What do educational science and the public good mean in the context of educational research for social justice?

This book has been written by a group of researchers who worked together variously over 2000-2015, who broadly share a commitment to educational research that leads to social justice. This introductory chapter sets out what we understand social justice to mean, and how this gives a particular connotation to the terms ‘educational science’ and ‘the public good’. We share the same approach to the nature of educational policy research and its purposes, namely that it should be designed and conducted with the intention of illuminating or having an effect on public educational policy, and that this effect should be generally to counter the inequalities between the treatment and outcomes of different social groups within society, whether those groups were determined with respect to class, gender, ethnicity, disability, and other social categories. These values, we argue, are central and critical components of our professional and intellectual research and judgments. They contribute to what we conceive of as the public good: a society in which structural inequalities are minimised; where diverse identities are valued; outcomes (educational and other) for individuals and groups are broadly equal; all individuals are valued and have agency; and all members of society are engaged and empowered