Autoethnography,a Chicana's Methodological Research Tool: The Role of Storytelling for Those Who Have No Choice but to do Critical Race Theory

This article investigates the role of autoethnographic research as the methodological tool of choice for a Chicana who positions herself along the liminal perspective. I posit that testimonios, autobiographical educational experiences, must be used as valid ethnographic research to contribute to existing knowledge around issues of educational equity. Producing autoethnographic research acknowledges and validates my Chicana presence as well as draws attention to my marginal position inside dominant structures of education. Autoethnography and critical race theory are the manners in which I think about the world and the ways I have chosen to engage in educational research. My work is derived from personal experience in Los Angeles urban schools and later in elite institutions of higher education. These distinct locations present a unique opportunity to problematize the internalized forms of class and racial structures that permeate educational institutions. Grounded in my own educational biography, testimonios frame my research perspective to interrogate the role that educational institutions play in the creation of particular ideologies in working-class students of color.     

Counselling women: Information from diverse ethnic cultures

The bulk of the literature on counselling women relates to the North American context. Recognizing the inherent limitation and bias in this relatively narrow perspective, the paper was an attempt to expand the boundaries of our knowledge on issues in counselling women beyond the North American scene.Paper presented at the Eleventh International Round Table for the Advancement of Counselling, Aarhus, Denmark, August 1984. I would like to thank my colleagues who authored portions of this paper, as will be duly noted. For information about particular aspects of the paper, readers are encouraged to write to the individual authors.     

Special educational needs and inclusion,moving forward but standing still? A critical reframing of some key issues

This article draws together my thinking in relation to special educational needs and inclusion that have dominated my practice. The article, through the concept of embodiment, revisits, reviews and reframes the key issues of the construction of special educational needs, inclusion and the ideology that binds them together. Through this exploration, I argue we often seem to move forward with policy while in reality standing still in ensuring the ‘success’ of all of our pupils. By critiquing and reframing taken‐for‐granted assumptions and the sacred words ‘success’ and ‘achievement’, this article maps out the future directions of inclusive education. It concludes with a reflection on my first days as a ‘teacher of special educational needs’ and my work to support Kenny, a student with cerebral palsy. This personal reflection maps out a different form of educational success that perhaps could provide a forward momentum to develop more successful inclusive education policy and practice.     

Neither Humean Nor (Fully) Kantian Be: Reply to Cuypers

In this paper I reply to Stefaan Cuypers' explication and critique of my views on rationality and critical thinking ( Cuypers, 2004 ). While Cuypers' discussion is praiseworthy in several respects, I argue that it (1) mistakenly attributes to me a Humean view of (practical) reason, and (2) unsuccessfully argues that my position lacks the resources required to defend the basic claim that critical thinking is a fundamental educational ideal. Cuypers' analysis raises deep issues about the motivational character of reasons; I briefly address this matter as well.     

Issues to Study in Rural Educational Reform

From December 14 to 18, 1987, the State Education Commission and the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Husbandry, and Fisheries held a conference in Pingdu County, Shandong Province, to exchange experiences in rural education aimed at improving the local economy. The Chinese Education Association also held a conference at that same location on rural educational reform. Having heard the speeches and read the papers of my many comrades at the two conferences, I feel inspired and enlightened. Now, based on my own preliminary study, I wish to present some issues for discussion with scholars in this field.     

Adapting the boundaries in primary physical education: an account of my learning,my educational influence and improved practice

In this paper I explore how I have come to theorise my work as a critical emancipatory practice as a lecturer in primary physical education (PE). I give an account of what I understand to be the epistemological foundations and practices of practitioner research and my potential educational influence in my own and other practitioner-researchers’ learning. I explain how I have generated my living educational theory of practice and discuss the changes in my learning from a propositional approach towards a dynamic epistemology of practice that is grounded in inclusional and dialogical ways of knowing. Within my paper I position myself as a professional educator and researcher, and share the exciting and transformational experiences of teaching and learning in evolving action research cycles of practice. I view my learning to date as an active act, working with the novice teachers I support to offer improvement and change in our future practice. I celebrate my reconceptualised view of education as a learner from within my practice and explain my move from knowledge transfer to knowledge co-creation. I make an original contribution to educational knowledge by explaining how I try to inspire others to research their practice and contribute to a new scholarship of educational enquiry.     

Beyond ‘talking out of school’: educational researchers as public intellectuals

This conceptual article explores the notion of educational researchers operating as public intellectuals. To do this, I situate my analysis within a broader tradition of public intellectual work in the American academy. I also offer a framework for three specific forms of public intellectual work, supported by relevant examples, which can be taken up by educational researchers. I then raise critical issues, concerns, and tensions that complicate such work, and conclude by offering suggestions for better linking educational research to the broader public. Although this article focuses largely on researchers working within the university context, particularly tenure-line faculty, many of its insights are applicable to independent researchers, policy analysts, or others working within the broadly defined field of educational research.     

If Not Absolute Objectivity,Then What? A Reply to Kauffman and Sasso

Because researchers cannot achieve theory-free observation, it is therefore impossible to attain absolute objectivity. This realization has led to issues of major consequence concerning our understanding of educational research and of ourselves as educational researchers. Specifically, serious questions have been raised about the nature of knowledge, truth, reality, and relativism. In my response to Kauffman and Sasso (2006, this issue), I discuss these issues and make the case that the questions confronting us must be engaged directly if we hope to resolve disagreements about the worthiness of various educational practices.     

Elite power and educational reform: An historiographical analysis of Canada and the United States

In this article, I reopen some of the seminal theoretical debates among critical scholars on the nature of educational reform, arguing that there has been a consistent tendency in the literature to dismiss or downplay the significance of “instrumentalist” analyses in favour of cultural/hegemonic and structuralist explanations. As a result, education scholars who advance the instrumentalist emphasis on elite intervention in the policy process and the importance of organised class action have often been dismissed as one-dimensional and conspiratorial. To support this argument – and, by extension, those made by instrumentalist theorists – I bring together historical evidence from Canada and the United States in three historical periods: the mid-nineteenth century, the early twentieth century and post-Second World War. In each of these historical periods, I demonstrate how the structure and purpose of educational institutions were modified largely at the behest of economic elites (closely associated with political power and the professional educational establishment) in order to shape and implement a particular model of educational reform. Central to my argument is that powerful economic actors have always recognised the political nature of schooling and that elite class consciousness is and has been well-developed with respect to educational issues. The concluding section outlines the implications of my arguments for the future of educational reform.     

Developing holistic practice through reflection,action and theorising

This article outlines how I, as a primary teacher engaging with a self-study action research process, have come to a deeper understanding of my practice. It explains how I have also come to an understanding of why I work in the way I do; of how this understanding influences my work, and the significance of this new understanding. My work as a teacher frequently includes doing collaborative digital projects with my class. As I engaged in research on my practice, I initially experienced difficulties problematising this work. I struggled to achieve clarity not only with engaging in critical thinking but also with articulating my educational values. I found Mellor’s idea about ‘the struggle’ helpful as he explains how ‘the struggle’ is at the heart of the research process. My new understanding around these collaborative projects emerged in terms of holistic practice; clarifying my ontological values and learning to think critically. I am now generating an educational theory from my practice as I see my work as a process for developing spiritual and holistic approaches to learning and teaching. I conclude by outlining what I perceive to be the significance of my work and its potential implications for education.     

Deciding for Others

In this paper, I offer Brighouse et al some friendly suggestions for expanding the notion of ‘educational goods’, pose some challenges for their book's decision-making framework and offer an opportunity for them to fill some small, but interesting lacunas. I start by comparing their typology of desirable educational outcomes with alternative classificatory schemes. I then suggest that certain processes and relationships might constitute ‘educational goods’. Building on the discussion of outcome-typologies, I ask Brighouse et al to indicate how knowledge contributes to flourishing and to comment on whether false belief might sometimes constitute an educational good. I then ask for a response to the view that their decision-making framework may seem objectionable to some by endorsing a particular conception of the good life. I pose four questions regarding for whom educational goods are good, the objectivity of the decision-making procedure, and possible lacunas regarding the issues of decision maker legitimacy and resolving disagreement. The paper concludes with an account of my own pedagogical uses of the book's most helpful framework.     

Towards a collaborative methodology: An ethnography of widening educational participation

This paper examines my attempts to develop a collaborative methodology, and critically considers the limitations and possibilities of this approach. It draws on a small-scale ethnography of widening educational participation undertaken for my doctoral degree. I worked with a group of access students in a UK further education college to develop the methods and methodology, to identify research questions and key areas of focus and, to a lesser extent, to analyse the data. Post/structural analytical tools enabled co-participants to deconstruct hegemonic neo-liberal discourses of widening participation. Feminist theory enabled the refashioning of radical discourses that are concerned with destabilising unequal relations of power in research and in education. In the paper I consider issues of power, research relationships, author-ity, reflexivity and ethics in collaborative methodology.     

Seen,unseen, and unforeseen dangers: what a White emerging scholar learned about positionality in research with racially diverse practitioners

Abstract

Framed by autoethnographic methods, I use Milner’s framework for researching around race and culture to critically analyze my work as a researcher with a group of diverse educational administrators. I identify seen, unseen, and unforeseen dangers that I experienced in my research as a white doctoral student and university professor, and consider how they impact my development as an educational researcher. I conclude with implications for doctoral students as emerging scholars interested in researching race as well as implications for researchers working with elites.     

Tracing a developer’s development: a self-study in teaching

Abstract

In this article, I trace how my teaching has changed as I have become increasingly involved in educational development. I divide my career into three phases (pre-educational development, part-time educational development, and full-time educational development) and analyze qualitative and quantitative data from multiple sources of evidence in each phase: teaching statements, syllabi, and student evaluations of teaching. This self-study reveals specific, primarily positive ways my teaching has changed. The results suggest that educational development may not only improve the teaching of its intended recipients, but also those responsible for supporting them. Implications for the field of educational development are explored.     

Wasting Talent: Using Counter-Storytelling to Narrate Dismal Educational Outcomes

A recent study illustrated that the educational attainment of Latina/o students has been dismal during the past decade and that many Latinas/os continue to “fall through the cracks” of the educational pipeline. Through storytelling, I juxtapose my educational trajectory as a high school graduate with that of my third-oldest brother, who “fell through the cracks” of the educational pipeline as an underclassman in high school. I provide examples of how being reprimanded for minimal misconduct negatively impacted my older brother’s overall school experiences, which ultimately prevented him from finishing high school despite his potential to succeed.     

Adding value to education through improved mental health: A review of the research evidence on the effectiveness of counselling for children and young people

This paper is set against the backdrop of an increasing number of strategies and policies developed by the Department for Education and Skills in the U.K. regarding the promotion of positive mental health in schools and the recognition of the value of improving mental health in relation to children’s learning, achievement, attendance and behaviour. The aim of the paper is to present the results from a systematic review of the research evidence on counselling children and young people and discuss these results in relation to the educational context and the added value to be gained in addressing the mental health needs of children and young people. A systematic review methodology is used to assess the outcome research literature. The review is structured around a range of counselling issues and four groups of counselling approaches: cognitive-behavioural, person-centred, psychodynamic and creative therapies. Results indicate that all four approaches to counselling are effective for children and young people across the full range of counselling issues. However, more high quality published research evidence was located for the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioural counselling than other approaches, identifying significant gaps in the evidence bases for these approaches. Other gaps in the evidence include research into counselling for school related issues and self-harm.     

Intersubjectivity as a way of informing teaching design for a community of learners classroom

In this paper, I relate concepts from research (mainly psychological) on intersubjectivity to problems emerging in designing classroom learning environments by considering one of my undergraduate teacher education classrooms, which I designed to run according to an educational philosophy of “community of learners”, and I consider the issues emerging from these efforts. It seems that the notion of intersubjectivity is helpful both for understanding difficulties one can face with a teaching design for a “community of learners” classroom and for improving such a design. I consider three aspects of intersubjectivity corresponding to the teaching design difficulties described here: (1) intersubjectivity as having something in common, (2) intersubjectivity as coordination of participants’ contributions, and (3) intersubjectivity as human agency. The paper is limited to the issues of internal teaching design and does not address institutional constraints.     

2014 Australian Association for Research in Education Presidential Address

The 2014, 41st Australian Association for Research in Education (AARE) presidential address is both inspired and guided by the discursive genres of presidential addresses and the role of the president in a member association such as AARE. In the address, typically the president speaks to the members on an issue or issues that are to shape or conclude their term of office, as it is in my case. Like many of the 40 AARE presidents who have gone before me, I will embed some things that are professional, personal and political—not in the interests of advancing my research agenda, but to add “to the weave and pattern of the association’s history” (Reid 2010, p. v). Threads of my research since completing my PhD in 2000 will appear to support the broad argument. Also, I will draw on the outcomes of the 2014 Australian Research Council Discovery round (see Australian Research Council: ARC archives 2016) to encapsulate my key argument that educational research and its (ex)changes are being reshaped: in a post human digital age, the tree of knowledge is mutating. To make my argument, I will review how the thinking and doing of educational research mid-way through the second decade of the twenty-first century is constructed and ask what research endeavours might be created to make the best possible worlds for our member community and the aspirations of the association.     

EVALUATING A TEACHER RESEARCHER'S CHOICE OF ACTION RESEARCH

In this paper I discuss my reasons for choosing educational action research in my enquiry into the process of writing, redrafting, learning and autonomy in the examination years (Eames, 1987). I look first of all at my own interests as a teacher‐researcher, and then explore my reasons for rejecting the ‘dominant research paradigms, which seemed to me inappropriate for what I was trying to do. I explain what I understand by action research, and examine objections to it, as well as considering its strengths.