Research and teaching work within university education departments: fragmentation or integration?

This article raises some questions about the current policy context of debates on the link between research and teaching in academic work, specifically within university education departments. It draws selectively from a research project which investigated education academics' perceptions and experiences in Scotland and England but focuses exclusively here on the Scottish institutions. Research activity as it is commonly defined and articulated, particularly as part of the selectivity mission driving the Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) in the UK, is increasingly perceived as the preserve of elite research-intensive universities and has served to fragment and differentiate research and teaching work within university departments. Using a communities of practice model, this article focuses on investigating the possibilities of creating a community of scholarly knowledge-building practice within these education departments, which can help to develop the research potential of academic staff previously not research-active as well as the student teachers being taught within these departments. Evidence from the project shows that at least within university education departments there is enormous potential to invigorate and innovate research and teaching work and for this to have beneficial implications for education professionals across the education sector.