Talking among ourselves? A personal journey across the silos of educational research

This short paper examines the nature of higher education (HE) research by identifying a series of ‘silos’ through which one researcher has travelled, or been a part of, during the course of his academic career. The eight silos: sector, thematic, discipline, methodological, analytical, ideological, regional and institutional each constitute distinct subcommunities through which educational researchers develop their academic identity. Research audit and epistemological fragmentation across national contexts has had the effect of driving researchers deeper into their silos. However, as members of a divergent and loosely knit scholarly community (Becher and Trowler, 2001), it is argued that there is a particular need for HE researchers to develop work which crosses sectors and national boundaries and engage, in the process, with a broader community of researchers in education and the social sciences. Copyright © 2006 Bruce Macfarlane.