book excerpt: In the English-speaking world, university Schools of Education are usually heavily involved in the professional preparation of teachers. Yet, in England and the USA in particular, the role of universities in teacher education has increasingly seemed under threat as alternative providers of training have come on the scene, often with the overt encouragement of governments. This book, which is based on a project that explored how the study of Education is configured in different countries, makes visible the different knowledge traditions that inform university teaching and research in Education around the world. The extent to which these are related to the training of teachers is shown to vary historically and comparatively. The book consists of a substantial introduction by the editors, which identifies 12 major knowledge traditions in the study of education, and classifies these as Academic Knowledge Traditions (such as Sciences de l’Éducation), Practical Knowledge Traditions (like that practised in Normal Colleges) and Integrated Knowledge Traditions (including the currently fashionable concept of Research-informed Clinical Practice). This introduction is followed by contributions on the nature of Education as a field of study in six countries – Australia, China, France, Germany, Latvia and the USA – authored by established experts from each of those jurisdictions. There are also chapters that provide useful conceptual frameworks for understanding the dimensions on which the various traditions in the study of Education differ, as well as those that compare the nature of Education along specific dimensions in different countries. The book concludes with a discussion, in the light of these contributions, of future prospects for the field of Education. The book will appeal to students, teachers and researchers in Education and is intended to encourage less parochial thinking about the nature of Education as a field of international study.