This article serves to introduce the papers from a colloquium on ethnography and education (1978). It points up the major themes that emerged from the conference and traces their evolution in the research efforts during the 3 years between the colloquium and the present. Four themes in particular are discussed: (1) the discontinuity between school and the home/community contexts in which children live and the concomitant amount of 'work' demanded of children in coping with the discontinuity; (2) the relative usefulness of micro- and macro-ethnographic approaches; (3) a concern for understanding the roots of ethnography and for guarding the integrity of its theoretical underpinnings; and (4) the tension between theory and practice. The paper concludes with a brief outline of the book. (Author/AMH)