AnyonecandoitSupportingeducationalresearchinother.docVIP

Anyone can do it? Supporting educational research in other disciplines Fran Beaton (with Janice Malcolm), University of Kent This paper addresses the question of how disciplinary discourses shape conceptualisations of educational research, and the implications of this for the promotion of educational (including pedagogic) research among academics in other disciplines. The promotion of the ‘teaching-research nexus’ Jenks A,Healey M,Zetter R 2007 is currently a popular focus. both within education policy and in the practice of teacher education and development for academic staff. The authors, education academics in an academic development unit, are expected as part of their role to support colleagues in subject departments in developing educational enquiry within their disciplines. Publication is encouraged as a form of dissemination, as a means of raising the institutional profile, and to support the career development of the academics concerned. The wide-ranging work of, for example, Barry Stierer, and the Preparing for Academic Practice CETL explores the questions of disciplinary practice in research and, indeed the extent to which disciplinary academics can be expected to ‘write education ‘ as part of their academic practice. Stierer  Note to Editor: quotation drawn from Stirling Escalate conference abstract cites McCarthy’s (1994) view that “[For many lecturers] ‘Education’ as a set of specialised knowledge and language practices is a ‘strange land’ – indeed as strange a land as an unfamiliar subject area can be for typical university students.” We were particularly interested in exploring the question at institutional level, based on the work we have been doing with individual academics from a range of departments across the university. This derives also from our own research interests: exploring teacher identity and the extent to which forms of disciplinary practice are considered part of that identity. It is relevant at this point to descri