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Recent School Effectiveness Counter‐critiques: Problems and possibilities
Author(s) -
Thrupp Martin
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
british educational research journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.171
H-Index - 89
eISSN - 1469-3518
pISSN - 0141-1926
DOI - 10.1080/01411920120071452
Subject(s) - value (mathematics) , pragmatism , politics , sociology , face (sociological concept) , face value , epistemology , class (philosophy) , educational research , positive economics , social science , political science , law , economics , philosophy , finance , machine learning , computer science
As part of continuing debate over school effectiveness research (SER), this article examines the recent responses of several school effectiveness researchers to the concerns of their critics. Issues examined include the complexity of the debate over SER, the value of pragmatism, the impact of social class, the significance of methodological problems, the value of current attempts to theorise SER, the relationship of SER to educational politics and policy‐making, the politics of doing SER, and the claimed achievements of SER. The discussion highlights a number of continuing tensions surrounding SER but also suggests that, if taken at face value, the counter‐critiques are often not taking the arguments of critics seriously. Nevertheless, with substantial concerns about SER now being aired from positions within as well as beyond SER, a shift in the nature of SER seems likely.