This important book offers a meta-theoretical account of educational
theories and how they work. It offers a classification scheme of
distinct types of educational theory in which the account developed can
inform the work of educational theorists and practitioners.
Kvernbekk observes throughout how meta-theoretical knowledge of the
structure of theory types will improve the understanding and
representation of educational phenomena and enhance theorists' and
practitioners' ability to change those phenomena for the better. She
explains how philosophical accounts of scientific theories can help us
understand the nature of educational theories by applying two
influential but different theory conceptions - the Received View and the
Semantic Conception - to the field of education. Kvernbekk argues that
educational theories, like other scientific theories, are
representational devices that allow us to understand, describe and
explain phenomena, and, when desired, to change them. The classification
scheme offered allows us to discriminate distinct types of educational
theory: goal-directed, equivalence and interlevel theories. Examples of
all three types are discussed, explaining their structure, what they say
about the phenomena and how they say it. The book also offers a critical
overview of different conceptions of practice and different
understandings of the theory-practice relationship.
Encouraging a strong understanding of what theories say about the
phenomena they represent, this book will be of interest to educational
researchers and postgraduate students in the fields of philosophy of
education, education theory and education policy, and to philosophers of
science and philosophers working on 'practical' philosophical issues.
