Exploration of the use of research results by teachers. Relevance of research between theory and practice

Abstract

In German speaking countries, solid findings show that teachers tend to rate research results as interesting, but hardly use them to change their teaching practice. From the perspective of education policy, education administration and education research which support an evidence-based pedagogy, such a dealing with research results cannot be evaluated as successful. The contribution presents a way how to examine the use of research results by teachers by in-depth analysis. Therefore, an interview study was carried out considering the difference between normative and theoretical claim on the one hand and its practical realization on the other hand. The central difference of the praxeological sociology of knowledge—propositional vs. performative logic—was taken up. In the data, these logics show as theories of teachers about research results on the one hand, as habitus of designing interaction in teaching on the other hand. The results show, how certain relations of theories and habitus prevent or allow that research results become relevant for teachers.