Improving education through research? From effectiveness, causality and technology to purpose, complexity and culture

What is it about?

A lot of research effort is directed at improving education. What is remarkable is that the question of purpose, of what education is for, is often forgotten or not sufficiently addressed, so that the discourse about improvement remains stuck in the language of effectiveness. I offer a more nuanced account of the relationship between purpose and improvement, and also explore how we can think better about the dynamics of teaching and learning than in terms of intervention and effects.

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Why is it important?

It is important because there is so much research in education that does not engage with the question what education is supposed to be for and so much research that is based on quasi-causal assumptions about how education allegedly works.