Phenomenological Inquiry in Education: Theories, Practices, Provocations and Directions

Phenomenological Inquiry in Education is an edited collection of 16 chapters that offers a fascinating and diverse range of approaches and views about phenomenological inquiry as applied in educational research.

Written by a group of international scholars concerned about understanding lived experience, the editors assemble theoretical ideas, methodological approaches and empirical research to create a distinctive transdisciplinary outlook. Embodying many unique and useful insights the book provokes thought about the possibilities for phenomenology in contemporary educational research. The international contributors highlight what an exploration of lived experience can offer qualitative research and extend on methodologies commonly used in educational research. By grounding phenomenological inquiry in the complexities of doing research across discipline areas in education, the writers of the book forge links between theory and empirical research, and give their unique perspectives about how phenomenological ideas are being and might be employed in educational research. The book is thus carefully crafted to address both phenomenology as a philosophical tradition and its possibilities for educational research.

This scholarly work will appeal to educational researchers, as well as those in broader social research. It taps into the growing international interest in phenomenological research in education which brings attention to lived experience and the highly important affective dimension of learning.

Edwin Creely is a Lecturer in the Faculty of Education at Monash University, Australia. His research interests include creativity, poetry, literacy, digital pedagogy and school leadership. Edwin has a strong interest in phenomenological research and theory, as well as ethnography, and explores new models for educational research.

Jane Southcott is a Professor in the Faculty of Education at Monash University, Australia. As a phenomenologist, Jane researches education, cultural identities and hybridity, and community engagement with the arts focusing on lifelong education. A revisionist historian, Jane researches music education in Australia, Europe, England and the USA.

Kelly Carabott is an academic in the Faculty of Education at Monash University, Australia. Her research focuses strongly on digital competence, digital pedagogies, literacy learning and partnership work. Kelly draws on her experiences of being an early childhood, primary and tertiary teacher and also an academic to focus her phenomenological work.

Damien Lyons is a Lecturer in the Faculty of Education at Monash University, Australia. He is a qualitative researcher with expertise in hermeneutic phenomenology and narrative inquiry. Damien's research interests focus on pedagogies for 21st century literacy teaching and learning. Currently Damien is investigating literacy transitions between primary and secondary school using phenomenology.