Limitations and Possibilities of Dialogue among Researchers, Policymakers, and Practitioners: International Perspectives on the Field of Education

The chapters in this edited volume raise important issues of the relation between research and its various external "publics." The authors examine the tension between the efficiency of a clear division of labor and the value of approaches that potentially promote dialogue and thus yield richer theory/research and policy/practice. This book raises questions about the adequacy of the two-cultures thesis for explaining the limited communication between theorists/researchers and policymakers/practitioners. As a result, it discusses approaches for enhancing the connections among theorists, researchers, policymakers and practitioners. The importance of this book is that it provides a corrective through a comparative perspective that re-couples the relation of theory, research and practice. It seeks not only to consider how that relationship might be rethought but provides cross-national comparisons to illuminate the possibilities and complexities of modern educational research.