This book provides exemplars of some of the major forms taken by contemporary educational research, both qualitative and quantitative, illustrating their strengths and weaknesses. Education has always been a politically highly charged topic, perhaps never more so than at present, and the articles have been chosen to reflect this: the new vocationalism, the deprofessionalisation of teachers, ethnicity, league tables and the relationship between research and the political impact of research, are all represented in the collection. This is the companion volume to Educational Research: Current Issues edited by Martyn Hammersley. It is one of two course readers for The Open University course E824 Educational Research Methods.