Salir de la sombra. Shadowing como propuesta metodológica para la investigación educativa

Lecture by Dr. Carla Fardella

When we talk about educational research, we refer to a field of knowledge disputed by multiple disciplines and international organizations, which leave the school actors and educational research in the shade. This reality has tended to prioritize standardized, comparative and measurement studies of the objective conditions presented by the educational system, to the detriment of those who have focused on local and idiosyncratic aspects of educational knowledge. Shadowing is a relatively new ethnographic strategy that allows you to access, reflect and study the local, micro-political, and idiosyncratic aspects of educational communities. In this presentation we will share some central elements of this device such as: (1) Origin, areas of application of the strategy and characterization, (2) Experiences and uses of the strategy and (3) the ethical-pragmatic implications of the strategy. Additionally, there are some final reflections on their usefulness and validity when it comes to generating focused educational knowledge at the site.

Carla Fardella is a PhD in Social Psychology and a Master’s Degree in Research in Social Psychology from the Autonomous University of Barcelona. She completed her postdoctoral studies in Higher Education Policies and reorganized the Academic Office at the Psychology School of the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso and is currently the Principal Investigator of the Fondecyt project, entitled “Scientific work in Chile: Instruments of public action, daily practices and labor identities” financed by the National Commission of Investigation, Science and Technology (CONICYT). She is an associate researcher at the Research Center for Inclusive Education. He has studied the transformations of work in different aspects of the public sector, especially in the area of ​​basic and higher education. In recent years she has specialized in the field of qualitative methodologies and the development of qualitative research strategies for the study of the subjective dimension and daily practices.