Annual Reports

Network 14 received more than 90 proposals to review. In addition some of them were symposia with about 4 papers to review together with the general text of the proposal. This means that our network had more than 100 proposal texts to review. As last year with double reviewing, this means a lot of work to do for the convenor group. The program of the network (see the URL: www.eera.de/ecer-programmes/conference/ecer-2011/network/communities_families_and_schooling_in_educational_research/) was then changed or adjusted during the summer because some submitters of the proposals did not accept the time slot in the program. ECER secretariat renegotiated the presentation schedule resulting in program changes. For some sessions this means that they turn out to have only two presentations – i.e. very vulnerable. And in some cases the session in the end had only one or two papers to be presented and discussed. This tendency we find in one of our thematic strands. The Network 14 program this year has 3 thematic main strands or thematic focuses: Thematic strand 1. Place based education. Comparative analysis of school-community relationships in rural/urban schooling ( 3 sessions 10 papers+ 1 paper cancelled; in average about (21+) attendants). Thematic strand 2. Research on life course transitions (home, primary school, secondary school adult life) in this field. ( 3 sessions 12 papers, 0 papers cancelled; in average about (21+) attendants). Thematic strand 3. Research on schools-families-communities‘ partnerships (21 papers, 10 sessions).  In thematic strand 1 and 2, 22 papers were presented and discussed during 6 sessions – which means in average 3,7 papers a session. In thematic strand 3, 21 papers were presented and discussed during 10 sessions, which means in average 2,1 papers a session. As we can read from this we have too many papers in the sessions of strand 1 and 2 (weakening both presentations and discussions) and too few in strand 3 (reducing the reflexive and discursive potential of the session). For coming years ECER conferences this would mean that we have to follow the guideline of maximum 3 papers a session more strictly, reflecting the fact that discussion of the presented papers is the core quality of ECER.

Cancellations is a minor problem – but problematic in most single session cases – especially the few vulnerable ones. The quality of the discussions in most sessions was high. We also experienced paper presentations with a negative difference comparing the proposal and what was actually presented. Some applicants obviously use too big words without possibilities for the reviewers to check it. This makes the presentations within a session asymmetrical in discursive potential and is a set back of the overall quality of the discussion.

Network 14 had a joint symposium with Network 23. Schooling and education after neo-liberalism: creating spaces for education. Part 1 and 2. Papers presented and discussed: 9. Chair: John Schostak. Discussant: Keri Facer.

A breakdown of the sessions and symposia is available here to download.

ECER Berlin

Thursday, 2011-09-15, 16:45-18:15, Room: KL 25/134

Chair: Rune Kvalsund

Agenda:

1. Net 14 web site - presentation by Joana Lucio. a) Uses for the mailing list tool and how to let people know about its availability,  b) Online discussion forum.

2. Joint sessions between networks - how and on what?

3. Network activity and network profile. Changes and development?

4. Network capacity - need for more convenors/reviewers and a new link convenor.

We observe that every year some proposals that would be a clear case for Network 14 are channelled to and presented in other networks. Why does this happen when our network for years has been dedicated to this substantial theme of rural education? Se for example paper 926 in 04 SES 12B. The title of the paper is "Rural Education in Hungary; Poland and Romania: An overview". This paper is presented in a session of Network 04, Inclusive Education. Why?