The Philosophical Dimensions of Teachers’ Research Literacy

Abstract

In this paper, I investigate the place of philosophical literacy in teachers’ research literacy. Drawing on Pring, Bridges and Winch, I ask what the relationship is between being “research literate” in the field of education and understanding key philosophical debates in the field. I hold that properly implementing research findings in educational practice depends on a philosophical understanding of (a) normative, (b) conceptual and (c) methodological matters and that, therefore, “research literacy” in education must also include “philosophical literacy”. I question whether it is too much to expect that, in order to become research literate, teachers must also become philosophically literate. However, I demonstrate that questions of the utilisation of research cannot be separated from questions of the production of research. In the end, I hold that “research literacy” is simply a different way of looking at deep methodological questions that have always been part of the discipline of Education.