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21P. European Educational Research Journal: http://www.wwwords.co.uk/eerj/content/maincontents.asp Numbers: 1,2,3,4 ==================================== Volume 6 Number 1 2007 Section 9 Title: Why Shouldn’t Teachers and Teacher Educators Conduct Research on their Own Practices? An Epistemological Exploration Source: European Educational Research Journal, Volume 6, Number 1 2007, pages 1-12. Authors: Mieke Lunenberg Petra Ponte Piet-Hein Van De Ven (Netherlands) Keywords: Teacher educators Practitioner research Knowledge construction Epistemological exploration Netherlands ‫תמצית‬ The aim of this article is to pause to allow time to reflect on the concept of practitioner research from a perspective that sees knowledge, knowledge-constitutive interests and knowledge construction as interrelated. ‫מאמר‬ Source: European Educational Research Journal, Volume 6, Number 1 2007, pages 1-12.

The idea of teachers and teacher educators engaging in research is not, in itself, new, but in recent years the propagation of this idea seems to have become really popular. This growing popularity brings the risk that practitioner research will degenerate into an increasingly vague and obscure ‘container concept’. The aim of this article is to pause to allow time to reflect on the concept of practitioner research from a perspective that sees knowledge, knowledge-constitutive interests and knowledge construction as interrelated. Volume 6 Number 2 2007 Section 10 Title: The Building of a New Academic Field: the case of French didactiques Source: European Educational Research Journal, Volume 6, Number 2, 2007, pages 125-130. Author: Michel Caillot (France)

Keywords: Academic field Comparative didactics Instructional systems Research programs France ‫תמצית‬ In this article, the author attempts to show how French disciplinary didactiques were created and have developed. At the beginning, nobody could forecast the future and whether the didactiques would one day be recognised by the academic and instructional systems. The French didactiques are strongly based on school subject matters. ‫מאמר‬ Source: European Educational Research Journal, Volume 6, Number 2, 2007, pages 125-130. In this article, the author attempts to show how French disciplinary didactiques were created and have developed. At the beginning, nobody could forecast the future and whether the didactiques would one day be recognised by the academic and instructional systems. The French didactiques are strongly based on school subject matters. Since the creation of Instituts Universitaire de Formation des Maîtres (University Teacher Training Institutes) in 1991, they are completely integrated in French educational research and training systems: a major evolution in education that has taken about 40 years. More recently, a new field of research is developing in the French-speaking area: comparative didactics that groups together disciplinary didacticians in a true research programme. --------------------Section 10 Title: Readjusting Didactics to a Changing Epistemology Source: European Educational Research Journal, Volume 6, Number 2, 2007, pages 131-134. Author: Yves Chevallard Lufm (France) Keywords: France Didactics Epistemology Anthropological Theory ‫תמצית‬ This article provides an overview of the gradual development, in the span of two decades (1985-2005), of a theorisation which has come to be known as the Anthropological Theory of the Didactic (ATD). It stresses important stages in the dismissing – based on both fact and theory – of some widespread views of teaching and learning, and the establishing of new attitudes towards ‘the didactic’, seen as an anthropological dimension of social life. ‫מאמר‬ Source: European Educational Research Journal, Volume 6, Number 2, 2007, pages 131-134.

This article provides an overview of the gradual development, in the span of two decades (1985-2005), of a theorisation which has come to be known as the Anthropological Theory of the Didactic (ATD). It stresses important stages in the dismissing – based on both fact and theory – of some widespread views of teaching and learning, and the establishing of new attitudes towards ‘the didactic’, seen as an anthropological dimension of social life. It emphasises the logic behind the evolution of a ‘science of the didactic’ that, in adapting to the changing nature of its object of study, currently brings to the fore new ideas, among which the concept of ‘study and research course’ (SRC) seems to be most promising. ---------------------Section 10 Title: Trends in Research on Teaching and Learning in Schools: didactics meets classroom studies Source: European Educational Research Journal, Volume 6, Number 2, 2007, pages 147-160. Author: Kirsti Klette (Norway) Keywords: Teaching and learning Didactics Classroom studies Teaching–learning gap Instructional activities Norway ‫תמצית‬ In this article the author argues for the need to bridge studies of teaching and learning with studies of the subject involved – to establish a conversation between didactics and classroom studies. An analytical design and framework able to bridge the teaching–learning gap needs to be developed. Emerging technologies in video/audio documentation provide one chain of investigations for bridging how different thematic patterns are linked to instructional activities and interaction formats in classrooms. ‫מאמר‬ Source: European Educational Research Journal, Volume 6, Number 2, 2007, pages 147-160. The relation between teaching, instruction and children’s learning arises whenever models of the teaching–learning process are discussed or whenever problems of learning occur. Despite massive research efforts we still know little about how differences in learning activities are related to students’ learning. The primacy of teachers and teaching as the primary subjects of research has contributed to a rather limited understanding of what goes on in schools and classrooms. Few studies of teachers and teaching have examined the extent to which differences in teacher effectiveness are related to differences in teachers’ subject matter knowledge, and there is still a tendency to discuss issues of teaching and learning in general terms separated from the content that has been taught. In this article the author argues for the need to bridge studies of teaching and learning with studies of the subject involved – to establish a conversation between didactics and classroom

studies. An analytical design and framework able to bridge the teaching–learning gap needs to be developed. Emerging technologies in video/audio documentation provide one chain of investigations for bridging how different thematic patterns are linked to instructional activities and interaction formats in classrooms. --------------------------Section 10 Title: Didactics, Sense Making, and Educational Experience Source: European Educational Research Journal, Volume 6, Number 2, 2007, pages 161-173. Author: Meinert A. Meyer (Germany) Keywords: Germany Didactics Educational experience Teaching and learning Student involvement ‫תמצית‬ This article focuses on student participation in classrooms. It aims to demonstrate that effective cultivation of educational experience in schools will lead to a new perspective on the process of teaching and learning. There are no privileged methods of teaching and learning, but most of the teachers have in mind some fuzzy ideas of what good instruction is, and there is a great variety of how teachers involve their students and how students get involved in what happens in school. ‫מאמר‬ Source: European Educational Research Journal, Volume 6, Number 2, 2007, pages 161-173. This article focuses on student participation in classrooms. It aims to demonstrate that effective cultivation of educational experience in schools will lead to a new perspective on the process of teaching and learning. There are no privileged methods of teaching and learning, but most of the teachers have in mind some fuzzy ideas of what good instruction is, and there is a great variety of how teachers involve their students and how students get involved in what happens in school. That is why the student’s didactic competence should be used in the instructional process and teachers’ and students’ sensitivity for classroom participation and student involvement should be increased. Examples of how learners view their educational process, and how sense making can be identified and described, are given. Sense making is an individual affair, and what the teachers want is not necessarily in accord with the students’ constructions. Therefore, it is not only of interest to examine how learners acquire knowledge and skills but also how they develop the ability to decide things for themselves and act responsibly in an increasingly complex and difficult world. ====================================== Volume 6 Number 3 2007

Section 2 Title: Unpacking Autonomy and Control in Education: some conceptual and normative groundwork for a comparative analysis Source: European Educational Research Journal, Volume 6, Number 3, 2007, pages 203-213. Authors: Alan Cribb Sharon Gewirtz (UK) Keywords: UK Autonomy Control Comparative analysis Regulation ‫תמצית‬ The purpose of this article is to make a contribution to the first two of these tasks which are relatively neglected in the education research literature. The authors begin by unpacking some conceptual complexities involved in debating issues of autonomy and control, distinguishing between three dimensions of autonomy-control: loci and modes of autonomy, domains of autonomy-control and loci and modes of control. ‫מאמר‬ Source: European Educational Research Journal, Volume 6, Number 3, 2007, pages 203-213. To make meaningful comparisons of the consequences of new modes of regulation in education for local autonomy in different national settings we need to a) be clear about what is meant by local autonomy and state control, b) be clear about why the balance between local autonomy and state control matters and c) produce good quality empirical data and analysis. The purpose of this article is to make a contribution to the first two of these tasks which are relatively neglected in the education research literature. The authors begin by unpacking some conceptual complexities involved in debating issues of autonomy and control, distinguishing between three dimensions of autonomy-control: loci and modes of autonomy, domains of autonomy-control and loci and modes of control. They then go on to illustrate some of the normative complexities surrounding issues of autonomy-control, using the case of individual teacher autonomy to explore arguments about the value of autonomy and control. Finally, the authors discuss the implications of these complexities for the task of policy analysis. In doing so, they seek to: ‘trouble’ the presumption that autonomy is necessarily good; challenge the notion that control and autonomy are discrete entities in some simple zero-sum relationship to one another, drawing attention to the ways in which control can be seen as ‘productive’ as well as ‘destructive’ of autonomy; and sketch out the multidimensional nature of cross-national comparative evaluation of regulation in education. ---------------------Section 11 Title: Towards a New Professionalism in School? A Comparative Study of Teacher Autonomy in Norway and Sweden

Source: European Educational Research Journal, Volume 6, Number 3, 2007, pages 232-249. Authors: Ingrid Helgøy Anne Homme (Norway) Keywords: Professionalism Teacher autonomy Compulsory education National standards Norway Sweden ‫תמצית‬ The authors argue that both individual teacher autonomy at the local workplace and autonomy at the national level embracing teachers as a collective group are important in analysing teachers’ professional autonomy. In comparing teachers’ professional autonomy they differentiate between processes of individualisation and collectivisation. Their analysis indicates, although intra-national differences, that the difference between Norwegian and Swedish teachers is striking. ‫מאמר‬ Source: European Educational Research Journal, Volume 6, Number 3, 2007, pages 232-249. Local autonomy is one of the recent trends in reforms of compulsory education. However, several parallel trends such as individual accountability, performance and visibility challenge professional autonomy. The aim of this article is to explore how accountability and transparency reforms affect teacher autonomy in Norway and Sweden. The authors argue that both individual teacher autonomy at the local workplace and autonomy at the national level embracing teachers as a collective group are important in analysing teachers’ professional autonomy. In comparing teachers’ professional autonomy they differentiate between processes of individualisation and collectivisation. Their analysis indicates, although intra-national differences, that the difference between Norwegian and Swedish teachers is striking. While the Swedish teachers experience a high degree of individual autonomy, their influence on national policy processes seems weakened. This leads to the assumption that professional autonomy as a result of transparency and accountability reforms, even if the teachers report individual professional autonomy, reduces the authority of the profession at the national policy-making level. The analysis indicates that Norwegian teachers are characterized by old professionalism. The strong input regulations in Norway limit individual teacher autonomy. Even with weakened individual autonomy, teachers still manage to supply conditions for national education policy making. This means that teachers still are autonomous at the collective level. Moreover, the findings indicate that national standards and control in education are accepted as tools for securing professional knowledge and status. --------------------------------Volume 6 Number 4 2007 This issue is still in production.