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- Boyle, Tess, et al.
(författare)
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Acknowledging, negotiating, and reporting ‘uncomfortable truths’ in action research
- 2023
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Ingår i: Educational Action Research. - : Informa UK Limited. - 0965-0792 .- 1747-5074. ; 31:5, s. 909-919
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Critical action research is a praxis-oriented professional learning practice. Such practice requires a move beyond viewing action research as simply a technical or practical method for teacher development; instead, it strives for critical and participatory research. When action research is reduced to a technicist process for professional learning, there is a tendency for valorising reported findings, so seemingly ‘celebratory’ stories emerge. Yet, the process of changing practices is complex and challenging. By sharing some of our own’ uncomfortable truths,’ we reveal the often-hidden realities of action research as spaces of contestation and negotiation, where uncomfortable truths are shared, examined, and sometimes silenced. This engagement in the form of ‘reflexivity of discomfort’ helps shed light on the need for Action Research to be (re)considered as more than a project and instead as a praxis-orientated approach that requires balanced reporting.
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| 2. |
- Boyle, Tess, et al.
(författare)
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Uncover the hidden imperative of communicative spaces: Negotiating uncomfortable truths through action research
- 2019
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Ingår i: CARN conference. Imagine Tomorrow: Practitioner Learning for the Future, Split, October 17-19, 2019.. - : Collaborative Action Research Network (CARN).
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Uncovering the hidden imperative of communicative spaces: Negotiating uncomfortable truths through action research Critical action research is a praxis-oriented professional learning practice. Such practice requires a move beyond viewing action research as simply a technical or practical method for teacher development; instead, it strives for research that is critical and participatory. When action research is reduced to a technicist process for professional learning, there is a tendency for valorising reported findings so seemingly ‘celebratory’ stories emerges. Yet the process of changing practices is complex and challenging. Often the realities of learning and change means that communicative spaces in action research are spaces for contestation and negotiation, where uncomfortable truths are shared, examined and sometimes silenced. Uncovering these aspects of the change endeavour is a necessary part of addressing and reporting the realities of practitioners’ experiences and outcomes in action research taken up in this symposium. We propose that this is an imperative for safe-guarding the future uptake of action research among the professions. Drawing on cross-sectoral action research projects in Australia, New Zealand and Sweden, this collection of papers examines the conditions that enable and constrain communicative spaces as ‘sites’ for praxis. In doing so we expose uncomfortable truths about communicative spaces in critical action research, whilst also examining distinctive conditions which act as mechanisms for sustaining practice and praxis development. Papers reveal ways praxis, as morally committed action, forms a fundamental condition for uncovering uncomfortable truths often ignored. We argue that preserving criticality in action research demands negotiating contested ideologies and practices, and ultimately legitimises the dialogic in, and for, professional learning. We conclude with this provocation for discussion: Is critical action research ‘at risk’ of appropriation by technical interests and aims that oft ignores taken-for-granted knowledges, values and practices of the professions and the messiness of change?
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| 3. |
- Edwards-Groves, Christine, et al.
(författare)
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Action Research conceptualised in seven cornerstones as conditions for transforming education
- 2022
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Ingår i: International Journal of Action Research. - : Verlag Barbara Budrich GmbH. - 1861-1303 .- 1861-9916. ; 18:2, s. 116-133
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This article traces the philosophical and theoretical roots of Action Research to rescript its promise for site-based educational formation, reformation and transformation. The process of historicising Action Research through an extensive review of the extant literature, enabled us to establish seven cornerstones that captured the essence of the critical conditions: the practices and practice architectures, that give coherence and comprehensibility to Action Research as necessary for sustained and sustainable change in education. Framing these practices and practice architectures as cornerstones sets down important benefits for contemporary education requiring critical inquiry, rethought purposeful action and systematic responsive development. The cornerstones: contextuality, commitment, communication, collaboration, criticality, collegiality and community, were derived from viewing Action Research from its historical principle committed to democratic way of working. It is our position that the cornerstones account for, acknowledge and extend traditional perspectives and descriptions; and assist practitioners deepen understandings about the conditions necessary for opening up generative possibilities of Action Research in ways that do not neglect or lose sight of its core historical connections and democratic virtues.
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| 4. |
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| 5. |
- Edwards-Groves, Christine, et al.
(författare)
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Facilitating a culture of relational trust in school-based action research: recognising the role of middle leaders
- 2016
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Ingår i: Educational Action Research. - : Informa UK Limited. - 0965-0792 .- 1747-5074. ; 24:3, s. 369-386
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Practices such as formal focused professional dialogue groups, coaching conversations, mentoring conversations and professional learning staff meetings have been taken up in schools and pre-schools as part of long-term action research and development activities to improve the learning and teaching practices. The development of relational trust has long been described in the literature as pivotal for the ongoing ‘success’ of such research and development in sites. In this article, we attempt to re-characterise relational trust as it is accounted for by participants in action research. We present data from a cross-nation study of middle leaders from Australian primary schools and Swedish pre-schools. Middle leaders are those teachers who ‘lead across’; they have both an acknowledged position of leadership or responsibility for the practice development of colleagues and a significant teaching role. The larger study examined the practices of middle leaders; and in this article we draw on interview data from one of the case-study sites that illustrate how colleagues in schools recognise the role middle leaders have for facilitating action research and teaching development. This article specifically presents excerpts from semi-structured interviews with 25 teachers, three principals, three executive teachers and three district consultants. Interviewees described how nourishing a culture of relational trust and mutual respect are critical features in the change endeavour. For them, the practices of the middle leader who facilitated the action research were instrumental in developing trust for teacher development. Analysis of participant accounts revealed five dimensions of trust: interpersonal trust, interactional trust, intersubjective trust, intellectual trust, and pragmatic trust.
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| 6. |
- Edwards-Groves, Christine, et al.
(författare)
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Facilitating a culture of relational trust in school-based action research: recognising the role of middle leaders
- 2018
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Ingår i: Partnership and Recognition in Action Research. - Abingdon, Oxon : Routledge. - 9780367000851
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Bokkapitel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Practices such as formal focused professional dialogue groups, coaching conversations, mentoring conversations and professional learning staff meetings have been taken up in schools and pre-schools as part of long-term action research and development activities to improve the learning and teaching practices. The development of relational trust has long been described in the literature as pivotal for the ongoing ‘success’ of such research and development in sites. In this article, we attempt to re-characterise relational trust as it is accounted for by participants in action research. We present data from a cross-nation study of middle leaders from Australian primary schools and Swedish pre-schools. Middle leaders are those teachers who‘lead across’; they have both an acknowledged position of leadership or responsibility for the practice development of colleagues and a significant teaching role. The larger study examined the practices of middle leaders; and in this article we draw on interview data from one of the case-study sites that illustrate how colleagues in schools recognise the role middle leaders have for facilitating action research and teaching development. This article specifically presents excerpts from semi-structured interviews with 25 teachers, three principals, three executive teachers and three district consultants. Interviewees described how nourishing a culture of relational trust and mutual respect are critical features in the change endeavour. For them, the practices of the middle leader who facilitated the action research were instrumental in developing trust for teacher development. Analysis of participant accounts revealed five dimensions of trust: interpersonal trust, interactional trust, intersubjective trust, intellectual trust, and pragmatic trust.
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| 7. |
- Edwards-Groves, Christine, et al.
(författare)
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Generating leading practices through professional learning
- 2013
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Ingår i: Professional Development in Education. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1941-5257 .- 1941-5265. ; 39:1, s. 122-140
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In this paper we show how practices of professional learning and practices of leading can be understood as related in ecologies of practices. We will present findings from an international empirical research project that directs us to the connectivity between professional learning and leading practices that emerged as ‘adventitious’, ‘opportune’ and ‘unexpected’ outcomes of long-term professional learning. We will show how practices (like professional learning) that exist in real situations shape other practices (like teaching and leading) when each creates enabling and constraining conditions for the others; they are mutually sustaining when together they form an ecology of practices existing in a dynamic ecological balance. Results build on established literature describing professional learning which customarily describes the characteristics, conditions and outcomes of effective professional development programmes. Specifically, our findings add a new dimension to the descriptions of the influences and accomplishments of professional learning – the development of teacher leading capacities.
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| 8. |
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| 9. |
- Edwards-Groves, Christine, et al.
(författare)
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Generative Leadership Rescripting the Promise of Action Research
- 2021
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Bok (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This book is about the generative nature of leading practices when teachers, as learners, participate in long term action research projects for the purpose of professional development. In this book we will show how practices of professional learning and practices of leading can be understood as related (and developed) in ecologies of practices; we will show how these are explicitly connected. Our findings direct us to the connectivity between professional learning and leading practices that over time - after participating in long term action research programs - emerged as ‘significant’ yet ‘unexpected’ outcomes. We will present work from international empirical research which has been conducted in Australia and Sweden since 2000. This extensive research has primarily involved studying the effects of programs of long term action research on education practices in schools in Australia and Sweden. As researchers, we were involved in both the implementation and the study of action research projects in our own countries which uniquely positioned us as participants, participant observers and researchers. Our data firstly tracks participants and the changing or transformative nature of their practices since the early 2000s with accounts of how their participation in their respective professional learning programs influenced their learning and leading practices after they completed the year long action research course, and specifically reflected how they perceived the conditions which enabled and constrained practices. Common among our participants was that they had participated in a 12 month action research project and continued on after their initial teacher learning project in roles as teacher leaders facilitating teacher learning in their own sites (in schools, municipalities or district). They had become ‘drivers’ of system change and continued to lead teacher learning in local contexts often in preference to taking on more formal leadership positions (e.g. principal or other specific leadership roles) even if sought after. Participants drew directly upon their own experiences both in the program as a learner, and since the program completion as a teacher leader facilitating professional learning in their own contexts (schools, municipalities or districts). There was widespread agreement among participants about the conditions which enabled and constrained the conduct of their practices and practice development - in both learning and leading- and what constitutes ‘sustainability’ in professional learning programs. Secondly, and distinctively, it will present a more fine-grained analysis of these action research sessions as they unfold as action and interaction. The research draws on a range of qualitative methods including taped observations of implementation sessions, field notes, interviews, participant mind maps and conversation analysis. Expectedly, results build on established literature describing professional learning which customarily describes the characteristics, conditions and outcomes of effective professional development programs. While this literature typically identifies professional learning as a means of stimulating change in classroom practice and pedagogy, improvement in student learning outcomes and sometimes connected to the benefits of teacher’s collective learning, it is rare for it to be attributed to the development of teacher leading. This is the distinctive focus of the book we are proposing. It centres not on ‘leadership’, in and of itself, but rather how teacher learning is ecologically connected to teacher leading. Our research has shown how this emerges when teachers are involved in programs of professional learning over time when both external and internal conditions are supportive and nourished in practice sites. Broadly, we will show readers how practices (like professional learning) which exist in real situations shape other practices (like teaching and leading) when each creates enabling and constraining conditions for the others; they are mutually sustaining when together they form an ecology of practices existing in a dynamic ecological balance. Specifically, our findings add a new dimension to the descriptions of the influences and accomplishments of professional learning, that being the development of teacher leading capacities.
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| 10. |
- Edwards-Groves, Christine, et al.
(författare)
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Leading as shared transformative educational practice
- 2020
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Ingår i: <em>Pedagogy, education, and praxis in critical times</em>. - Singapore : Springer. - 9789811569258 - 9789811569265 ; , s. 117-140-
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Bokkapitel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This chapter examines the practices of leading, as an important facet of the extended professional work and experience of educators. It employs a site ontological lens to examine the duality of leading in and for education. The chapter conceptualises leading as a co-constructed, socially situated practice, and focuses on the “happeningness” of leadership, making the actual practices of leading its main emphasis. In particular, questions about the nature and particularity of professional practice as it is enmeshed in different local, national, and international education sites are explored. In so doing, it addresses the following question in relation to leading, that is, how, in different national contexts, is good professional practice (“praxis”) being understood and experienced by teachers, and educators, more broadly? By drawing on the theory of practice architectures, the chapter explores (1) leading as a practice, (2) leading from, within, and beyond the middle, and (3) leading as a democratic practice. Analysis of these interrelated elements aims to contribute to a broader inquiry concerned with understanding, practising, and changing educational leadership by establishing the dynamism of leading as a practice for orchestrating conditions that enable shared educational transformations. The chapter concludes by reorienting leading as being a shared transformative educational practice.
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