Rethinking Practice, Research and Education: A Philosophical Inquiry (Bloomsbury Research Methods) - Hardcover

Drawing on European philosophy, Flint deconstructs current understandings around research in a controversial and provocative way and, in so doing, opens new avenues for debates concerned with the relationship between research and education. * Carol Robinson, Principal Research Fellow, University of Brighton, UK * I seriously hope this book will make a dent in the bland confidence of the research formula industry. It's a large task but it makes a bracing beginning. * Nick Peim, Senior Lecturer in the School of Education, University of Birmingham, UK * This book represents a bold and closely argued challenge to everyone involved in qualitative research, but especially to those conducting research in the areas of professional and public services... * Paul Moran, MA Inclusion and Marginalisation Programme Leader, University of Chester, UK * This excellent book successfully fills a significant gap in the existing literature on qualitative research, addressing major issues from a philosophical and theoretical perspective. * Liz Atkins, Senior Lecturer, Federation University, Australia * Dazzling in the amount of common assumptions it asks us to put into question, this book is recommended reading for anyone interested in research who feels that we are missing something, that current research is suffering from a crucial blind spot, and who seeks a language to articulate this. * Anders Schinkel, Assistant Professor of Philosophy of Education, VU University Amsterdam, the Netherlands * In this book, Flint lucidly and cogently constructs a scholarly deconstruction of contemporary practitioner research, positing a rigorous, visceral alternative which embodies a challenge to leadership and scholarship within the field. This is no ivory tower; it is a bold attempt to place deep thinking at the heart of the critically-reflective lived experience and in so doing create an astute, thoughtful understanding of the relationship between practice, research and education. Each chapter is written with a sensitivity for words that makes the cerebral engagement an exhausting delight. It is an elegant text which `gives expression to those many, silent vitalizing forces at work in our everyday practices'. * Maureen Glackin, Head of the School of Education, Theology & Leadership, St Mary's University, London * This startling new work presents us with a fresh perspective on what we have come to call `practice-based research'. The reader is invited to relinquish some of the mistakes, missed possibilities and language that is currently used. Instead we look through a lens of social justice. Fluent and well written by an expert in the field, the book offers new material, issues and challenges with a philosophical perspective on practice, research and education, revealing the inequalities of systems and taken-for-granted procedures and methods in this thought provoking, critical evaluation. * Carol Costley, Profess and Director of the Institute for Work Based Learning, Middlesex University, UK *

Rethinking Practice, Research and Education brings together philosophy with traditional methodological discourse, and opens a space for critical thinking in social and educational research. Drawing on the work of Heidegger, Derrida, Foucault and their descendants, this engaging critical examination of practice applies a deconstructive reading to the practices of research.

Where is justice in the practice of research? How do paradigms for the production of knowledge shape what is given in the practice of research? What are the key issues involved in developing an ethos for the practice of research in the light of society's complex relationship with essential forms of technology? Each of these dimensions are explored, drawing on the traditions of research and their interplay with researchers' responsibilities to work towards justice in research.

A must-read for researchers, bringing the language of philosophy to the current debate about the impact of social and educational research in practice.