McCulloch, G; (2008) Historical insider education in education. In: Sikes, P and Potts, A, (eds.) Researching education from the inside: Investigations from within. (pp. 51-63). Routledge: Taylor & Francis Group: London, UK.

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Abstract

Insider research in education is not confined to contemporary practices or to the study of institutions as they exist in the present day. It extends also to historical research that focuses on the researcher’s own school, university, or other institutional base. Much of this work is commissioned for the purposes of the institution itself, whether to commemorate a specific anniversary or more generally to celebrate its growth and successes. Such ‘house-history’ has a poor reputation owing to its lack of independence and its tendency to develop uncritical accounts devoid of candour. In many cases, this reputation is well deserved. Yet the complexity and ambiguity of ‘insider’ and ‘outsider’ research that some discussions have recently observed in relation to research on contemporary education may also be found in historical insider research. This chapter reviews the problems that commonly attach to this kind of research, and then goes on examine more interesting examples which may challenge the usual insider/outsider dichotomy.

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