Professor Roy Bhaskar gives important address on Critical Realism to staff of the Institute of Education, University of London

By Dr. Matthew Wilkinson

Tuesday 19th November. Professor Roy Bhaskar, Lead Academic Advisor for Curriculum for Cohesion, gave important address on Critical Realism to teaching staff of the Institute of Education, University of London to suggest to IOE colleagues how the philosophy of Critical Realism can ‘underlabour’ educational research. The talk charted how the philosophy of Critical Realism emerged in the 1970’s as a philosophy of science that ‘vindicated ontology’ and showed how Critical Realism can lay a platform for rigorous and non-reductive social science. At Professor Bhaskar’s invitation, Dr. Matthew Wilkinson, Director of Curriculum for Cohesion, also explained how he is using the philosophy of Critical Realism to develop a theory of absence in and from the curriculum. The talk was well received and Dr. Jacek Brant, Head of the Department of Curriculum, Pedagogy and Assessment at the IOE, recognised the ground-breaking contribution of Professor Bhaskar’s thought.