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Education research Australia: a changing ecology of knowledge and practice

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Abstract

Processes of national research assessment, such as Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) are a type of audit technology that confronts and steers established institutional identities and traditions. This nexus between policy and practice drives boundary work that diffracts prevailing policy logics, organisational practices, and habits of mind. We use this notion of ‘boundary work’ as an analytical lens for understanding the nature and effects of ERA in the Australian educational research space. This paper explains the methodology that informed the AARE–ACDE research reported in Strategic Capacity Building for Australian Educational Research. It documents the policy logic of ERA and the way it cuts across the established ecology of educational research, revealing social and symbolic work that is remaking the boundaries of educational research. We report on the historical trajectory of Australian educational research, the way ERA codes research outputs, and how educational researchers are repositioning in this shifting research space. We argue that there are specific loci of boundary work where capacity building in Australian educational research can make a difference to future educational knowledge building.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Ruth Morton, Joce Nuttall, Michele Simons and an anonymous reviewer for their helpful contributions to this paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Education, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

    Terri Seddon & Philip Chan

  2. Humanities Research and Graduate Studies, Curtin University, Perth, WA, Australia

    Dawn Bennett

  3. Faculty of Education, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW, Australia

    Sue Bennett

  4. Faculty of Education and Social Work, The University of Sydney, Darlington, NSW, Australia

    Janette Bobis

  5. School of Education, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, Australia

    Neil Harrison

  6. School of Education, Charles Darwin University, Darwin, NT, Australia

    Sue Shore

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  1. Terri Seddon
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  2. Dawn Bennett
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Correspondence to Terri Seddon.

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Seddon, T., Bennett, D., Bennett, S. et al. Education research Australia: a changing ecology of knowledge and practice. Aust. Educ. Res. 40, 433–451 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13384-013-0104-1

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