Will a Clinical Approach Make Education Research More Relevant for Practice?

Abstract

The way in which researchers view education differs fundamentally from the way in which teachers view education. These different outlooks are (partly) a consequence of the different work roles of researchers and teachers. This article explores the question of whether it is really inevitable that research and practice each establish different views of education. The author shows that the definition of the role of researchers draws heavily on a dualistic view that separates knowledge from skill and detaches human intellectual faculties from other human faculties. Although such dualistic notions are highly contested nowadays, they are institutionalized in the definition of the work of researchers and the purpose of research. The contribution of this article lies in the presentation of a unifying framework in which the views of teachers and researchers can be (at least partially) reconciled in the context of clinical research practice.