Democratising Ethical Regulation and Practice in Educational Research

This paper sets the context for questions covered in the Education Sciences Special Issue: Regulation and Ethical Practice for Educational Research: What are appropriate ethical appraisal and approval practices for particular contexts? How can ethics committees effectively support educational re-searchers and educational research? To do so, the paper argues for a democratising of ethical reg-ulation and practice in educational research, which includes the decolonization agenda, to break away from enduring power imbalances in knowledge production. A key focus is on the regulation of educational research through ethics committees (whether institutional, regional and/or national) and how this affects research practice. While intended to help researchers to protect and benefit potential research participants, ethics committees themselves can have an important part to play in recognizing and removing barriers to inclusivity, as well as in erecting them, to maximise the ben-efits of educational research. To overturn the dominance of global North knowledge, for post-colonial research ethics regulation, broader conversations of researcher values and experiences in different parts of the world are needed. This paper explores how ethics committees’ expectations do and could shape researcher decision-making. It presents examples of approaches to ethical appraisal which would support empowerment and participation, not only for gatekeepers and participants but also for the research community, whether experienced researcher, ethics committee member or neophyte researcher. Evidence of ethical research practice which paves the way forward is drawn from a range of contexts to help acknowledge the enduring and wide-ranging impact of colonialism, neo-liberalism and neo-imperialism

Editorial for Special Issue on Regulation and Ethical Practice for Educational Research

The Education Sciences Special Issue, Regulation and Ethical Practice for Educational Research, focuses on the ethical aspects of the generation of knowledge in educational research to examine learning, the relationships between learners, educators, organizational leaders and other stake-holders and how those relationships are affected by people’s social and cultural backgrounds and contexts. It argues that democratic and situated approaches to research are needed for researchers to consider critically the power imbalances bound up in their relationships with participants and other stakeholders in their projects. This involves finding ways to hear and compare the different voices and perspectives of those in these relationships to address the power imbalance that are inherent when carrying out research

Crossing borders: new teachers co-constructing professional identity in performative times

This paper draws on a range of theoretical perspectives on the construction of new teachers’ professional identity. It focuses particularly on the impact of the development in many national education systems of a performative culture of the management and regulation of teachers’ work. Whilst the role of interactions with professional colleagues and school managers in the performative school has been extensively researched, less attention has been paid to new teachers’ interactions with students. This paper highlights the need for further research focusing on the process of identity co-construction with students. A key theoretical concept employed is that of liminality, the space within which identities are in transition as teachers adjust to the culture of a new professional workplace, and the nature of the engagement of new teachers, or teachers who change schools, with students. The authors argue that an investigation into the processes of this co-construction of identity offers scope for new insights into the extent to which teachers might construct either a teacher identity at odds with their personal and professional values, or a more ‘authentic’ identity that counters performative discourses. These insights will in turn add to our understanding of the complex range of factors impacting on teacher resilience and motivation