Praktiknära forskning och lärarutbildningens forskningsbas

Practice-oriented research and research base in teacher education. A discourse analytical case study. The aim of the article is to analyse how a discourse focusing on practice-oriented research as a tool to develop the research base in teacher education emerges in Swedish national educational policy and is transformed at a local university level. We focus on the discourse as connected to university-internal calls for related to practice-oriented educational research. The empirical materials analysed comprise local policy documents and interviews with decisionmakers at the university. The study is inspired by Foucault’s discourse theory, in particular the notions of knowledge, truth and power. The results highlight a discursive movement of taken-for-granted ideas about what practical research should be and how it should contribute to teacher education. Moreover, the discursive construction of power relations on the local level is analysed. Finally, we argue that the seemingly positivist discourse on practice-oriented research as a solution for strengthening research base holds several ideological and practical challenges for universities.