EERA: A Participant or an Agent in European Research Policy? A Governance Perspective

Abstract

In this article, the authors begin to frame a discussion of the educational research space that the European Educational Research Association (EERA) has been given and aims to take. The educational space is not merely a geographical phenomenon, but rather refers to the networks, flows and scapes that form the foundation for the construction of national or transnational cultural frames in which educational research works. This is a double-sided issue: EERA is a participant in the Europeanisation process working — intentionally or not and willingly or not — on harmonising educational research all over Europe and in the European Union (EU); furthermore, the EERA has been working on influencing research politics in Europe, in the EU and at the national levels for the past several years. The links between global development and local practices in universities and schools have become tighter over the past two or three decades. Transnational agencies such as the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the EU are important channels in creating educational policies between global market initiatives and local practices. We can identify governance chains from these agencies through national authorities to local institutions.

Imagining School as Standards-Driven and Students as Career-Ready! A Comparative Genealogy of US Federal and European Transnational Turns in Education Policy

“…Consequently, EU political technologies operate by means of central templates like Horizon 2020 and the European Qualifications Framework that are increasingly copied in member states' national school and teacher education policy and so forth, including national research councils and funding bodies (EQF 2008;Krejsler et al 2014Krejsler et al , 2017Olsson et al 2011). EU research and education policy discourse is developed in terms of keywords such as "competitiveness," "excellence," "life-long learning", and "employability," where STEM areas-like in the United States-increasingly outclass social sciences and humanities, which include educational research (Moos and Wubbels 2014;Moos et al 2015). European transnational policy discourse concerning primary and lower secondary school has not yet transformed into an institutionalized truth regime comparable to NCLB in the United States or even the Bologna Process concerning higher education, including teacher education.…”

Tackling the multi-actor and multi-level complexity of European governance of knowledge: Transnational actors in focus

“…The emergence of a European layer beyond the nation state has added further complexity in the governance of knowledge and its multi-level endeavour (Piattoni, 2010). For some, different sets of governance chains across local, regional, national and European levels have been set in motion (Moos and Wubbels, 2014). Others see the creation of a new policy space in education as an example of how the European Union (EU) constructs multiple arenas to coordinate diversified actors and engage appropriate agencies and elites in relevant policies (Lawn, 2011).…”

A panel discussion: the European Educational Research Association’s role in Europe – now and in the near future

“…The panel discussion at the European Conference on Educational Research (ECER) in September 2014: ‘EERA’s role in Europe – now and in the near future’ with the authors of this report, took as its point of departure the article ‘EERA: a participant or an agent in European research policy?’ (Moos and Wubbels, 2014).…”