Cristina Allemann-Ghionda/Hans-Rüdiger Müller
Transcending Disciplinary Boundaries in Educational Science. An introduction
Hans-Christoph Koller
Securing Boundaries or Change through Rapprochement? On the relation between educational theory and empirical educational research
Against the background of the debate on the relation between educational theory and empirical research on education, the author examines the following questions: 1.) what is at stake? 2.) What is meant by educational theory or by empirical educational research and which strengths or weaknesses are attributed to these two approaches, respectively? 3.) What is the nature of the relation between these two approaches or what should it be like? And 4.), which attempts have been made to link educational theory and empirical educational research? He argues that a strict demarcation between the two approaches is unproductive and that, indeed, a combination of educational-theoretical reflection and empirical research should be aimed at, based on a mutual recognition of the differences.
Ewald Terhart
“Educational Sciences”: Stopgap solution, collective discipline, battle cry?
Due to the growing significance of the issue of “education” and the intensification of and increasing public attention paid to educational research, a trend towards a more frequent use of the term “educational sciences” (i.e. Bildungswissenschaften as opposed to Erziehungswissenschaft) is apparent. This trend manifests itself in the respective labeling of new study programs, faculties, departments, or professorships. The author first sketches the history of the use of the concept of “educational sciences”; he then differentiates several variants of the use of this term. These variants refer to different contexts each and have different conceptual, theoretical, methodological as well as disciplinary implications and consequences. In the final section, the debate on “educational sciences” is considered as an example of the rather common discussions on boundaries and responsibilities in and in-between (sub-) disciplines.
Annette Müller
Religious Plurality and School. Transcending the boundaries between normativity and neutrality in education
In both intercultural education and religious education, religious plurality is taken into consideration. While, in this context, intercultural education as a discipline of educational science follows the postulate of neutrality, religious education focuses on normativity, instead. Following an introduction into the extent of religious plurality within German society as a whole, the author takes a closer look at both intercultural education and religious education. The insights gained are then compared, linked on the basisof a multi- or interdisciplinary approach, and finally, discussed against the background of school education.
Hans-Rüdiger Müller/Dominik Krinninger/Simone Bahr/Dorothee Falkenreck/Martin Lüders/Hanno Su
Education and Training within the Family: Transcending disciplinary boundaries in pedagogy within an interdisciplinary field of research
Taking a research project on education within the family as an example, the authors discuss which stimuli may be triggered through an interdisciplinary orientation with regard to educational-scientific theory and empiricism. At the same time, the need for a pedagogical transformation of knowledge introduced from other disciplines is emphasized. The authors explain - both from a theoretical perspective and based on exemplary extracts from material collected - three pedagogical core categories regarding forms of familial practice and their cultural relationality within the context of related concepts of developmental psychology and sociology.
Kathrin Dedering
School Inspection –An efficient way of controlling the system?
The introduction of school inspection as an instrument of a new model of control is accompanied by the hope that, through an increase in quality, a better school might be achieved. Based on a systematic comparison of the available empirical data on the inspection procedures employed in England, the Netherlands, and Germany, the contribution examines whether this hope for efficiency is actually being realized. Thus, the analysis takes into account the contexts of three countries differing in their philosophy of control and in their procedures of inspection. The article ends on the assumption – formulated as working hypothesis – that a philosophy of control less strongly oriented by competition and methods of inspection primarily directed towards the aim of initiating and supporting the development of quality in schooling lead to positive effects of control.
Irmela Blüthmann/Steffen Lepa/Felicitas Thiel
Overtaxed, disappointed, wrong choice, or strategic decision? A typology of students failing to complete their bachelor courses of studies
Based on personal reasons given by students for quitting their studies, the authors develop a typology of students in bachelor courses who were taken off the university register. The cluster analysis is based on interviews carried out at a large German university during the summer semester of 2007 among students from bachelor courses of studies (n=375) who were removed from the university register without a degree (dropouts and students changing university). The four clusters identified describe clearly diverse problems and are accordingly labeled as “overtaxed” (25%), “disappointed” (18%), “wrong choice” (36%), and “strategic change” (21%). The results are discussed in comparison with typologies of dropouts from former diploma-, masters-, or state exam courses of studies. The diversification of the four types into the different groups of disciplines is explained and, finally, possibilities of intervention are discussed in reference to the respective problems in order to reduce the quota of dropouts.
Manfred Lüders
The Concept of Teaching in Pedagogical Reference Books. An empirical contribution to the disciplinary development of school pedagogy
The author investigates in how far school pedagogy – in dealing with its central topics – has managed to distance itself from the practical demands of the teaching profession and to enforce specific approaches determined by theorizing and empirical research. By specifically focusing on the concept of teaching, the author examines whether a change from a rather profession-related use of the term towards a disciplinary use grounded on scientific theories can be shown to have occurred. Subject of this investigation are definitions of the concept of teaching as they appear in pedagogical reference books published between 1949 and 2007. The findings are significant both for educational science and for empirical scientific research: on the one hand, they reveal that school pedagogy has steadily clung to a practice-oriented concept of teaching, atypical of scientific disciplines. On the other hand, they show that the sounding of a discipline has to go beyond surveying general scientific indicators by including content-related analyses of relevant communication.
New Books