Use it or Lose it: Commentary on “Knowledge Utilization in Educational Policy and Politics”

Abstract

In this reaction to the Mitchell and Boyd article, comments are restricted to three areas. First, the importance of utilization of knowledge in the field of educational policy and politics is reiterated, and reinforcing observations are presented to points made in the article regarding the centrality of political utilization as a defining component of the field. Second, the need for additional investigations of the professional research environment, which has thus far produced the promising but limited interdisciplinary research in the field as identified by Mitchell and Boyd is suggested. Finally, a consideration of emerging conceptualizations of the diminished role of political ideology and the enhanced role of learning in an age of information is presented. Additionally, how they might lead to a new politics of learning-one in which the current policy control continuum might be joined with, or compete with, alternative ordering principles for the field of educational policy and politics-is discussed.

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References

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Mitchell, D. E. , & Boyd, W. L. (1998). Knowledge utilization in educational policy and politics: Conceptualizing and mapping the domain.Educational Administration Quarterly, 34, 126-140.

Weiss, C. H. (1991).The many meanings of research utilization. In D. S. Anderson & B. J. Biddle (Eds.), Knowledge for policy (pp. 173-182). London: Falmer.