Educational research by applying scenario methodology

Abstract

The question of the possibility to create educational policies based on the research of long term directions of education development and their implications for educational practice attracts increasing attention of researchers. The paper presents the context of the emergence and development of studies turned to the future and their theoretical grounds as one of possible frameworks for reexamining the purpose and ways of developing the long term perspective in education. Within this multiple range especial place belongs to scenario methodology, whose general aim is to generate a corpus of the orientation knowledge as a guideline for present actions. The characteristics of this approach were first examined according to different definitions, functions and types of scenario. A separate segment of the report contains the presentation of key phases in the process of devising a scenario, possible ways to structure them and accounts of some experiences in the application of the scenario methodology in researches of education. Open are the questions of possible benefits of this relatively new methodological approach for initiating strategic discussions by including different agents in the analysis of current educational practice and considering and creating alternative views of possible directions of the future education development.

Keywords

• studies of the future
• scenario methodology
• scenario devising process