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21/09/2023

RETINDE and educational research in Spain

aula de primaria

On April 27th, the RETINDE network, composed of 16 entities representing more than 6000 researchers from all over the State, published a position paper in which they present the current situation of educational research in Spain. The document highlights the ten issues affecting educational research in the country and suggests proposals for improvement.

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RETINDE is the Transdisciplinary Network of Educational Research, which will be created after a long period of talks and meetings between professors of Educational Sciences from different universities. Some talks that try to respond to the conscience, each more generalized, that the historical and traditional fragmentation of the university professors of education, by themes and knowledge areas, did not hinder an integral, dynamic, and generative development of our field of Knowledge and investigation.

Aware of the precarious situation of educational research in Spain, and after months of internal reflection, we elaborate, within the framework of RETINDE, a brief position paper that seeks to denounce this situation and formulate proposals for wealth. On April 27th of this year, a position paper entitled La investigación educativa en España: situación actual y propuestas de mejora was approved at RETINDE's regular assembly.

The document begins with the presentation of the great issues of educational research in Spain; the one that we characterize with the four basic struts: the state, autonomous and local policies of research in education; the development of research in education; the academic career of the research staff; and finally, the dissemination and application of the research results to educational practices.

The agents involved in its development are the state administration and the autonomous administrations; universities and other entities and organizations dedicated to research; the teaching and research staff (PDI) of universities and other research organizations; and other professionals (teachers and non-teachers) in education.

From here the position document defines the ten problems that afflict educational research in Spain. Among them, the disconnection of research results with educational practices; the low social incidence of research activity in education; and the general lack of knowledge among educational research teams about the projects and specific topics in which other teams and scientific groups are investigating. Finally, this section also considers the elements that should be influenced in order to achieve efficient development of educational research in Spain.

In the third and last part of the document, the challenges faced by educational research in Spain are presented and proposals for improvement are elaborated.

RETINDE's ambition is for this position paper to become a starting point to stimulate analysis and discussion about the reality of current educational research. A discussion that generates significant changes in the education sector as a whole. Improving educational research and the conditions in which it is produced will contribute decisively to optimizing the situation of the education sector in Spain.

Xavier Úcar

RETINDE's representative in Catalonia

Area of Theory and History of Education
Department of Theories of Education and Social Pedagogy
Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona

Xavier.Ucar@uab.cat

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