Session Information
23 SES 06 B, Concepts of Knowledge in Curriculum Reform
Paper Session
Contribution
The paper will be based on an ongoing research project investigating the impact of concepts and methods of evidence-based practise in Danish pre-school education and care.
In recent years the idea of evidence-based practice has achieved widespread recognition in several fields including medicine, social work, education and other areas of public policy. This has happened in many countries in and outside Europe, and the ideas have been supported and disseminated by international organizations like the OECD and the EU. In education the concept has sparked much debate among researchers and practitioners but also many initiatives to implement the concept. In Denmark pre-school education and care (which is organized by municipalities within national guidelines) is one of the areas where such initiatives have been taken. The national agency for social service has promoted the development of evidence-based concepts and methods, and a number of municipalities have taken steps to implement such methods. In many cases implementation means the introduction of specific designs for educational practise such as the ‘Incredible Years’ intervention manuals developed by Carolyn Webster-Stratton, in other cases it takes the form of standardized measurement instruments and in yet other cases more open didactical models.
The research project studies the impact of evidence-based concepts and methods in this area at three levels. At one level it maps the work on evidence-based practice in three municipalities. Who initiate such work, how are they inspired to it and how do they conceptualize evidence-based practise in pre-school education and care? What methods and designs are implemented, what is the research basis of these and to what degree are educators obliged to use these methods? A second level consists of a qualitative study (using video observations and group discussions) of pedagogical practice situations in some institutions that have adopted evidence-based methods. The focus will be how these methods influence the everyday ideas and practices of educators in the institutions. At a third level, drawing on the empirical investigations we will discuss more generally the role of evidence and judgement in professional pedagogical work and how different types of evidence-based methods may constitute resources for and/or threats to pedagogical work.
The theoretical framework of the project tries to integrate elements from different disciplines and fields of research. Some main inspirations are the sociology of Pierre Bourdieu (about the role of habitus in everyday social practice); theories of professional knowledge and practice as developed for instance by Eraut; concepts of reasoning and judgement developed in philosophy by Aristotle, Dewey and Gadamer.
The paper will describe the context of the project, introduce the theoretical framework, present some preliminary results from the empirical investigations and try to indicate possible consequences for the role of evidence in educational practices in the pre-school context.
Method
Expected Outcomes
References
Bourdieu, P. (1998) Practical Reason: On the Theory of Action, Stanford University Press. Dewey, J. (1990): The Quest for Certainty. I: John Dewey, The Later Works, Vol. 4. Ed. by Jo Ann Boydston, Carbondale and Edwardsville: Southern Illinois University Press. Eraut, Michael(2004a): Practice-based evidence. I Thomas, Gary and Pring, Richard: Evidence Based Practice in Education, Open University Press European Commission (2007) Towards more knowledge-based policy and practice in education and training. DG-EAC Staff Working document Gadamer, H.G. (2004) Truth and Method. London: Continuum. Kvernbekk, T. (2010), ‘The concept of evidence in evidence-based practice’ Jensen, Jytte Juel & Hansen, Helle Krogh (2004) A Study of Understandings in Care and Pedagogical Practice: Experiences using the Sophos model in cross national studies – Consolidated Report. Thomas, G. (2004) Introduction: evidence in practice I: Pring, R. and Thomas, G. (ed.)(2004/2007), Evidence-based practice in Education, Milton Keys: Open University Press Webster-Stratton, C. (1999) How to Promote Social and Emotional Competence: A Guide for Teachers of Children 3-10 Years Old. London: Paul Chapman/Sage Westbury, I. D. (1998). Didaktik and curriculum studies. In B. B. Gundem & S. Hopmann (Eds.), Didaktik and/or curriculum: An International dialogue. New York: Peter Lang.
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