Transforming critical and participative teacher research into communicative action: a possible direction for teacher professional learning

ABSTRACT

This paper is an account of how a group of Japanese English language teachers, who questioned current teacher professional education and English language education reforms, learnt to challenge the dominant discourse and find ways of conducting more democratic teacher professional education. It describes how those teachers, including the author, generated a collective theory on communicative competence through the process of their inquiry. It explains how they came to appreciate the action research methodology used for this study, grounded in reflective practice, which in turn helped to develop the author’s understanding of second person action research. It also tells how the teachers learnt to take the initiative in communicating the thinking which informed their practices to others and began to engage in ‘communicative action’ As a result of these outcomes, the paper suggests a potential new form of teacher professional learning aimed towards more democratic relationships between participants. It is hoped that the implications of the research findings could contribute to broader discussions about policy pertaining to teacher professional development.     

Using Dialogic Research to Overcome Poverty: from principles to action

In the EU commitment to alleviating the high rates of poverty in Europe there is widespread agreement among policy-makers that it is crucial to include the voices of those who are living in poverty in order to fight exclusion most effectively. Similarly, those studying ways to address poverty and inequality are increasingly required to seek dialogue with those who are the focus of their research. These policy-makers and researchers need procedures that will allow them to move from the principle of including the voices of the most vulnerable social groups to specific ways of undertaking such a dialogue. Research using the critical communicative methodology (CCM) sheds some light on this. By examining aspects of the Integrated Project INCLUD-ED, the largest research on school education in the Framework Programme, this article argues that three elements of the CCM — egalitarian dialogue, successful actions’ approach and informing effective policies — facilitate the engagement between researchers, end-users, and all the other involved stakeholders and therefore the move from principles to action in the process of overcoming poverty in Europe. As this article and the special issue demonstrate, through those elements, INCLUD-ED has already provided scientific knowledge that is instrumental to shorten the distance between the present situation and the horizon of a Europe which is free from poverty.     

中等职业学校交往型师生关系的构建--基于哈贝马斯交往行为理论的视角

师生关系作为教育过程中产生的重要社会关系,是影响中等职业学校教育教学质量的重要因素。它直接影响教学质量和教师、学生的自我成长,是当前教育教学改革的重要环节之一。目前,中等职业学校师生关系存在诸多问题,其中师生间缺乏有效交往最为突出。文章以哈贝马斯的交往行为理论为基础,提出了交往型师生关系。该关系以有效对话为核心、以主体间性为前提、以“交往资质”为保障。中等职业学校要从思想、行动两个层面积极、有效地构建交往型师生关系,以有效解决传统师生关系中存在的问题。     

Dialogue conferences and empowerment: transforming primary education in Tanzania through cooperation

In this article we present and discuss experiences developed through a dialogue conference which we organised as part of a three-year participatory action research project related to primary education and agricultural education in Tanzania. We explore how dialogue conference as a research method can fill a gap between traditional ways of mutual problem-solving in Tanzania and research. Talking and sharing ideas is important for problem-solving, but the research demonstrated the need for a concrete base for the dialogue. After direct exposition to the local school practice, participants became more responsible and responsive to their environment. The participants agreed upon an action plan and distributed the responsibilities to implement the plan between themselves. The results show that the method opened up for uniting cooperative learning and research among participants and enabled the democratisation of knowledge creation and sharing. We argue that taking cultural conditions and concretisation of local challenges into consideration is important for harnessing the potential of the method in community development-oriented research.     

Lifelong learning and the reform of the teaching practicum in Australia

This paper reports the findings of a project—‘Lifelong learning and teacher education’—undertaken by the Centre for Lifelong Learning, Australian Catholic University, under the auspices of the Australian Commonwealth Department of Education, Science and Training. The study was designed to investigate the operationalization of lifelong learning in Australian teacher education. The study revealed that there is a range of existing, innovative practices regarding partnerships between schools and higher and further education that are in keeping with emerging ideas about lifelong learning. Moreover, some of these take the form of collaborative action research projects focused on improving the learning occurring in the partnership schools. This paper describes some current approaches in Australia to collaborative action research by teacher educators' and their partnership schools and shows how they contribute to lifelong learning. The approaches are then analyzed to suggest ways of advancing lifelong learning within Australian Education Faculties thus helping to make lifelong learning more of a reality for all.     

基于主体间性教育机会公平的理论研究维度

当下,教育领域正在以一种理性的态度商谈、交流和沟通,通过平等对话与交流,寄希望达到不同主体认识和情感上的共识,并达致教育机会公平的目的。主体间性思维方法为教育机会公平的实现提供了哲学方法论。在教育领域运用主体间性思维方式取代主体性单一主体范式,其关键问题是如何实现主体之间的可沟通性、可传达性。而“交往合理性”和“交往行为”为不同教育主体间的对话与沟通提供了可能性因子。     

Environmental Education Research in the Classroom: a shared methodological reflection by the teacher and the researcher

This article constitutes an attempt by a teacher and a researcher to jointly present their dual perspectives on the experience of a pilot phase of school‐based research. The discussion focuses upon the methodological difficulties that we each experienced both before, and during, the period of the research. In light of these, the article discusses concrete ways in which the methodology of the broader study could be improved, and considers the deeper issues relating to teacher‐researcher interaction which have emerged through this shared methodological reflection. We see this article as contributing to the growth of collaborative writing by researchers and research participants, and furthering the ongoing methodological dialogue within environmental education research.     

Multiplying perspectives and improving practice: what can happen when undergraduate students collaborate with college faculty to explore teaching and learning

Traditional structures in higher education support a separation between faculty members’ and students’ perspectives on classroom practice. This is in part because student-faculty interactions are typically defined by a focus on content coverage and by a clear delineation between faculty and student roles in engaging that content. This paper focuses on key findings from an ongoing action research study that aims to address these basic questions: (1) What happens when faculty and students engage in structured dialogue with one another about teaching and learning outside of the regular spaces within which they interact? and (2) How can such dialogic engagement become a part of both students’ and teachers’ practice? The study takes place within the context of a program that supports undergraduate students and college faculty members in semester-long partnerships through which they explore teaching and learning. The goal of these explorations is to examine, affirm, and, where appropriate, revise pedagogical practice. Constant comparison/grounded theory was used to analyze discussions among and feedback from participants. It was found that partnership facilitates both faculty and students multiplying their perspectives in ways that have the potential to improve teaching and learning. Participants consistently describe gaining new insights produced at and by the intersections of their experiences and angles of vision. Furthermore, they discuss how these insights deepen their own self-awareness and their understanding of others’ experiences and perspectives. Finally, they indicate that, as a result of gaining these insights and deepening their awareness, they are inclined to embrace more engaged and collaborative approaches to teaching and learning.     

Beyond employer engagement and skills supply: building conditions for partnership working and skills co-production in the English context

Education providers and employers working together to prepare young people and adults for employment is internationally accepted as a key factor in effective technical and vocational education. In the English context, however, we argue that two related orthodoxies have prevailed – ‘employer engagement’ and ‘skills supply’ – in which education providers have striven to gain employer involvement in their programmes and meet their skills needs. The effectiveness of these twin orthodoxies has been limited by the ‘New Low Skills Equilibrium’ (NLSE) involving a symbiosis of weaknesses on both the education and employer sides. The article draws on findings of a two-year research and development programme in East London which explored the process of education-employer partnership working to support inclusive growth in key economic sectors. The research suggested that this aim was best supported by processes of ‘co-production’ that actively involved both partners in attempting to address features of the NLSE. The research also pointed to constraining factors. The article concludes by identifying the conditions required for the realisation of co-production approaches that include the development of new collaborative structures – High Progression and Skills Networks (HPSNs) – involving a wide range of social partners at the local and regional levels.     

Collaborative epistemic discourse in classroom information-seeking tasks

The authors discuss the relationship between information seeking and epistemic beliefs – beliefs about the source, structure, complexity and stability of knowledge – in the context of collaborative information-seeking discourses. They further suggest that both information seeking, and epistemic cognition research agendas, have suffered from a lack of attention to how information seeking as a collaborative activity is mediated by talk between partners – an area they seek to address in this article. A small-scale observational study using sociocultural discourse analysis was conducted with eight 11-year-old pupils who carried out search engine tasks in small groups. Qualitative and quantitative analysis were performed on their discussions using sociocultural discourse analytic techniques. Extracts of the dialogue are reported, informed by concordance analysis and quantitative coding of dialogue duration. The authors find that: (1) discourse which could be characterised as ‘epistemic’ is identifiable in student talk; (2) it is possible to identify talk which is more or less productive; and (3) epistemic talk is associated with positive learning outcomes.     

Responding to the challenges of student-staff partnership: the reflections of participants at an international summer institute

This article contributes to the growing scholarly literature about students as partners in learning and teaching in higher education by describing an initiative designed to support partnership and a study investigating international staff and student perspectives. The initiative – an international summer institute – is a four-day, professional development experience that brought together students and staff from seven countries to learn about partnership and develop specific partnership projects. Participants in the institute were invited to contribute to a qualitative study exploring their experiences of students as partners work and their perceptions of the institute’s capacity to support it. Given that much existing research on this topic tends to be celebratory, we focus here on the challenges participants ascribed to student-staff partnership, and on the features of the summer institute they thought particularly useful in helping them to navigate these difficulties. Looking beyond the summer institute, we consider the implications of these findings for those looking to support partnership more broadly.     

Utilising collaborative forms of educational action research: some reflections

This article considers the value of collaborative forms of educational action research in higher education and the difficulties involved in implementing such forms of research. It is argued that educational action research represents an opportunity for improving teaching and learning and developing the knowledge and skills of those participating in the process. The article draws upon the author's experience of carrying out such research in a department of business and management. The need for a collaborative approach to educational action research is emphasised. However, the introduction of collaborative action research represents a significant challenge because it requires the commitment of participants; it needs both a critical and a supportive role from those involved; and it entails the management of a process in which participants often have different values and levels of influence. Such challenges can only be met by learning from the experience of introducing collaborative educational action research into higher education. Therefore further research (including action research) needs to be carried out into how it can be more successfully implemented.     

Towards collaborative professional learning in the first year early childhood teacher education practicum: issues in negotiating the multiple interests of stakeholder feedback

This paper analyses data from two sources of stakeholder feedback – first year pre‐service teachers and supervising teachers/centre directors – about the issues involved in creating more collaborative approaches to the first year early childhood teacher education practicum at an Australian regional university. The collection of this feedback was part of a broader participatory action research project directed at maximising both the effectiveness of the pre‐service teachers' knowledge acquisition and meaning‐making and the sustainability of the partnership underpinning the practicum. The paper provides new insights into a hitherto under‐researched area, that of pre‐service early childhood teachers' professional learning experiences in child care contexts. It uses, as a basis, the work of Cardini. The main findings are that there are multiple viewpoints and competing interests, resulting in asymmetries, dissonance and the potential for conflict.     

‘A guided walk in the woods’: boundary crossing in a collaborative action research project

This article discusses the ideal and practice of collaboration in a collaborative action research project in which university researchers work together with staff from the field of primary education. A qualitative case study was conducted using the theory of boundary crossing to make sense of the ways collaboration took place within the project team. The main theme, also a major dilemma in the project, referred to the transition from a democratic towards a more directive approach within the project design after the first year. The members of the project team took shifting and ambivalent positions within the project as they were trying to cross boundaries between the different goals of the project. Also, boundary objects on different levels contributed to the collaboration. We conclude that clear boundaries between groups or a strong shared identity, as proposed by an insider–outsider model of action research and the notion of first-order democracy, are not helpful in complex collaborative action research projects. Instead, we need the development of second-order democracy means in order to cross boundaries and sustain a critical dialogue about differences.     

两种典型的交际活动与交际能力培养

英语教学的目的在于培养学生的英语交际能力,课堂交际性活动是学生获得语言知识和培养交际能力的主要途径。教师应根据教学的不同时段和学生的语言基础,采用功能性交际活动和社会性交际活动。前者主要有分对对话、分组活动、值日报告、看图说话、配音;后者主要有角色扮演、辩论、短剧、话题采访活动。     

Learning from warthogs and oxpeckers: promoting mutualism in school and university research partnerships

In this article it is argued that metaphors can be useful in explaining the ways academics and teachers can work inter-dependently, using action research, to achieve different, but mutually beneficial outcomes. The authors explore several metaphors used by other writers to capture some of the essential characteristics of research partnerships, while playfully advancing their own biological metaphor of mutualism to emphasise the importance of inter-dependence and reciprocity in collaborative partnerships. They then draw on their experiences working in several major Australian projects, which employed collaborative action research as a reform mechanism. They discuss – with separate school and university (voices) – three issues that have emerged from their participation in these projects; the difficulties of establishing mutually beneficial partnerships, the different cultures of universities and schools, and using action research as a school reform process. The authors' reason for highlighting these issues is to demonstrate that participants' perceptions of project events and processes differ, and that perspective taking – being able to ‘see’ others' points of view – is a key component of collaborative work.     

Collaborative research for sustainable learning: the case of developing innovation capabilities at Volvo Cars

This paper aims to make a contribution to the stream of literature on action research by describing a longitudinal collaborative research project which evolved out of a long-term, participation partnership with Volvo Cars. The collaboration was aimed at developing innovation capabilities in the company and accumulating knowledge on how capabilities are developed. The paper provides insights into the design of collaborative research projects to enable mutual, sustainable learning. It draws on key notions in the literature on collaborative management research and action learning, highlighting the research design of the project at Volvo Cars and its relations to action learning. The paper describes how the research design opened the way to establishing a learning system at Volvo Cars while simultaneously generating new scientific knowledge within the area of innovation capabilities. The paper provides rich and detailed data on a collaborative research setting and highlights key aspects related to organizing and undertaking collaborative research.     

Enacting educational partnership: collective identity,decision-making (and the importance of muffin chat)

The rhetoric of partnership is ubiquitous in the current policy context. In education, partnerships take a number of forms among which is ‘interorganisational collaboration’ (IOC), defined as a partnership between institutions/organisations aimed at developing synergistic solutions to complex problems. But policy has a tendency to veneer, obscuring its enactment. The purpose of this paper is therefore to examine what such partnerships look like on the ground. Here we present an empirical analysis which aims to produce knowledge about the working of such collaborative groups and to provide insights into leadership within such partnerships. Drawing on communicative constitution of organisations operationalised within a schema for understanding the emergence of collective identity in IOC, we undertake an analysis of meetings held by a working group comprising academics and local authority staff set up to develop masters-level work-based professional learning for teachers. We ask, how do professionals working within different contexts create a collective identity that supports decision-making, and what are the implications for leadership?     

Oracles

This paper explores the potential of video capture to generate a collaborative space for teacher preparation; a space in which traditional hierarchies and boundaries between actors (student teacher, school mentor and university tutor) and knowledge (academic, professional and practical) are disrupted. The study, based in a teacher education department in an English university, is contextualised in the policy context of school–university partnerships. Video capture is used as a vehicle to promote dialogue and collaborative practice between partners during school-based elements of a teacher preparation course. Analysis highlights the power of this space to promote reciprocal learning across the partnership.     

Cultural Sustainability in Art‐Based Interdisciplinary Dialogue

This article introduces an international and interdisciplinary summer school, ‘Living in the Landscape’ (LiLa) in 2018. LiLa's practices focused on creating dialogue among art education, anthropology and nature science and developing culturally sustainable methods for investigating cultural heritage in the Komi Republic of Russia. The article's research interest is how dialogue and cultural heritage appear in the artistic processes, artworks and final exhibition of the summer school. These are examined through art‐based action research in order to develop international, multidisciplinary and culturally sustainable art education. The four‐field model utilised in the research highlights the multidimensional role of dialogue in both individual and collaborative artistic endeavours.