Educational Research: Ethics, Social Justice, and Funding Dynamics

Paul Smeyers
is Professor at Ghent University and at KU Leuven, both in Belgium, and Honorary Professor at Stellenbosch University (South Africa). He teaches philosophy of education and methodology of the Geisteswissenschaften (Qualitative/Interpretative Research Methods). He is the author of numerous articles focusing on Wittgenstein’s relevance for philosophy of education, on postmodernism, and on issues of the methodology of educational research. He is President of the
International Network of Philosophers of Education
and link-convenor for Network 13, Philosophy of Education,
European Educational Research Association
. He is the Editor of
Ethics and Education
(Taylor and Francis). Together with Nigel Blake, Richard Smith, and Paul Standish he co-authored three books,
Thinking Again, Education in an Age of Nihilism, The Therapy of
Education, and with Michael Peters and Nick Burbules
Showing and Doing
. With Marc Depaepe he co-edited the series
Educational Research
(Springer, thus far 10 books). Recent publications include a co-authored book with Richard Smith (
Making Sense of Education and EducationalRresearch
, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2014), a collection co-edited with David Bridges, Morwenna Griffiths, and Nick Burbules (
International handbook of interpretation in educational research methods
, 2 vols., Springer, 2015) and a collection he edited for Springer,
International Handbook of Philosophy of Education
(2 volumes, to be published in 2018). His latest work focuses anew on Wittgenstein’s legacy for philosophy of education. Some of that is included in the collection edited by Michael Peters and Jeff Stickney (
A Companion to Wittgenstein on Education.
Springer, 2017). Attention to Smeyers’ contributions in this area are discussed in the Foreword (David Bakhurst), the introductory chapter (Editors), and in a separate chapter by Paul Standish of this collection.






Marc Depaepe
is Professor of History of Education and History of Psychology at the KU Leuven, campus Kulak (Flanders, Belgium). Deputy Vice-Chancellor at the KU Leuven, responsible for the campuses at Kortrijk (Kulak), Bruges and Ostend between (2013-2017). Co-editor-in-chief of Paedagogica Historica, since 2005. Former Secretary (1989-1991) and Chairman (1991-1994) of the "International Standing Conference for the History of Education" (ISCHE). Former President of the “Belgian Dutch Society for the History of Education” (BNVGOO) (1998-2002) and Vice-president of the “Internationale Gesellschaft für Historische und Systematische Schulbuchforschung” (IGHSSF) in Germany (1997-2008). Member of the Board of directors of the International Academy of Education (IAE), since 2012. Published and co-published abundantly on the history of education. His selected readings,
Between Educationalization and Appropriation
, were published in 2012. In 2015 he was awarded a honorary doctorate at the University of Latvia in Riga
.