McCulloch, G; (2003) Towards a social history of educational research. In: Sikes, P and Nixon, J and Carr, W and Nixon, J and Carr, W, (eds.) The Moral Foundations of Educational Research: Knowledge, Inquiry and Values. (pp. 18-31). Open University Press: Maidenhead.

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Abstract

A theme that educational researchers have tended to neglect, certainly in Britain, is the history of educational research itself. This chapter seeks to encourage further research in this area. It does so from a standpoint that such history should not only be intrinsically interesting and rewarding in its own right, but also provide explanatory leverage on the problems and dilemmas of our own time. More than this, indeed, it can help to challenge the assumptions and values that are incorporated in contemporary educational discourse. As the late Brian Simon trenchantly observed, ‘There is, perhaps, no more liberating influence than the knowledge that things have not always been as they are and need not remain so.’ (Simon 1966, p. 92). One such set of values, frequently referred to by the contributors to this volume, is the supposed dichotomy between ‘rigour’ and ‘relevance’ in current parlance. A historical understanding of educational research helps us to reconstruct the debate around these terms and to approach them in different ways, as well as allowing us to trace the origins of the contemporary debate

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