Active Tutorial Work, Discussion and Educational Research

The use of classroom discussion healthily remains on the agenda of concerns of teachers and of educational researchers. What is not often considered is the relationship between the kind of dialogue which researchers engage in with teachers, and the kind of dialogue teachers engage in with their pupils. This paper explores the relationships between different kinds of research and their implications for the practice of discussion. In this exploration the nature of discussion itself is examined; a Gadamarian account of it is provided; and the way in which this can contribute to the improvement of discursive practice is illustrated.