The ethnographic study of education combines participatory research methodologies, theoretical engagement, and a richly descriptive genre of writing to depict the lived, everyday complexities of learning in all its forms. The etymological roots of ethnography—“writing the people”—underscore the field’s commitment to writing and to analytical holism. An ethnographic sensibility is key to understanding the power-laden subjectivities created in both formal education and informal learning practices. Education is ubiquitous, and there are many approaches to its ethnographic study. Participant observation is integral to many—but not all—ethnographers. Researchers use a range of qualitative methods (including sensory, visual, and creative approaches) to immerse themselves in, and make sense of, educational cultures. Ethnographic approaches have diffused from their early roots in anthropology and sociology across the social sciences. This bibliography suggests some general overviews of this diverse field, and highlights a range of relevant work. The most insightful ethnographies are book-length monographs, providing authors the opportunity to link together the empirical with broader questions of power and difference. Working across a range of learning fields, ethnographers are united by their careful attention to the everyday, the unexpected and the implicit. They highlight education’s role in generating and reproducing inequalities, at the same time as offering emancipatory possibilities. Any review is inevitably partial. Rather than using theoretical categories, the bibliography is roughly sorted by educational type, with sections on parenting, classrooms, schooling, and students. Further sections highlight innovative ethnographic work on informal learning and educational policies.
Informal CPD practices by TVET teachers in Kenya
