Alis Oancea
Biographic Data
| ID | 2086553 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Alis Oancea |
| GIVEN NAMES | Alis |
| FAMILY NAME | Oancea |
| SIGNATURE | OANCEA A |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Oxford |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-8499-7036 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 17 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 43 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 17 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2005 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
‘Swirling' around translanguaging spaces of nature of science in multilingual classrooms
In order to create a linguistically inclusive environment for multilingual learners’ meaning making of nature of science (NOS), it is important to allow students to freely mobilise different linguistic and modal resources for meaning making. In this single case study of a Hong Kong seventh-grade linguistically diverse classroom, we characterise two types of translanguaging spaces for meaning making of NOS: NOS-negotiation space and NOS-inscriptio…
Choreographing collaboration in European higher education through competition in the European Universities Initiative
In 2018, the European Commission launched a competitive call, the European Universities Initiative, to prioritise and reconfigure higher education cooperation in the European Union through the formation of transnational university alliances. This paper explores the recent dynamics of the European Universities Initiative by analysing 26 policy documents and 70 semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders operating at local, national, and Europ…
European higher education policy as a plastique palimpseste
Since 2019, the European Union has set out on the endeavour to create ‘European Universities’ through its latest flagship higher education programme, the European Universities Initiative. These ‘European Universities’ are transnational university alliances that have been given the ambitious task to ‘transform the higher education landscape in the European Union’. European Union institutions, member states, and these ‘European Universities’ have d…
The gravity of the status quo
Using interviews with global research stakeholders, this research explores how stakeholders within research-system-level research governance organisations conceptualised, responded to, and reasoned the realities of disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, and how they positioned procedural changes to their governance mechanisms. Given that system shocks present critical challenges to established practices and embedded institutional norms, we u…
Students' Meaning‐Making of Nature of Science
Students' understanding of nature of science (NOS) has been largely examined primarily in written or verbal modes. The visual, verbal, and written modes are essential for students' meaning‐making of NOS. However, research has sidelined the interaction among these three modes in understanding students' collaborative discourse of NOS. Informed by theories of multimodality and social semiotics, this paper investigates the interactions between the vi…
Addressing ethical quandaries in practitioner research
In education and elsewhere, practitioner researchers sometimes experience ethical bewilderment when established university-based codes prove inadequate. We delineate this philosophically as a quandary, rather than a dilemma, necessitating responsible improvisation, which may be supported through hermeneutical conversation. We describe an exploratory study with eight participants. Analysis of pictorial designs, texts and interviews showed how they…
Teacher education research, policy and practice
This Special Issue includes papers that highlight aspects of teacher education research, policy and practice in Australia, England, Northern Ireland, the USA, and Wales. In this editorial, we exami
Research capacity-building in teacher education
This paper reviews recent policy understandings of research capacity in teacher education in the UK. It then draws on a case study from Wales to suggest a conceptualisation of research capacity-building in teacher education that encompasses individual, organisational and systemic levels while remaining sensitive to the particulars of professional practice in teacher education. We argue that a healthy ecology of research-rich teacher education pra…
The Impacts of Incentives for International Publications on Research Cultures in Chinese Humanities and Social Sciences
Incentives for improving research productivity at universities prevail in global academia. However, the rationale, methodology, and impact of such incentives and consequent evaluation regimes are in need of scrutinization. This paper explores the influences of financial and career-related publishing incentive schemes on research cultures. It draws on an analysis of 75 interviews with academics, senior university administrators, and journal editor…
Incentivising international publications
This study examines Chinese universities’ incentive schemes for international publication in the humanities and social sciences (HSS). It analysed 172 incentive documents collected at 116 research-intensive universities in China, including monetary bonus schemes and career-related incentives. This analysis is complemented by interviews with six senior administrators at six Chinese universities and four journal editors to explore the policy-making…
The contribution of educational research to teachers’ professional learning
In this paper, we argue from principle that teacher education must enable a positive relationship between educational research and teaching knowledge and practice. We discuss two popular conceptions of good teaching, which conceive of the teacher as craft worker and as executive technician, and suggest that, while each of these aspects of knowing reflects something of the qualities that good teachers need, any one on its own is insufficient. In c…
The ecologies and economy of cultural value from research
This study explored conceptually and empirically the ways in which those engaged with university-based arts and humanities research (researchers, managers, partners, beneficiaries) construct and respond to the challenges of generating, interpreting, and demonstrating the cultural value of research. Cultural value is a contested concept, beset by philosophical, practical and political tensions. We argue that interpretations of value – cultural or …
The Future of Teacher Education
Conceptions of teaching quality and teacher accountability, and the values and assumptions that underpin them, are relatively under-examined by policy makers. We suggest ways in which philosophers might address this deficit, with reference to policy concerns found in the United Kingdom (UK). Further philosophical questions are generated by this process of reflection and we offer a partial analysis of those we judge to be of particular significanc…
The Importance of Being Thorough
This article outlines and appraises the considerable criticism of educational research, both in the United Kingdom and in North America, and shows how it has pointed to a narrowing of what counts as good or worthwhile research in the policy discourse. In particular, this involved prioritising research that purports to show clearly and unmistakably ‘what works’, and institutionalising this view of research in a range of centres that receive offici…
Assessing quality in applied and practice‐based research in education
Some saw its introduction as a dreary ‘cul‐de‐sac’; others, as the answer to all of our problems in research funding. Like it or hate it, one of the most persistent features of the research environ
Expressions of excellence and the assessment of applied and practice‐based research
Critics of education research in the recent years have pointed the finger at what they saw as its low quality, impact, and ‘value for money’. In the context of the Research Assessment Exercise, particular concerns have been raised about applied and practice‐based educational research and how best to assess its quality. This contribution refines the ideas originally developed as part of a project commissioned by the ESRC in 2004 and completed in 2…
Criticisms of educational research
The article is an exploration of the meanings and worthiness of criticism as a significant phenomenon in the evolution of educational research during the 1990s. While drawing on an overview of the vast amount of documents expressing criticisms of educational research in the UK, western and eastern continental Europe and the USA, it summarises the findings of a study based on the analysis of some of the most influential texts that criticised educa…
Criticisms of educational research
The article is an exploration of the meanings and worthiness of criticism as a significant phenomenon in the evolution of educational research during the 1990s. While drawing on an overview of the vast amount of documents expressing criticisms of educational research in the UK, western and eastern continental Europe and the USA, it summarises the findings of a study based on the analysis of some of the most influential texts that criticised educa…
The Impacts of Incentives for International Publications on Research Cultures in Chinese Humanities and Social Sciences
Incentives for improving research productivity at universities prevail in global academia. However, the rationale, methodology, and impact of such incentives and consequent evaluation regimes are in need of scrutinization. This paper explores the influences of financial and career-related publishing incentive schemes on research cultures. It draws on an analysis of 75 interviews with academics, senior university administrators, and journal editor…
The Importance of Being Thorough
This article outlines and appraises the considerable criticism of educational research, both in the United Kingdom and in North America, and shows how it has pointed to a narrowing of what counts as good or worthwhile research in the policy discourse. In particular, this involved prioritising research that purports to show clearly and unmistakably ‘what works’, and institutionalising this view of research in a range of centres that receive offici…
Incentivising international publications
This study examines Chinese universities’ incentive schemes for international publication in the humanities and social sciences (HSS). It analysed 172 incentive documents collected at 116 research-intensive universities in China, including monetary bonus schemes and career-related incentives. This analysis is complemented by interviews with six senior administrators at six Chinese universities and four journal editors to explore the policy-making…
Expressions of excellence and the assessment of applied and practice‐based research
Critics of education research in the recent years have pointed the finger at what they saw as its low quality, impact, and ‘value for money’. In the context of the Research Assessment Exercise, particular concerns have been raised about applied and practice‐based educational research and how best to assess its quality. This contribution refines the ideas originally developed as part of a project commissioned by the ESRC in 2004 and completed in 2…
The ecologies and economy of cultural value from research
This study explored conceptually and empirically the ways in which those engaged with university-based arts and humanities research (researchers, managers, partners, beneficiaries) construct and respond to the challenges of generating, interpreting, and demonstrating the cultural value of research. Cultural value is a contested concept, beset by philosophical, practical and political tensions. We argue that interpretations of value – cultural or …
Students' Meaning‐Making of Nature of Science
Students' understanding of nature of science (NOS) has been largely examined primarily in written or verbal modes. The visual, verbal, and written modes are essential for students' meaning‐making of NOS. However, research has sidelined the interaction among these three modes in understanding students' collaborative discourse of NOS. Informed by theories of multimodality and social semiotics, this paper investigates the interactions between the vi…
Criticisms of educational research
The article is an exploration of the meanings and worthiness of criticism as a significant phenomenon in the evolution of educational research during the 1990s. While drawing on an overview of the vast amount of documents expressing criticisms of educational research in the UK, western and eastern continental Europe and the USA, it summarises the findings of a study based on the analysis of some of the most influential texts that criticised educa…
Assessing quality in applied and practice‐based research in education
Some saw its introduction as a dreary ‘cul‐de‐sac’; others, as the answer to all of our problems in research funding. Like it or hate it, one of the most persistent features of the research environ
Expressions of excellence and the assessment of applied and practice‐based research
Critics of education research in the recent years have pointed the finger at what they saw as its low quality, impact, and ‘value for money’. In the context of the Research Assessment Exercise, particular concerns have been raised about applied and practice‐based educational research and how best to assess its quality. This contribution refines the ideas originally developed as part of a project commissioned by the ESRC in 2004 and completed in 2…
The Importance of Being Thorough
This article outlines and appraises the considerable criticism of educational research, both in the United Kingdom and in North America, and shows how it has pointed to a narrowing of what counts as good or worthwhile research in the policy discourse. In particular, this involved prioritising research that purports to show clearly and unmistakably ‘what works’, and institutionalising this view of research in a range of centres that receive offici…
The Future of Teacher Education
Conceptions of teaching quality and teacher accountability, and the values and assumptions that underpin them, are relatively under-examined by policy makers. We suggest ways in which philosophers might address this deficit, with reference to policy concerns found in the United Kingdom (UK). Further philosophical questions are generated by this process of reflection and we offer a partial analysis of those we judge to be of particular significanc…
The contribution of educational research to teachers’ professional learning
In this paper, we argue from principle that teacher education must enable a positive relationship between educational research and teaching knowledge and practice. We discuss two popular conceptions of good teaching, which conceive of the teacher as craft worker and as executive technician, and suggest that, while each of these aspects of knowing reflects something of the qualities that good teachers need, any one on its own is insufficient. In c…
The ecologies and economy of cultural value from research
This study explored conceptually and empirically the ways in which those engaged with university-based arts and humanities research (researchers, managers, partners, beneficiaries) construct and respond to the challenges of generating, interpreting, and demonstrating the cultural value of research. Cultural value is a contested concept, beset by philosophical, practical and political tensions. We argue that interpretations of value – cultural or …
Teacher education research, policy and practice
This Special Issue includes papers that highlight aspects of teacher education research, policy and practice in Australia, England, Northern Ireland, the USA, and Wales. In this editorial, we exami
Research capacity-building in teacher education
This paper reviews recent policy understandings of research capacity in teacher education in the UK. It then draws on a case study from Wales to suggest a conceptualisation of research capacity-building in teacher education that encompasses individual, organisational and systemic levels while remaining sensitive to the particulars of professional practice in teacher education. We argue that a healthy ecology of research-rich teacher education pra…
The Impacts of Incentives for International Publications on Research Cultures in Chinese Humanities and Social Sciences
Incentives for improving research productivity at universities prevail in global academia. However, the rationale, methodology, and impact of such incentives and consequent evaluation regimes are in need of scrutinization. This paper explores the influences of financial and career-related publishing incentive schemes on research cultures. It draws on an analysis of 75 interviews with academics, senior university administrators, and journal editor…
Incentivising international publications
This study examines Chinese universities’ incentive schemes for international publication in the humanities and social sciences (HSS). It analysed 172 incentive documents collected at 116 research-intensive universities in China, including monetary bonus schemes and career-related incentives. This analysis is complemented by interviews with six senior administrators at six Chinese universities and four journal editors to explore the policy-making…
Addressing ethical quandaries in practitioner research
In education and elsewhere, practitioner researchers sometimes experience ethical bewilderment when established university-based codes prove inadequate. We delineate this philosophically as a quandary, rather than a dilemma, necessitating responsible improvisation, which may be supported through hermeneutical conversation. We describe an exploratory study with eight participants. Analysis of pictorial designs, texts and interviews showed how they…
The gravity of the status quo
Using interviews with global research stakeholders, this research explores how stakeholders within research-system-level research governance organisations conceptualised, responded to, and reasoned the realities of disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, and how they positioned procedural changes to their governance mechanisms. Given that system shocks present critical challenges to established practices and embedded institutional norms, we u…
Students' Meaning‐Making of Nature of Science
Students' understanding of nature of science (NOS) has been largely examined primarily in written or verbal modes. The visual, verbal, and written modes are essential for students' meaning‐making of NOS. However, research has sidelined the interaction among these three modes in understanding students' collaborative discourse of NOS. Informed by theories of multimodality and social semiotics, this paper investigates the interactions between the vi…
‘Swirling' around translanguaging spaces of nature of science in multilingual classrooms
In order to create a linguistically inclusive environment for multilingual learners’ meaning making of nature of science (NOS), it is important to allow students to freely mobilise different linguistic and modal resources for meaning making. In this single case study of a Hong Kong seventh-grade linguistically diverse classroom, we characterise two types of translanguaging spaces for meaning making of NOS: NOS-negotiation space and NOS-inscriptio…
Choreographing collaboration in European higher education through competition in the European Universities Initiative
In 2018, the European Commission launched a competitive call, the European Universities Initiative, to prioritise and reconfigure higher education cooperation in the European Union through the formation of transnational university alliances. This paper explores the recent dynamics of the European Universities Initiative by analysing 26 policy documents and 70 semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders operating at local, national, and Europ…
European higher education policy as a plastique palimpseste
Since 2019, the European Union has set out on the endeavour to create ‘European Universities’ through its latest flagship higher education programme, the European Universities Initiative. These ‘European Universities’ are transnational university alliances that have been given the ambitious task to ‘transform the higher education landscape in the European Union’. European Union institutions, member states, and these ‘European Universities’ have d…
Sociology (14 works) · Political science (13 works) · Epistemology (8 works) · Higher education (8 works) · Social science (8 works) · Pedagogy (7 works) · Philosophy (7 works) · Law (6 works) · Philosophy (5 works) · Psychology (5 works)