The Future of Research in International Pedagogies

The chapters in this volume have highlighted the diverse field encompassing international pedagogies and related research. In the introduction we suggested that a definition of ‘international’ was problematic. Indeed, our authors have spent considerable time justifying the definitions that they use in order to make sense of and argue for change in their particular discipline or area of interest. In each case the object of ‘research’ was also diverse. Some authors focused on the experience of students who encounter an internationalised curriculum, or who have experienced mobility, or who are becoming more aware of the backgrounds and cultures of their classmates. The notion of ‘pedagogy’ is equally problematic with our authors describing planned curriculum activities, serendipitous musings, evaluations of unit designs, teaching practices or assessment tasks. This leaves us with an expectation that there are many sub-fields in these areas that remain un-theorised, un-researched, and perhaps even un-developed. As Haigh and Haigh (2007) put it ‘Getting to know new disciplinary knowledge involves more than acquiring new concepts and propositions. It requires an awareness of underpinning epistemology, acquisition of new vocabulary and appreciation of different metaphors’ (p. 608).