ABSTRACT

Theorisation allows educationists then to know education better or indeed to create education. This is at the heart of things, due to the ways in which education affects people practically: they learn, they come to know, they acquire skills, they develop themselves and others. Theory, thus, is a vital part of what occurs if education is to interact with people in an ethical and moral manner: it fits education to people rather than people to education. To theorise in education is increasingly recognised as vital for good practices and good thinking about education as well as possibly helpful for teacher retention in schools. Theory—either borrowed and appropriated or created—gives form and depth to educational argumentation. Outside of education—in international relations, economics or physics, for example—theorists occupy positions of prestige, whereas in education the role and status of theory and theorists is, for largely unaccountable reasons, less revered.