Education, Epistemology and Critical Realism [Hardcover]

This book addresses fundamental questions in relation to education and its epistemology. The position taken by the author is critical realist; and thus throughout the relationship between education and critical realism is foregrounded. Themes and issues that surface at different times in the book are: a critical realist view of education research; a resolution of the quantitative/qualitative divide; criteria for judging the worth of educational texts and practices; differences between scientific and critical realisms; empirical research methods in education; structure-agency relationships; pragmatist views of educational research; foundations and paradigmatic differences; and educational critique and transformation.

@contents: 1. Introduction and Initial Thoughts  2. Critical Realism and Empirical Research Methods in Education  3. Resolving the QuantitativeQualitative Divide  4. Epistemic Relativism, Ontological Realism, and the Possibility of Judgemental Rationality  5. Educational Judgements: Epistemic, Parasitic and External Criteria  6. Judgemental Rationality  7. Empirical Indicators and Causal Narratives  8. Structure and Agency  Key Ontological Concepts  9. Educational Critique  10. Arbitrary and Non-Arbitrary Knowledge

David Scottis Professor of Curriculum, Pedagogy and Assessment at the Institute of Education, University of London. He has previously worked at the universities of Warwick, Southampton and Lincoln. His most recent book is Critical Essays on Major Curriculum Theoristspublished by Routledge.