Table Of ContentPromoting Change through Action Research
Promoting Change through Action Research
Edited by
Franz Rauch
Angela Schuster
Thomas Stern
Maria Pribila
Institute of Instructional and School Development,
University of Klagenfurt, Austria
and
Andrew Townsend
School of Education, University of Nottingham, UK
A C.I.P. record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.
ISBN: 978-94-6209-801-5 (paperback)
ISBN: 978-94-6209-802-2 (hardback)
ISBN: 978-94-6209-803-9 (e-book)
Published by: Sense Publishers,
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CONTENTS
Promoting Change through Action Research 1
Weaving the Threads of Practice and Research 7
Andrew Townsend
Inclusive Sports in Styrian Schools 23
Heinz Tippl
Practitioner Collaboration at a Grade Four Mathematics Classroom 35
Sharada Gade
Using Drawing Images in Educational Research 49
Gwadabe Kurawa & Garba Azare
Quality Criteria for Schools Focussing on Education for Sustainable
Development (ESD) 65
Christine Lechner & Franz Rauch
Utilizing Action Research for Learning Process Skills and Mindsets 77
Barbara Lesjak
Making a Difference in Changing Times – The Value of
Research in Challenging Traditional Training Practice and
Supporting Collaborative Learning 87
Alison Cutler
Synergistic Cooperation of School-Based Action Research with
University-Based Didactic Investigations 101
Elisabeth Langer, Leopold Mathelitsch & Veronika Rechberger
What Does It Mean to be a Teacher Researcher? A Turkish Perspective 109
Irem Kizilaslan
Changing Teaching Practice Using Information and Communication
Technology 117
Geitza Rebolledo, Violeta Requena & Edward Meléndez
The Reflective Perspective of Narrative in Educational Action Research 135
Vassilis Tsafos
v
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Participatory Research in Social Work 147
Maria Anastasiadis, Arno Heimgartner, Helga Kittl-Satran &
Michael Wrentschur
Dialogical Participatory Action Research in Social Work Using
Delta-Reflecting Teams 163
Ann-Margreth E. Olsson
Participatory Research in the Field of Social Pedagogy in Croatia 173
Ivana Jeđud Borić & Anja Mirosavljević
Creating a Community of Reflective Practice 193
Cathy Sharp
Engaging with the Community to Enhance Primary Health Care 207
Vivian R. Ramsden, Shari Mckay, Shirley Bighead, Gail Boucher,
Carrie Bourassa, Peter Butt, Andrea Clinton, Jackie Crowe, Fred Felix,
Derek Jorgenson, Karen Larocque, Nora Mckee, Irene Nketia,
Norma Rabbitskin, Ella Thunderchild & Tara Turner,
Conjointly with Members of the Communities
Appraising Brazilian Deprived Communities’ Capitals for Planning
an Action Research Project 235
Margareth Santos Zanchetta, Bukola Salami, Wilson Galhego Garcia,
Emily Belita, Thiago de Souza, Rodrigo Caldas & Edwaldo Costa
vi
PROMOTING CHANGE THROUGH ACTION
RESEARCH
International Case Studies in Education, Social Work, Health Care and
Community Development
PROMOTING CHANGE THROUGH A CTION RESEARCH: EDITORIAL
“Bringing a different world into existence – Action Research as a trigger for
innovations” was the overarching theme and vision of the international CARN
Conference 2011 in Vienna. The chapters in this book are principally drawn from
contributions to this 2011 conference. These present narratives of the conduct of
action research from a range of different settings. The authors in these texts share
practical knowledge which has arisen from their work, and reflect on development
processes in schools, in teacher education and professional development, social work,
social pedagogy, health care and community development. This book therefore offers
what recent action research literature has been criticized for lacking, namely the first
person accounts of action researchers who have been endeavoring to change their
work and their context through the conduct of action research. This volume does not
limit itself to such first person accounts, and we have also assembled contributions
from people who, in their chapters, are seeking to set action research in a wider
context, who are exploring themes or issues which cross a range of applications of
action research or which draw out more generic issues.
The introductory chapter by Andy Townsend is one example of a chapter which
draws out broader issues. This chapter explores the notion of ‘practice’ in action
research from the point of view of practitioner action researchers. In this chapter
Townsend argues for greater clarity about how practice and research are related
in action research. Whilst action research has many distinctive features, such as
reflexivity and change through participation, what really sets it apart from other
knowledge generating and change endeavours is the link between research and action.
Some applications of action research also explicitly address the notion of ‘practice’
in this research-action relationship. The chapter is based upon practitioners´ own
accounts of conducting action research in which the links between practice and
research were explored.
ACTION RESEARCH IN SCHOOLS
The chapters which follow are grouped into four collections. The first collection
explores the conduct of action research in schools. The first chapter in this collection,
written by Heinz Tippl, describes, investigates and reflects, through action research
projects in Austrian schools, how physical education is used to promote inclusive
F. Rauch et al. (Eds.), Promoting Change through Action Research, 1–5.
© 2014 Sense Publishers. All rights reserved.
PROMOTING CHANGE THROUGH ACTION RESEARCH
pedagogy. Sports is shown to be valuable as a means to give all students (including
those with special needs) a chance to perform, gain self-confidence and forge the
whole group together.
Sharada Gade then gives an account of collaboration between a teacher and
researcher. This collaboration was focussed on 10-year-old students who learn about
measuring in mathematics by working on ‘impossible questions’ like ‘Can you
measure age in decimetres?’ or ‘Can you measure (the volume of) milk in minutes?’
This collaboration aims at empowering teachers to become partners in research and
researchers to become partners in classroom practice. Their study investigates how
their students gain knowledge through discussing and reflecting.
In their article, Gwadabe Kurawa and Garba Azare explore the thoughts and
feelings of 50 children with social, emotional and behavioural problems by letting
them draw aspects of school which they like or dislike and make comments about
them in group talks. The authors also reflect about ethical principles of doing research
on or with children. They chose to explain to them at length the scope of the research
and ask for their and their parents’ consent to take part in this work.
TEACHER EDUCATION & PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
The next collection of chapters explores issues around teacher education and
professional development in action research. The first of these, authored by Christine
Lechner and Franz Rauch, concerns “Education for Sustainable Development”
(ESD). This was an in-service teacher training program for participants of the
Austrian “ECOLOG”-school-network. It describes the framework (as initiated by
the Educational Ministry) and the concept (ecology as a part of everyday school life)
as well as the evaluation of teacher seminars with the goal to outline quality criteria
for ESD-schools and put them into practice.
Barbara Lesjak’s contribution, which follows, is an essay on the relationships
between action research and group dynamics. In this Lesjak draws from the concrete
experience of a university course in Austria (called the “learning laboratory”) which
combines these differing constructs. This emphasises social learning and collaborative
reflection as well as the conviction that the involvement of the researcher/consultant
in the researched system is fundamental.
Alison Cutler’s chapter addresses with the question: “How can we effectively
support professionals to work in a more collaborative manner?” The author
contemplates in particular the question about whether collaborative inter-agency
learning could support the development of inter-agency working relationships
between practitioners working with children, young people and their families. This
chapter develops new ideas in the area of inter-agency learning. In particular, it
presents a skills, behaviours and knowledge (SBK) model as a method of developing
and evaluating the impact of inter-agency learning.
Elisabeth Langer, Leopold Mathelitsch & Veronika Rechberger then describe
the organizational framework of the Austrian IMST-project and provide further
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PROMOTING CHANGE THROUGH ACTION RESEARCH
details about two exemplary sub-projects involving science teachers and action
research in a Styrian school. The chapter focusses on the relations between science
and language. The objective of this work was to raise the level of achievement and
of consciousness regarding gender issues.
The next chapter is based upon an investigation into teacher students’ opinions
about the relevance of a course on qualitative research methods, and in particular
action research, which is part of their curriculum at the Izmir University. This chapter,
written by Irem Kizilaslan, provides a Turkish perspective on Action Research in
education. The article offers insights into a changing educational system, where
teacher students are expected to learn about classroom research.
Drawing on the title of the conference, “bringing a different educational world
into existence”, means searching for new ways to approach classroom teaching by
giving students a voice and involving them actively in inquiry. It also means carrying
out research about teaching as an innovative way to improve teachers´ practice. This
is the foundation of the collaborative action research study presented by Geisha
Rebolledo in collaboration with two of her students, Edward Meléndez and Violeta
Requena, at the Universidad Pedagógica in Caracas, Venezuela. This research
project aims at critically exploring the university’s “curriculum program”, which
many students dislike. This work was intended to inspire the students to reflect about
their learning, their personal strengths and their professional future; and to develop
experimentation through the collaboration of a teacher and two students in an action
research project.
The final chapter of the teacher develop collection, written by Vassilis Tsafos,
offers a philosophical essay in which he compares narrative accounts and action
research sharing the “hermeneutical concept” of interpreting pedagogical actions
and attempting to attribute meaning to them post-hoc. In this essay both action
research and narrations are conceptualized as research paradigms.
SOCIAL WORK, SOCIAL PEDAGOGY, HEALTH & CARE
The third collection of chapters addresses issues in the use of Action Research in
social work, social pedagogy and health care settings. The first of these, authored
by Maria Anastasiadis, Arno Heimgartner, Helga Kittl-Satran and Michael
Wrentschur exemplify “participative research in social work” through three quite
different projects in Austria. One project investigated school children’s perception
of violence by letting them experience abuse in role-playing games and by asking
them to list abusive words and ranking them according to their painfulness. The
second project, entitled “Forum Theatre”, was based on Augusto Boal’s “Theatre of
the Oppressed” as a means to tackle social problems like inequality, unemployment
and homelessness creatively by improvising theatrical scenes in the public space,
inviting the spectators to participate actively, thus raising the consciousness of the
people involved and empowering the actors in their struggle to better understand and
improve their situation. The third project describes an investigation by questionnaires
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