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A narrative approach exploring schools of education in the contemporary university: the good, the bad, and everything in between.

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Title: A narrative approach exploring schools of education in the contemporary university: the good, the bad, and everything in between.
Authors: Stolz, Steven A.1 steven.stolz@adelaide.edu.au
Source: Educational Review. May2026, Vol. 78 Issue 4, p486-504. 19p.
Subject Terms: *Education, *Teachers, *Education research, *Bureaucracy, Public administration
Abstract: This article uses a narrative approach – in this case fictional dialogues – as a way of exploring schools of education within the contemporary university, with the aim of opening-up a serious debate about the alleged contribution schools of education make within the academy. In order to make sense of the alleged contribution schools of education make, I provide three short fictional dialogues that are intentionally meant to be thought-provoking and provocative, which are framed around the following broad themes: "the good", "the bad", and "everything in between". This is followed by a critical discussion and analysis of the fictional dialogues, where I intentionally draw from David Labaree's work as a valuable resource for understanding schools of education in the academy, the nature of teacher education, educational research, and other areas that are relevant to this article. I argue that educational departments do a thankless job of acting as a bridge between the differing worlds of the university and school (i.e. theme #1: the good). I then turn my attention to a notable trend in educational research, and the battle over what counts as educational research (i.e. theme #2: the bad). I conclude that schools of education cultivate a peculiar kind of profession and academic that is embodied by a bureaucratic-manager-type-of-academic that shares similarities with zombie academic leaders found within the contemporary university (i.e. theme #3: everything in between). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Copyright of Educational Review is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
Database: Education Research Complete
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  Data: A narrative approach exploring schools of education in the contemporary university: the good, the bad, and everything in between.
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Stolz%2C+Steven+A%2E%22">Stolz, Steven A.</searchLink><relatesTo>1</relatesTo><i> steven.stolz@adelaide.edu.au</i>
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  Data: *<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Education%22">Education</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Teachers%22">Teachers</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Education+research%22">Education research</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Bureaucracy%22">Bureaucracy</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Public+administration%22">Public administration</searchLink>
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  Data: This article uses a narrative approach – in this case fictional dialogues – as a way of exploring schools of education within the contemporary university, with the aim of opening-up a serious debate about the alleged contribution schools of education make within the academy. In order to make sense of the alleged contribution schools of education make, I provide three short fictional dialogues that are intentionally meant to be thought-provoking and provocative, which are framed around the following broad themes: "the good", "the bad", and "everything in between". This is followed by a critical discussion and analysis of the fictional dialogues, where I intentionally draw from David Labaree's work as a valuable resource for understanding schools of education in the academy, the nature of teacher education, educational research, and other areas that are relevant to this article. I argue that educational departments do a thankless job of acting as a bridge between the differing worlds of the university and school (i.e. theme #1: the good). I then turn my attention to a notable trend in educational research, and the battle over what counts as educational research (i.e. theme #2: the bad). I conclude that schools of education cultivate a peculiar kind of profession and academic that is embodied by a bureaucratic-manager-type-of-academic that shares similarities with zombie academic leaders found within the contemporary university (i.e. theme #3: everything in between). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
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  Data: <i>Copyright of Educational Review is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.</i> (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
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              Text: May2026
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