The Sera Lecture 2003: What is and what might be? TLRP Strategies and the Development of Educational Research

Abstract

TLRP is the largest independent, coordinated research initiative in education that the UK has ever known. The rhetoric is strong, and the Programme's projects and activities are intended: 'to lead to significant improvements in outcomes for learners at all ages and stages in all sectors and contexts of education and training, including informal learning settings, throughout the United Kingdom' (Phase III Specifications). There are also goals concerning multi-disciplinary working, broadening methodologies, deepening research capacity and the transformation and impact of new knowledge. In this paper, the author considers the contextual origins of the Teaching and Learning Research Programme, and then move to consider some epistemological, substantive, theoretical, engagement and processual issues on which the Programme is working. In conclusion, the author reviews the Programme's strategies as a form of activism, designed to improve the respect in which educational research is viewed and the contribution which it can make to our society.