Educational research is repeatedly confronted with the question of its relevance. Current interpretations of relevance narrowly focus on outcomes and impact of research. In this essay, we propose an alternative, ontological conceptualization of relevance, arguing that more is at stake than outcomes and impact. We characterize the ontology of education and learning in terms of people’s meaningful movements in an always changing world and propose that relevance of educational research resides in what we call “ontological synchronization”—continuous attunement to what is happening and matters at hand, and what future is being generated, including what values and judgments researchers themselves perpetuate in society. Such synchronization, we conclude, hinges on a disciplinary and ethical commitment to principles of actuality and generativity. We discuss what such conceptualization of relevance implies for educational research.

教育研究反复面临其相关性问题。当前对相关性的解释狭隘地关注研究的结果和影响。在这篇文章中，我们提出了另一种相关性的本体论概念化，认为比结果和影响更重要。我们根据人们在不断变化的世界中有意义的运动来描述教育和学习的本体，并提出教育研究的相关性在于我们所谓的“本体同步”——对正在发生的事情和手头的事情以及未来的持续协调正在产生，包括研究人员自己在社会中延续的价值观和判断。我们得出结论，这种同步取决于对现实性和生成性原则的纪律和道德承诺。