ABSTRACT

Recent controversy in British education has not been confined to questions about practical aspects of teaching and assessment. It encompasses the conduct of research in education and, by implication, conceptions of the nature, scope and social purposes of education. Chapter 1 opened with a few remarks about the contrasting paradigms to which apparent allies in this debate actually have appealed. James Tooley’s critique of the quality of some contemporary educational

research was welcomed by the former Chief Inspector of Schools, Chris Woodhead, as a stimulus for improving standards ‘in the classroom’ (Tooley, 1998). According to Woodhead, part of the rationale for commissioning Tooley’s report had been similar reservations about educational research expressed by David Hargreaves. However, as I pointed out, Woodhead’s introductory remarks ignored Hargreaves’ well-publicised belief in a need to dismantle traditional educational systems in favour of ‘an infinite variety of multiple forms of teaching and learning’ (Hargreaves, 1997a). That vision transcends the limits of the contemporary classroom and the kind of educational research which might be conducted within them, though government policy has nevertheless tended to reflect a myopic preoccupation with learning and teaching in that now traditional setting.