Disciplines and theory in the academic study of education: a comparative analysis of the Anglo-American and Continental construction of the field

Abstract

In the English-speaking world educational research is often conceived as the interdisciplinary study of educational processes and practices. Hence research in education strongly relies on theoretical input from a range of different academic disciplines. What is virtually absent in this construction of the field is the idea of education as an academic discipline in its own right. The latter idea does however play a prominent role in the way in which the field of educational studies has developed on the Continent, particularly in the German-speaking world. In this paper I compare these two constructions of the field in order to understand why the field has developed so differently in different contexts. Comparing the different traditions raises some important questions about the theoretical resources available for the study of education; questions that are still important for the study of education today.