Strategies for Globalizing Researchin the Educational Sciences
JONES Keith
University of Southampton, UK
42nd JSSE conference
17-19 July 2018
Shinshu University, Nagano, Japan1

Example of globalizing research

Three UK researchers.
Intended for aninternational audience
Chinese translation of thisbook is due to be publishedin December 2018

Four UK-basedresearchers; one
originally from The
Netherlands and one
originally from China

One UK researcher,four from Portugal

One UK researcher, onefrom Canada, one fromMalaysia, one from US.

Increased globalizing2

Globalizing with researchers from JapanThe first researcher
from Japan that I met
was Prof Nakahara whenhe spent a semester atSouthampton in the mid
1990s.

My first visit toJapan was in2000 to attend
PME24 andICME9. I washosted by ProfKunimune.
Prof Kunimune
then spent asemester atSouthampton.

I started researching with Prof
Miyazaki in 2010, and later withDr Komatsu.
Dr Komatsu has just spent a yearat Southampton.

Dr Fujita completed his PhD at Southampton in
2003, and the next year I met Prof Yamamoto.

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Globalizing research in the Educational Sciences
Structure of presentation:• A few words about globalization and internationalization• Benefits and dilemmas of globalizing research• Globalization of research in general• Globalization of research in Education• Strategies to globalize Education research

4Globalization and internationalization
Globalization, while a contested notion, is theincreasingly globally-connected world thatpeople experience. This is “transforming
knowledge production processes, universities
and the academic profession” (Huang, 2013, p. 1)
The internationalization of universities is “theprocess of integrating an international,intercultural, and global dimension into the
purpose, functions (teaching, research, andservice), and delivery of higher education”(Knight, 2004, p. 26)

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Globalization of university researchBenefits of internationalized research:• Increased number of publications
authored and co-authored• Increased impact of research throughincreased citations• Increased research quality throughincreased ranking of the journals ofpublication

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Globalization of university research
Dilemmas of internationalized research:• international research focuses might notmatch with national priorities andtrends in the researchers’ own countries• the need for non-native speakers ofEnglish to write in English (the usual
language of international journals) isknown to be very demanding in a
number of ways

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Globalization of university researchInternational data from 2011:

Internationally, researchers in
Education are as international in
outlook as researchers in otheracademic disciplines

Internationally, researchers in
Education have similar levels ofinternational collaboration as
researchers in Social Sciences orEngineering

Source: Rostan, M., Ceravolo, F. A., & Metcalfe, A. S. (2014). The internationalization of research. In F. Huang et al. (Eds.), The internationalization of theacademy (pp. 119-143). Dordrecht: Springer.

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Globalization of university research
In Japan, researchers ingeneral are about asinternational in outlook as
researchers in othercountries.

In Japan, researchers havemuch less international
collaborations compared toresearchers in othercountries.

Source: Rostan, M., Ceravolo, F. A., &Metcalfe, A. S. (2014). The internationalizationof research. In F. Huang et al. (Eds.), Theinternationalization of the academy (pp. 119143). Dordrecht: Springer.

9Globalization of research in Education
Average number of publications by Education (and other) researchers in Japan :In Japan, the average number ofoverseas publications, andpublication in other languages,by Education researchers inJapan increased significantly
between 1992 and 2007

In Japan, the average number ofoverseas publications, andpublication in other languages,by Education researchers inJapan is much less thanresearchers in the Social
Sciences (and much less than theaverage across all academicdisciplines)
Source: Huang, F. (2015). Internationalization. In A. Arimoto, et al. (Eds.), The changing academic profession in Japan (pp. 197–211). Dordrecht: Springer.

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Globalization of research in Education
Jones and Oleksiyenko (2011) compared researchers in Medicine withresearchers in Education in a university in Canada (a bilingual country
with English and French as official languages) on the extent that theirresearch was local, national, and international:
MedicineEducation

LocalHigh emphasis

High emphasis

NationalHigh emphasis

Moderate emphasis

InternationalHigh emphasis

High emphasis

For the Education researchers in Canada, the lack of a national Ministry ofEducation (in a federal country like Canada) meant that the nationalemphasis of their work was moderate.
Compared to Medicine, the Education researchers primarily emphasizedindividual research.
Source: Jones, G. A., & Oleksiyenko, A. (2011). The internationalization of Canadian university research. Higher Education, 61(1), 41-57.

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Five strategies to globalize Education research
1. Realizing the potential contribution of local and nationalcontext and areas of expertise;
2. Building the work of national scholarly organizations(such as JSSE) in ways that link with internationalopportunities;
3. Possibilities for international funding for projects andacademic exchanges;
4. Opportunities for international conferences, meetings andvisits;
5. Opportunities for international publishing of articles andbooks.
12Strategy 1: local and national context
An example of Education research in Japanthat has gained international attention isLesson Study.
Japanese terms relating to Lesson Study
appear in research publications around theworld: kyozai-kenkyu, hatsumon, bansho,
kikan-shido, neriage, yamaba, matome, koshi,
and so on.
The reason for the use of Japanese terms isthese capture the essence of each notion,
which may not have equivalence in anotherlanguage.
Education research in Japan can offer theworld insights that may not have equivalenceelsewhere (as has happened with words ofJapanese origin that are now part of English,
ranging from emoji to futon to typhoon).

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Strategy 1: local and national context
Even so, the main focus of international
interest is Lesson Study as a form of teacher
professional development.
There seems to be less focus on Lesson Study
as a form of ‘Teaching Experiment’ researchor ‘Design Research’.
That Lesson Study has caught the global
Education imagination means that there arelikely to be other aspects of Education
research in Japan that can equally have
impact internationally.
What other aspects of Education research inJapan might have impact internationally?
Perhaps an example could be tokubetsu
katsudo (tokkatsu for short); Educating theWhole Child.

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Strategy 2: national scholarly organizations
National scholarly organizations have arole in ensuring that their academic
discipline remains healthy well into thefuture and in connecting members’scholarly interests to societal andglobal needs and interests.

In the aims there is no mention ofglobal needs and interest ….
But …

The aims of BSRLM are:
• To be the major forum for research into
mathematics education in this country;• To be both an environment for
supporting new researchers and a forum
for established ones;• To be accessible to as wide a range as
possible of people interested inmathematics education;• To promote the conduct anddissemination of research in mathematics
education in this country.

15Strategy 2: national scholarly organizations
NoRME is Nordic Society for Research in Mathematics Education

I am one of the
Editors of RME

Ensuring a healthy discipline might
involve the scholarly organization
engaging with the international
research agenda and finding ways,
including professional development
activities, which support its
members in globalizing theirresearch.
A scholarly organization might also
consider, or re-consider, how it
publishes for an international
audience and how it helps toencourage researchers in othercountries to engage with researchcarried out by its members within
their own country.
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Strategy 3: international funding
There are yet to be well-funded mechanisms for international collaborationin research.
Nevertheless, funding
schemes increasingly allow
a combination of national
funds by ministries andagencies that are flexible
enough for the requirementsof different knowledge areasand societal challenges.

17Strategy 3: international funding
Regional (or international) organizations could facilitate and mobilize
international funding schemes with a set of willing member countriesaligning around a common challenge or knowledge area.
One of the most successful international research collaborations is in thefield of agricultural research:
CGIAR established in 1971 tocoordinate international
agricultural research efforts
aimed at reducing poverty andachieving food security indeveloping countries. It currently
funds 16 research programs.

Is something similar possible in Education? It would take great collective effort to do so.
18Strategy 3: international funding
Are there regional (or international) organizations that could facilitate andmobilize international funding schemes with a set of willing member
countries aligning around a common challenge or knowledge area?

ICMI was founded in 1908 and does a good job of promoting international
activities and publications, fostering efforts to improve mathematics teaching andlearning worldwide, and assisting in the International Congress on Mathematical
Education (ICME) and events of affiliated organizations.
ICMI does not, at the moment, facilitate and mobilize international funding
schemes for research. But, could it? Such an outcome could start regionally.
Efforts might begin with bi-lateral funding.
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Strategy 4: international conferences
ICMI, and its associated activities, is one an example of an internationalorganization that organizes international conferences, with similar examples
existing in other parts of the Educational Sciences.
The 9th International Congress on Mathematical
Education (ICME-9, organized on behalf of ICMI)
was hosted in Tokyo/Makuhari in 2000.
The Study Conference for ICMI Study 24 istaking place in Tsukuba in November 2018.

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Strategy 4: international conferences
Engaging in international conferences, meetings and visits is an importantcomponent of the internationalization of research in the Educational Sciences
and can lead to international research collaboration.

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Strategy 5: international publications
For international
publishing, it isparticularly importantto understand thecriteria of international
journals in order to beaccepted, and how tosatisfy these criteria.

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Strategy 5: international publications
For the journal Research in Mathematics Education, these are the criteria:

Next, it is important to understand the process of peer review; this is amethod of critical assessment by independent experts.
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Strategy 5: international publications
Most international
journals use a processof peer review, amethod of criticalassessment byindependent experts.
Usually the process isdouble-blind: theauthor identity isconcealed from thereviewers, and viceversa.

24Strategy 5: international publications
How to write the discussion section is the most complex part of thescientific paper:

Source: Gea-Valor, M. L., Rey-Rocha, J., & Moreno, A. I. (2014). Publishing research in the international context: An analysis of Spanish scholars' academic
writing needs in the social sciences. English for Specific Purposes, 36, 47-59.

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Combining the strategies
1.
2.

3.
4.
5.

Realize the potential contribution of local
and national context and areas of expertise;
Build on the work of national scholarlyorganizations (such as JSSE) in ways thatlink with international opportunities;
Seek possibilities for international funding
for projects and academic exchanges;
Use opportunities at international
conferences, meetings and visits;
Develop opportunities for international
publishing of articles and books.

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Conclusion to globalizing Education research
Knowledge is deeply entwined within
the social context of the community inwhich it is created and reproduced.
This is especially the case for researchin Education.
There is a danger that knowledge islost through the process of translation
and assimilation into anotherlanguage.

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Conclusion to globalizing Education researchThe benefits of interacting withresearchers from other countries andbackgrounds leads researchers tochallenge their own assumptions about
what is being revealed through both
localized and internationalized research.

Not only that, the involvement of researchers from all countries meansthat it is more likely that global challenges can be tackled.
Such global involvement of researchers also helps to improve the qualityof research internationally.
The world-wide research community is impoverished if there is underrepresentation by any countries. No-one benefits from isolation.

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Conclusion to globalizing Education research29Conclusion to globalizing Education research
The world faces a number of
unprecedented challenges that are,in part, driven by demand on finiteresources.
It takes effort from everyone toconsider the global challenges andwhat can be done locally.
At the same time, local thinking can,and should, inspire globally throughthe strategies for globalizing
research in the Education Science
outlined in this presentation.
There is excellent research in
Education in Japan; please share it!
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Conclusion to globalizing Education research
Five strategies:
1. Realizing the potential contribution of local and national context andareas of expertise;
2. Building the work of national scholarly organizations (such as JSSE)
in ways that link with international opportunities;
3. Possibilities for international funding for projects and academicexchanges;
4. Opportunities for international conferences, meetings and visits;
5. Opportunities for international publishing of articles and books.
I hope that my explanation of these five strategies has been helpful.
Thank you for listening.
JONES Keith
University of Southampton, UK31