Past,present and future of the European Educational Research Association (EERA) and European Conference on Educational Research: Roundtable with former EERA presidents and secretary generals about the significance of the EERA and its future

Participants in this roundtable were Prof. Sverker Lindblad, President (1999–2001), Prof. Ingrid Gogolin, President (2004–2009), Prof. Martin Lawn, Secretary General (1999–2001), Prof. Lisbeth Lundal, Secretary General (2006–2008) and Marit Honerød Hoveid (Current Secretary General), who acted as chair.

In this roundtable some aspects of the European Educational Research Association (EERA) as an umbrella organisation for educational research in Europe were discussed. From the outset of the association in 1994 some of the following goals were outlined for the organisation:

• Educational research is at a critical stage of transition from relatively uncoordinated to more coherent activities, intended, among other things, to provide educational research policy makers with a better framework than in the past upon which policy makers can base their decisions. International cooperation is an important element of this strengthening process.

• Every country in Europe has different infrastructures in place for educational research. Countries with weaker infrastructures in this area should be able to benefit from countries with stronger structures. A broadly conceived European educational research association can play an important role in the related exchange and transfer processes.

• In several countries – France, in particular – education sciences are currently at the centre of an epistemological controversy. The EERA could become an important conduit for internationalising such discussions.

• The existing international associations are either specialised in one specific discipline (e.g. psychology) or in one particular area (e.g. adult education). Moreover, there is a need for an umbrella organisation based on a broadly defined, unrestricted concept of educational research.

• The international organisations active in the field of education have a strong need for a discussion partner who can represent the entire field of educational research (this argument was made by the participating representatives of the Council of Europe and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)). An umbrella organisation of NERAs [National Educational Research Associations] and SERAs [Specialised Educational Research Associations] could act as such a partner.

• Many SERAs are confined to Western Europe. A European educational research association should try to also bring Eastern Europe into the fold (Gretler, 2007: 176–177).

In this roundtable these same questions were discussed in light of what future one foresees for the organisation and the conference.

Introduction

At the European Conference on Educational Research (ECER) in Porto 2014, the EERA celebrated its 20th anniversary. The EERA was established on the June 18th 1994 in Strasbourg. Relatively speaking it is still a young organisation, and in human terms at the point of becoming grown-up. What better time to discuss, with some of its ‘parents’, former presidents and secretary generals, people who have played a leading role in developing the EERA and ECER, issues concerning the past, present and future of the organisation. The inevitable problem arises immediately, what the EERA as an organisation is doing and the research areas it covers is vast, so finding a common focus for a discussion is equally difficult. The four participants in this roundtable then also decided to address slightly different aspect of the EERA and ECER.

Despite references to some difficulties in the first years of the organisation, all participants in this roundtable referred to the development that has taken place as a success story. Being a success, however, does not mean everything has been solved. In a European organisation, where the lingua franca is English, or rather Broken-English, the question was raised: Who is given a voice within this forum? This question is specific for the EERA and ECER, and is maybe a question we need as a constant reminder of the multiple landscapes of nationalities and languages we operate in. A follow-up from this is the question: What is a European research space? Or even the contesting of the idea that such a space exists; since educational research travels across national and regional boundaries, it is international. If a European dimension is something we can create in our work as researchers, what does that mean for us as individual researchers? Does it add something one would not get if one operates purely within national boundaries or even on a broad international arena? As it was commented on in this roundtable, the interesting part is actually that as Europeans we ask ourselves these questions – you will not automatically do that if you belong to an American or Australian research association. Several other questions referring to visibility of educational research, communication and collaboration across research traditions and disciplines within educational research were discussed. In the following papers some aspects of this discussion will be addressed by two of the participants.

In Martin Lawn’s notes from the roundtable he addresses a question he sees as crucial: What does it mean to be a European educational research association, and who are its members? Then, Sverker Lindblad addresses some questions related to visibility and reflexivity. After some short reflections on the expansion the EERA and ECER, what he specifically writes about are some prospects he sees as important for the future. These are linked to the internal organisation of the research networks and, furthermore, he picks up the idea of developing an observatory for European educational research. As such they represent important voices about some questions the EERA needs to address in years to come. Both notes are personal reflections and they represent the opinion of the author. But also in my opinion they represent a culture within the EERA/ECER, a culture where differences of opinion and critical discussion are cherished.