I-Hui Chen, Joyce, Derrick, Jay, Duncan, Sam, Hayword, Geoff and Smith, Lorraine D. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0006-0893-9372 (2025) Chapter 4. Doing research or being researched? Debates on ‘close-to-practice’ research from the perspective of the Further, Adult and Vocational Education (FAVE) sector. In: Wyse, Dominic, Baumfield, Vivienne, Mockler, Nicole and Reardon, R. Martin, (eds.) The BERA-Sage Handbook of Research-Informed Education Practice and Policy. British Educational Research Association (BERA), London. ISBN 978-1529602524

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Abstract

This paper contributes to debates highlighted in the recent BERJ Special Section (ed. Biesta and Aldridge 2021) on the relationship between research and practice, from the specific perspective of the UK Further, Adult and Vocational Education (FAVE) sector. Referencing relevant international literature, it argues that research on education, irrespective of national context, needs to be more inclusive with respect to origination, leadership, participation and methodological approach, not least so that the educational research landscape is not skewed towards the academic perspective at the expense of, for example, the world of practice. We maintain that practitioner-researchers not only have the capacity to produce high-quality research, but can also be the best-placed researchers due to their experience of practice and their specific understanding of key issues in the field. The paper makes this argument in three main ways: by featuring brief accounts of the research journeys of two FAVE practitioners, by linking the discussion of the relationship between research and practice to the general and international literature on learning and knowledge creation in the workplace, and by discussing the different ways in which four significant dimensions of research practice: recognition for research activity, how different research outputs are valued, different perspectives on research impact and quality, and research leadership, are viewed from the perspective of the UK FAVE sector. Education should begin in research and end in research….an education which does not begin by evoking initiative and end by encouraging it must be wrong. For its whole aim is the production of active wisdom. (Whitehead 1962, pp57-8)

Item Type:	Book Section
Uncontrolled Keywords:	FAVE, close to practice, research activity
Subjects:	L Education > L Education (General) L Education > LC Special aspects of education L Education > LC Special aspects of education > LC5201 Education extension. Adult education. Continuing education
Faculty / School / Research Centre / Research Group:	Faculty of Education, Health & Human Sciences Faculty of Education, Health & Human Sciences > School of Education (EDU)
Last Modified:	08 Sep 2026 11:05
URI:	https://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/46563

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