Smart successful networks: research as social practice

Download

02_EITN_2006_01_Ozga.pdf

Abstract

The paper covers three main topics, namely (i) research steering (in education) and its relationship to policy; (ii) changing knowledge production and its organisation in networks and (iii) the opportunities and challenges in building capacity in research in education in Scotland. It draws on a range of sources, including current literature on research and knowledge production, and on changing education governance, as well as a recent research project on knowledge transfer and experience of the Applied Education Research Scheme (AERS). The paper suggests that changes in knowledge and related changes in organisatioizal forms and processes combine to alter fundamentally the nature of research and thus of the research-policy-practice relationship. Research now needs to be understood as the co-production of contextualized knowledge in contexts of application and implication. Such developments produce considerable challenges to existing research practices and cultures, and these challenges may be best met from a 'network' form of research organisation. The network form may sit well within the s?nall, cohesive education system of Scotland, if collaborative relationships can overcome problems of trust and established hierarchies, both within universities and between researchers and policy-makers.

content

Full content in PDF

DOI