This book explores the challenges and considerations of researchers who work on the educational margins of society. It investigates the diverse and specific research strategies that have been developed to ensure research is authentic, ethical, rigorous, situated and, where possible, empowering. Traversing cutting-edge global research, the chapters demonstrate the effectiveness of specific research methods when researching within educational margins related to particular ‘wicked problems’. Against a backdrop of increasing scrutiny of the conduct of researchers working with marginalised people, this book provides an informed and empowering overview of research methods for those working with marginalised groups.

This book explores the challenges and considerations of researchers who work on the educational margins of society. It investigates the diverse and specific research strategies that have been developed to ensure research is authentic, ethical, rigorous, situated and, where possible, empowering. Traversing cutting-edge global research, the chapters demonstrate the effectiveness of specific research methods when researching within educational margins related to particular ‘wicked problems’. Against a backdrop of increasing scrutiny of the conduct of researchers working with marginalised people, this book provides an informed and empowering overview of research methods for those working with marginalised groups.

This book provides new ways of thinking about educational processes, using quantitative and qualitative methodologies. Ultimately, it aims at expanding knowledge itself - altering the centre by allowing the margins to inform it - allowing it to be extended to include those ways of knowing that have historically been unexplored or ignored.

Increasingly, social researchers are engaging with marginalized communities and becoming aware of their obligations to those they research. This book identifies issues associated with researching in what have traditionally been recognised as "hard to reach" communities and offers both conceptual analyses and practical suggestions on undertaking research that emphasizes the experience and contribution of those with whom the research is undertaken.

Philosophy and Theory in Educational Research: Writing in the margin explores the practices of reading and writing in educational philosophy and theory. Showing that there is no ‘right way’ to approach research in educational philosophy, but illustrating its possibilities, this text invites an engagement with philosophy as a possibility – and opening possibilities – for educational research. Drawing on their own research and theoretical and philosophical sources, the authors investigate the important issue of what it means to read and write when there is no prescribed structure. Innovative in its contribution to the literature, this edited volume enlightens readers in three ways. The volume focuses on the practices of reading and writing that are central to research in educational philosophy, suggesting that these practices constitute the research, rather than simply reporting it. It is not a prescriptive guide and should not be read procedurally. Rather, it is intended to illustrate the possibilities for this kind of research, and to suggest starting points for those pursuing research projects. Finally, attention is given to the ways in which conducting educational philosophy can be educative in itself, both to the researcher in writing it, and to its audience in reading it. With contributions from international scholars in the field of educational philosophy, this book is a valuable guide for practitioner-researchers, taught postgraduate and doctoral students, and early career researchers in university education departments. Academic staff teaching research methods and seeking to introduce their students to philosophy-as-research without wishing to offer a prescriptive ‘how to’ guide will also find this book of particular interest.

This book explores the complexities of investigating minorities, majorities, boundaries and borders, and the experiences of researchers who choose to work in these spaces. It engages with issues of ethics, disclosure and representation, and contends with and seeks to contribute to emerging debates around power and the positioning of researchers and participants. Chapters examine epistemologies that shape researchers’ beliefs about the forms of research that are valued in educational research and theory, and consider the importance of research that genuinely seeks to explore voice, culture, story, authenticity and identity. Resisting the backdrop of standardisation, performativity and accountability agendas pervading governments and organisations, the book attends to the stories of real people, to understand regional and rural landscapes, to examine culture and the human condition and to give voice to those at the fringes of society who remain largely neglected and unheard. Drawing largely on studies from Australia, the book provides an overview of the many types of research being engaged in, revealing the value of different kinds of research, and gaining insight into how meaning and findings are disseminated in research and educational sectors and back into the contexts where research takes place. Mainstreams, Margins and the Spaces In-between will be of key interest to early career researchers and academics internationally, as well as postgraduate students completing research methods courses in the field of education, and the wider social sciences.

I draw attention to the mathematics education of that group of learners who are usually on the margins of society and also on the margins of mathematics education research, theory and practice. These are children who for various reasons have left home, eke out a living on the streets of a city--referred to as "street children", and are often placed in "shelters" and "homes" (Chetty, 1997). I refer to research conducted related to providing mathematics education for such learners, to address firstly, the question of how such children come to engage particular experiences of mathematics education and secondly, the challenges and consequences of doing such research. The story I tell to respond to the theme of this panel--working for inclusion and diversity in mathematics education--is that of Nellie and Wiseman as researched and documented by Sheena Rughubar (2003), but I also reflect on broader issues of doing research and its processes and relations that involves working outside mainstream schooling and on working with research students in such settings. [For complete proceedings, see ED489178.].