文档介绍：TOWARDS NEW STRATEGIC INITIATIVES FOR RESEARCH CAPACITY IN EDUCATION: A DISCUSSION PAPER
Andrew Pollard, Director, TLRP
1. Introduction
The present paper contributes to the consultation process on capacity in educational research which ESRC has initiated though Town Meetings and other forms of liaison. At the heart of the paper is an attempt to clarify goals and responsibilities in the field. This is seen as a precondition for the generation of more strategic proposals. An outline of ideas for one such initiative, incorporating suggestions from previous parts of the consultation sequence, is then provided.
It is hoped that the paper may lead towards a more concise propositional paper for ESRC’s Training and Development Board - and an initial outline of such a proposal is appended (see, for example, the diagram on p10 for an overview). It is recognised that developments of the sort envisaged here would need extensive tailoring for each part of the UK.
The paper is in five parts. This introduction leads on to a contextual review. The third and fourth sections are perhaps the most important in focusing on the goals, responsibilities and provision associated with what is offered as two major goals of educational research and enquiry. The final section considers the management of synergies between such goals and provision.
As a taster of the argument, in the broadest sense, two major goals of educational research and enquiry are taken to be:
1. Enhancing educational es through the improvement of practice
2. Developing new knowledge and understanding about education
Of course these goals are related, and each should inform the other. Indeed, each is weakened if it fails to engage with insights derived from the other. However, in terms of the forms of contemporary anisation and practices through which these goals are pursued in the UK, the view taken here is that these foci of activity are ing increasingly distinct. The first is the primary realm of professional