26 November 2022
Keynote speaker: Dr. Jane Gatley
On Saturday 26th November 2022, the University of Birmingham School of Education hosted its 21st Annual PGR Conference. The Conference committee were incredibly pleased to provide a platform for 31 postgraduate researchers to present their research, in one of nine themes, including Wellbeing, Autism, Character Education, Inclusion, Research Methodology, Social Justice, Higher Education, and Identity. In addition to the wonderful PGR research, we were very pleased to welcome Dr. Jane Gatley and Dr. Holly Prescott. Dr. Gatley, gave the Keynote lecture whilst Dr. Holly Prescott provided a presentation.
Abstract
Dr. Jane Gatley: Can working with educational concepts shape the future of education?
Education studies often involves working with educational concepts. These are represented by the words that make up educational discourse, words such as ‘justice’, ‘safety’, ‘knowledge’, ‘intelligence’, ‘race’, ‘gender’, ‘childhood’, ‘wellbeing’ and so on. How we understand these concepts shapes how we think and talk about education. When a social scientist operationalizes an educational concept so that they can measure it, they are working with that concept, altering its meaning and using it to make claims about education. I explore the contribution of philosophy of education to educational studies. In particular, I focus on analytic philosophy of education.
Analytic philosophers of education spend a great deal of time analysing educational concepts, and this abstract approach to education has been a source of criticism. Reid, wrote that ‘analysis without synthesis is blind, or at least pointless or feckless’ (1965, p.24). Carr describes analytic philosophy as ‘a fundamental intellectual disorder’ (2004, p.57), and Standish claims that it abstracts educational issues from questions of value (p.7-8, 2010). I draw on Haslanger’s account of the method of ameliorative analysis to present a revised understanding of the contribution of conceptual analysis to educational studies. On this account, conceptual analysis is valuable because it has the potential to shape the way key educational players understand and use educational concepts, thus shaping educational research, practices and policies.
Dr. Holly Prescott: Beyond your Postgraduate Research: Careers Support for Postgraduate Researcher
PGR Presentations
- 28 INDIVIDUAL
- 3 SYMPOSIUM – “Uncertainty in creation: navigating the doctoral research journey”
Themes
- Wellbeing
- Autism
- Character Education
- Inclusion
- Research Methodology
- Social Justice
- Higher Education
- Identity
View papers from the conference: Hindsight, Foresight and Shaping the Future of Education