Have we created a
new educational epistemology in our living educational theories as
practitioner-researchers?
A Keynote for the Practitioner Researcher Conference on Living Theory or Empty Rhetoric at St. Mary's College on 13th July 2006
Jack Whitehead, Department of Education, University of Bath
One of my great pleasures is sharing ideas that captivate my imagination and resonate with the values, skills and understandings that carry hope for the future of humanity in loving and productive lives. I hope you can feel this embodied flow of pleasure through the life affirming energy I am expressing in my being with you today. I know that I have been fortunate in my working life in education to have felt a vocation for education. My vocation is to make public the embodied knowledge of practitioner-researchers in their explanations for their educational influences in learning. I distinguish such explanations as the living educational theories we produce to explain the educational influences we have in our own learning, in the learning of others and in the learning of social formations. I think that making public our living educational theories has great significance for individuals and society. I believe that the public recognition of the explanations for what we are doing together with our responses to the creative and critical responses of others, enables us to evaluate the validity of our beliefs about what we are doing and the influences we are having. I think this process also helps us to judge our effectiveness in living our values as fully as we can. Using a living theory approach to questions of the kind,
'How do I improve what I am doing?' I want to show how practitioner-researchers have legitimated living standards of judgement that have implications for present global debates about standards of practice and judgement in education.
Before I focus on my claim that the living educational theories of practitioner-researchers and their living standards of judgement have created a new epistemology for educational research and educational enquiry I want to see if I can captivate your imaginations by showing you the flow through web-space of the resources for learning at:
and living educational theories of practitioner-researchers at:
http://www.bath.ac.uk/~edsajw/living.shtml
I will access just 7 extracts from the Abstracts to communicate the embodied values of the practitioner-researchers and my own passionate belief in the value of these artefacts flowing through the global communication channels offered by the internet.
1) Bernie Sullivan (2006) A living theory of a practice of social justice: Realising the right of traveller children for educational equality. Ph.D. University of Limerick. Supervised by Jean McNiff. Retrieved 7 July 2006 from
http://www.jeanmcniff.com/bernieabstract.html
This thesis is an articulation of my living theory
of social justice that evolved through undertaking research in the area of
educational provision for Traveller children. It demonstrates how my embodied
values of social justice and equality compelled me to engage in social and
educational practices that refused to privilege some children at the expense of
minority or marginalised groups. I explain how I transformed these values into
the living critical standards of judgement by which I wish my work to be
evaluated.
2) Eleanor Lohr (2006) Love
at Work: What is my lived experience of love and how might I become an
instrument of love's purpose. Ph.D. University of Bath. Retrieved 7 July
2006 from
http://www.bath.ac.uk/~edsajw/living.shtml
I judge the worth of my action and its loving dimension in silent
reflective spiritual practice. I also judge the worth of my action and its
loving dimension in the feedback I get from others. I set criteria that focus
on seeking harmony and wholeness, and which do not ignore challenge and
difference. I argue that the creative dynamism arising from difference is an
important component of love at work.
3) Margaret Farren (2005) How can
I create a pedagogy of the unique through a web of betweenness? Ph.D.
University of Bath. Retrieved 7 July 2006 from
http://www.bath.ac.uk/~edsajw/farren.shtml
I clarify the meaning of my embodied values in the
course of their emergence in my practice-based research. My values have been
transformed into living standards of judgement that include a 'web of
betweenness' and a 'pedagogy of the unique'. The 'web of betweenness' refers to
how we learn in relation to one another and also how ICT can enable us to get
closer to communicating the meanings of our embodied values. I see it as a way
of expressing my understanding of education as 'power with', rather than 'power
over', others. It is this 'power with' that I have tried to embrace as I
attempt to create a learning environment in which I, and practitioner-researchers,
can grow personally and professionally. A 'pedagogy of the unique' respects the
unique constellation of values and standards of judgement that each
practitioner-researcher contributes to a knowledge base of practice.
4) Marian Naidoo (2005) I am Because
We Are. (My never-ending story) The emergence of a living theory of inclusional
and responsive practice. Ph.D. University of Bath. Retrieved 7 July 2006
from
http://www.bath.ac.uk/~edsajw/naidoo.shtml
I believe that this original account of my emerging
practice demonstrates how I have been able to turn my ontological commitment to
a passion for compassion into a living epistemological standard of judgement by
which my inclusional and responsive practice may be held accountable.
I
am a story teller and the focus of this narrative is on my learning and the
development of my living educational theory as I have engaged with others in a
creative and critical practice over a sustained period of time. This narrative
self-study demonstrates how I have encouraged people to work creatively and
critically in order to improve the way we relate and communicate in a
multi-professional and multi-agency healthcare setting in order to improve both
the quality of care provided and the well being of the system.
5)
Mary Hartog (2004) A Self Study Of A Higher
Education Tutor: How Can I Improve My Practice? Ph.D. University of Bath. Retrieved 7 July
2006 from http://www.bath.ac.uk/~edsajw/hartog.shtml
My claim to originality is embodied in the aesthetics of my teaching
and learning relationships, as I respond to the sources of humanity and
educative needs of my students, as I listen to their stories and find an ethic
of care in my teaching and learning relationships that contain them in good
company and that returns them to their stories as more complete human beings.
Mary has been awarded a 2006 National Teaching Fellowship of
the Higher Education Academy for her outstanding impact on the student learning
experience.
6) Madeline Church (2004) Creating an uncompromised place to belong: Why do I find myself in networks? Retrieved 7 July 2006 from http://www.bath.ac.uk/~edsajw/church.shtml
I notice the way bullying is part of my fabric. I trace my resistance
to these experiences in my embodied experience of connecting to others, through
a form of shape-changing. I see how question-forming is both an expression of
my own bullying tendencies, and an intention to overcome them. Through my
connection to others and my curiosity, I form a networked community in which I
can work in the world as a network coordinator, action-researcher, activist and
evaluator.
I show how my approach to this work is rooted in the
values of compassion, love, and fairness, and inspired by art. I hold myself to
account in relation to these values, as living standards by which I judge
myself and my action in the world. This finds expression in research that helps
us to design more appropriate criteria for the evaluation of international
social change networks. Through this process I inquire with others into the
nature of networks, and their potential for supporting us in lightly-held
communities which liberate us to be dynamic, diverse and creative individuals
working together for common purpose. I tentatively conclude that networks have
the potential to increase my and our capacity for love.
7) Jacqueline
Delong (2002) How Can I Improve My
Practice As A Superintendent of Schools and Create My Own Living Educational
Theory? Ph.D. University of
Bath. Retrieved 7 July 2006 from http://www.actionresearch.net/delong.shtml
One of the basic tenets of my philosophy is that the development of a
culture for improving learning rests upon supporting the knowledge-creating
capacity in each individual in the system. Thus, I start with my own. This
thesis sets out a claim to know my own learning in my educational inquiry, 'How
can I improve my practice as a superintendent of schools?'
...... The
values and standards are defined in terms of valuing the other in my
professional practice, building a culture of inquiry, reflection and
scholarship and creating knowledge.
Through drawing your attention to these life-stories of practitioner researchers, in which they hold themselves accountable for living their values as fully as they can, I hope that you experience the flow of life-affirming energy in my own recognition of their accomplishments, commitments and knowledge-creation.
If you want to understand the action research approaches they have used you could access the other
resources for learning flowing from the different sections of http://www.actionresearch.net . These include Jean McNiff's 'Action research for professional development: Concise advice for new action researchers' (http://www.jeanmcniff.com/booklet1.html ) and the five volumes of Passion in Professional Practice edited by Jacqueline Delong and colleagues (http://schools.gedsb.net/ar/passion/index.html ) in the Grand Erie District School Board in Ontario. They also include the action research accounts of Chinese Action Researchers who are working in China's Experimental Centre for Educational Action Research in Foreign Languages Teaching at Ningxia Teachers University. These accounts are being supported by Moira Laidlaw, Dean Tian Fengjun and Li Peidong and you can access them from
http://www.bath.ac.uk/~edsajw/moira.shtml and the Ningxia Teachers University website at http://www.gytc.com.cn/ . The above accounts focus on the processes of beginning action research in informal settings that are not subjected to the pressures of accredited programmes. If you are working towards accreditation, such as your masters degree, the educational enquiries of colleagues at http://www.bath.ac.uk/~edsajw/mastermod.shtml may be helpful to you.
While time prevents me from sharing all of the living theories flowing through web-space I am hopeful that my brief introduction to these living theory doctoral research programmes has captivated your imaginations (you can also access the theses from the Appendix) and that you will feel moved to engage more fully with the researchers' narratives to see if they are helpful in your own enquiries.
What I now want to explore is the possibility that these living theories can be engaged with as cultural artefacts flowing through web-space that can influence the education of social formations. I am thinking of these influences in terms of the growth of your own educational knowledge that you contribute as your living educational theory to this flow of cultural artefacts. Having focused on what these practitioner-researchers have accomplished I now want to explore the possibility that the collective significance of these living theories is that they constitute an outstanding contribution to educational knowledge that validates and legitimates a new inclusional educational epistemology. In particular I want to focus on the living standards of judgement that constitute this new epistemology.
Have we created a new educational epistemology with the following living standards of judgement?
Why begin with this image?
Because it was a gift from Kayleigh, Nigel Harrisson's 9 year old granddaughter to Nigel and shown to the B&NES Breakfast CafŽ Conversation on the 28th June with love, pleasure and hope. Nigel is Interim Head of Inclusion Support Services in B&NAS. As I looked at the flowers from right to left the images evoked in me feelings of hope in a movement towards the full energetic flowing of well-being and beauty. I believe that love, pleasure, hope, well-being and beauty can, together with other embodied values, constitute the new living standards of judgement that we can use to account to ourselves for our own lives and learning.
Why follow this picture with this video-clip of Alan Rayner demonstrating the importance of boundaries that are inclusional rather than severing: http://www.jackwhitehead.com/rayner1sor.mov ?
The video-clip follows the picture by Kayleigh because of its significance in a transformation and extension in my ways of understanding and knowing. Rayner's ideas about inclusionality have contributed to an extension and transformation of my own ideas into inclusional forms of educational enquiry with their new perceptions and relationally dynamic standards of judgement. Chris Jones acknowledges a similar influence of Alan Rayner's demonstration in her writings as she reflects on the video-clips below from a Creativity Workshop Chris organised with Marie Huxtable for teachers in B&NES on the 9th June 2006. What I intend to communicate by the inclusion of the following visual narrative are the meanings of the flow-form of inclusional values of life-affirming energy, pleasure, creativity, responsive receptivitiy, love and productive work.
I am smiling as I
watch the video of our Creativity Workshop and I am feeling the joy and
pleasure in seeing inclusionality being demonstrated naturally and
spontaneously in, between and with my friend and colleague, Marie and other
educators who are participants in the workshop. I am looking at Marie as she is inviting the group to respond to her
questioning with her arms open, her eyes scanning the room
and including all.
I feel the joy and pleasure in
looking at Marie and I, sitting adjacently and leaning forward and smiling as
we engage with the participants in discussing creativity, being creative and creating that moment together and
with others.
(see the 8.2Mb, 1min. 31 sec. video clip from http://www.jackwhitehead.com/marie/mhchwk1min31.mov )
We move outside the room and
as I listen to what I am saying, I feel the flow of energy that I felt at the
time and as I always feel when I
am working with colleagues, every interaction unique and co-creative. I am
listening to the expressive 'ooh' and the
intermittent laughter as the egg is passed around, all apprehensive
should the egg fall, all separate,
yet one as we share the activity
in that moment in time. Silence follows laughter and laughter follows silence;
those bursts of energy cutting through the atmosphere of apprehension. There
are no barriers here between us; there is no vacuum dividing us: we are flowing
as one and as the first task is complete, we clap spontaneously together.
(see the 6.8 Mb, 1min 15 sec video clip from http://www.jackwhitehead.com/marie/cjmhwkegg.mov)Not yet live - ethical permission being sought
I am still smiling as I watch
the video as we move back into the room. The conversation, the questions and
answers, the smiles and the laughter; Marie and I sitting adjacently, moving
forward in response to comments, hands moving, arms outstretched, openly
invitational.
(see the 7.9 Mb, 1min 42
sec video clip from http://www.jackwhitehead.com/marie/mhcjwk3.mov
Can anyone see what I see?
Does anyone feel as I feel? As I watch the flow of interaction between one and
the other, I am reminded of
Rayner's Dance of Inclusionality and O' Donohue's 'web of betweenness'.
I am looking at inclusionality in action of which I am a part and I am seeing
the flow of life- affirming energy between Marie, the group and me, and as I
watch, I am feeling the joy of what for me gives life meaning – the flow of interaction between one and the
other and the pleasure of that co-dynamic relationship. I am reminded of these
feelings of joy when I was a teacher interacting with the class: I am learning
from them; they are learning from me; we are all learning together in a
co-creational relationship which could not happen without one or the other
within that moment in time.
I value who I am and what I
try to be; I value others for who they are and what they try to be; I value
what we are between us and what we try to be. It is through my relationship
with others and the generative flow and pleasure of our interaction that I grow
and live a life that has meaning for me.
Chris' and Marie's inclusional ways of being and
understanding are being expressed through their work into enhancing inclusion
within schools in B&NES. Chris works with schools to attain their
inclusional quality mark. Chris and Marie also work with Nigel Harrisson the
interim head of the inclusion support services. Because of the importance of
the influence of 'managers' and 'leaders' in a social system I am including
Nigel's reflections about some of the issues and values he feels strongly about
in relation to enhancing inclusionality. I have checked with the participants
in the Breakfast Cafe Conversations and they have affirmed the feeling of
support they feel from Nigel and share his understandings of the 'clash of
values':
As
an Authority we are experiencing problems with the number of permanent
exclusions from schools. We are reportedly the highest excluding Authority in
the South West. As a department that focuses on inclusion and as Inclusion
Manager myself, I think we need to address this issue as a matter of urgency.
There
are practical things that we could possibly do to help the situation, and there
are attempts to do so through protocols with schools such as, the managed moves
protocol, the levels of exclusion and the hard to place protocol. Having said
that, there seems to me, to be a clash of values in the system and scepticism
in individuals about schools adhering to the protocols.
As
well as being the highest excluding Authority, we are also the highest
attaining Authority. In some minds, I'm sure, the two are correlated. While
there is recognition that we must do 'something' about exclusions, there seems
to me, to be an unspoken 'principle' that if we push too hard we might affect
the attainment of the schools and risk the wroth of Head teachers. To have high
exclusions seems to be an acceptable 'evil'.
On
occasion we feel powerless to influence schools on exclusions and, also
importantly, on admission of pupils they perceive they do not want, as it may
'water down' their results. Few people seem willing to tackle schools over such
issues. Unless they have a statement of SEN, where the LA is the admissions
Authority, we have to rely on parents/carers addressing the issues with the
schools. Obviously, some feel they are unable to do so, some feel it is
pointless as even if they were to get their child admitted, the school has
indicated they would be unwelcome anyway.
I acknowledge that
attainment is important and that the needs of the other pupils must be
considered, but we are often left with pupils who we cannot place, whose life
chances are diminished and seemingly without the overt backing to force issues.
My values also include championing the rights of the 'vulnerable'. In terms of
living values, "How do I champion the rights of those who have been excluded
and are difficult to include?"
"How do I balance that, alongside the rights of those already included,
and who also have a right to have a proper education and within a system where
there appears to be a similar clash of values?"
It is easy being
cynical about the inability of schools to include the 'hard to include'. It
removes the responsibility from me and places the problem with the school.
"Every Child Matters. Even the most disabled or
disruptive pupil has a right to be included. "How can I be expected to do my
job when schools don't have the same values?" They need to change their values
to my values!!!
The truth of the
matter is that some 'schools' do have different values, different motivations
and a passion for attainment that may differ from mine. In my own organisation
there are tensions between values such as inclusion and attainment. "Whose
values are right?" "Do I have to change my values?" "Do they have to change
theirs?" "Do I have to fight others with different values, or can I (as I
believe I do), work at the interface between differing values?" "How can I
develop my skills to do that job well?" "How will I know I'm getting it right?"
(Question: "As a
collective of people with no doubt differing values anyway, is it possible to
assign values to an organisation?" I'll continue to do so as shorthand. In many
cases, I think we do believe that organisations have values).
There are some schools
who show a passion for what they believe is right, namely ensuring that
children and young people, who are capable, fulfil their potential and gain
attainments, that will give them a good start for the future they see. Some
schools are also passionate about including the hard to include. Even to the
point where I have become concerned that they are not balancing the needs of
the majority with the needs of the few. This is a difficult challenge, getting
the right balance between the rights of the many and the rights of the few.
Some schools try very
hard to include 'the hard to include'. Even then, sometimes, I think there is
more some schools could do, partly because I know there is more that I would do
myself were I doing that job. However, again, there needs to be some balance
between what schools can reasonably be expected to do and what is really needed
to include a child or young person. Only recently there was a case where a
child had experienced trauma at the hands of his parents. This resulted in a
disturbance in his development, lack of trust of adults (and why not), the
testing of boundaries to see if he was safe, and re-testing them because he was
safe once before and those who should have protected him let him down. His life
was ripped apart, his mind and emotions tortured. The ability to concentrate,
behave in a way that allowed and showed trust, to focus on the future, was
beyond him at that point. His behaviour was disruptive to the point of stopping
others learning effectively. "Is this something the school could or should
address?" "Is my passion for inclusion so great that I push for the school to
do more at the potential cost to other children?" "If I did, would that not clash
with my own values that every child deserves a good education?" I accept that
inclusion is a destination and that sometimes there may be detours before
getting back on the road to inclusion. Sometimes those detours are long and
painful. Without the traumatic disturbance in his development he would, and
should be (within my values), educated alongside his peers. Now that will not
happen and I feel sad.
The passion for
championing the rights of all children and young people is a deeply held value
that I hope I live. Having the courage to keep championing in the face of
challenge is vital to make a difference, but so is having empathy with others
and recognising their values and passions. Working at the interface of
differing value systems is challenging but also worthwhile and exciting. (Harrisson, 2006)
I
have checked the validity of my claim with both Chris and Marie that the above
visual narrative is an appropriate representation of them living their values
of inclusionality in their professional and educational practices. In her
narrative Chris communicates the values of inclusionality that help to give
meaning and purpose to her life in education.
My
own professional and educational practices are focused on my desire to live as
loving and productive life as possible. I want to look back on a life
well-lived that has made a contribution to enhancing the flow of values, skills
and understanding that carry hope for the future of humanity. In wanting to do
this with my life I was influenced by the work of Erich Fromm (1941) in his
Fear of Freedom. Fromm pointed out that if a person can face the truth without
panic, they will realise that there is no purpose to their life other than that
which they create for themselves through their loving relationships and productive
work.
I
also believe that having spent the majority of my working life in developing a
research programme on the nature of educational theory at the University of
Bath, I have contributed to fulfilling the mission of the University. This
mission includes a distinct academic approach to the education of professional
practitioners. I have worked on the development of a distinct academic approach
to the education of professional practitioners that I have called a living
educational theory approach. My
interest in the standards of judgement in living theories is because of their
relationship to the embodied values that we use, as individuals, to give
meaning and purpose to our lives - that is our ontological values. Chris Jones'
reflections above, on the video-clips of her working with Marie Huxtable and
the teachers, carried the meanings of such ontological values. So did Nigel
Harrisson's reflections on the tensions between a clash of values. In
clarifying the meanings of these embodied values in the course of their
emergence in the practice of educational enquiry, the living experiences are
expressed in meanings that can be shared and communicated with others.
The
meanings of the values that are clarified in this way can be used by others as
living standards of judgement to evaluate the validity of the explanations of
educational influences in learning. This is why I think both the lived
expression of the values and their communication in publicly validatable
accounts are so important to my own work. In helping to generate and
disseminate publicly validated living educational theories that carry hope for
the future of humanity I believe that individuals are living productive lives.
Seeing the flow of living theories through web-space is a source of pleasure
because they explicate a distinct academic approach to the education of
professional practitioners.
I
also think that the above presentation is significant in these terms. The
visual narrative enables the relationally dynamic awareness, that is the
nucleus of inclusionality, to be communicated through the educational practices
of professional educators. In 2004 the University of Bath changed its
regulations for the formatting of research degrees, to allow the submission of
e-media. This opened the way for multi-media accounts of our multi-sensorial
lives to be legitimated in the Academy and added to the flow of living theories
http://www.bath.ac.uk/~edsajw/living.shtml
through web-space from http://www.actionresearch.net
.
What I am now working on, with Marie and other professional
practitioners, is to enhance our educational influences in helping pupils as
researchers to create their own living theories, following the lead of Branko
Bognar in Croatia. I am also working on enhancing the influence of living
educational theories in the education of social formations. By influencing the
education of social formations I am focusing on the rules that regulate the
social order. What I mean by educating social formations can be understood
through the following example.
In 1980 the regulations of many Universities in the UK, including the
University of Bath, explicitly refused to permit examiners' judgements to be
questioned once an appointment had been made. By 1991 the regulations had been
changed, following campaigns on human rights and academic freedom. It is now
possible to question the judgements of examiners on such grounds as bias,
prejudice and inadequate assessment. It is such changes in the rules governing
a social formation that I am referring to as an educational influence in the
learning of a social formations. I recognize such a change as educational
because it enhances the flow of values I associate with the future of humanity
and my own.
At the heart of these changes is, to my mind, the politics of
educational knowledge. I like
Lyotard's (1984) insight into intellectual terrorism when he writes in relation
to the postmodern condition that the work of a postmodern writer is not in
principle governed by pre-established rules. Such writings cannot be judged by
applying familiar categories to the text or to the work as the rules and
categories are what the writing itself is seeking to produce. The artist and the writer, then, are working
without rules in order to formulate the rules of what will have been done. (Lyotard, p. 81, 1984)
I also identify with the way Lyotard
writes about 'terror' in relation to the repression of ideas by institutions of
knowledge. I have certainly felt the disciplinary power and refusal of
recognition in ways that resonate with Lyotard's analysis of how researchers have
seen their 'move' ignored or repressed, sometimes for decades, because it too
abruptly destabilizes the accepted positions. For Lyotard the stronger the
'move' the more likely it is to be denied the minimum consensus, precisely
because it changes the rules of the game upon which the consensus has been
based. He believes that such responses are terrorist in the sense that they
eliminate or threaten to eliminate a player from the language game one shares
with him. (Lyotard, p. 64. 1984)
I also work with Fukuyama's understanding of the importance
of recognition in human existence. I agree with Fukuyama that human beings seek
recognition of their own worth, or of the people, things, or principles that
they invest with worth. I also agree that the desire for recognition and the
accompanying emotions are parts of the human personality critical to political
life. (Fukuyama, 1992,
p. xvii). I hope you can appreciate that working with practitioner-researchers
in support of the creation and legitimation of their living educational has
been a source of sustaining and energising affirmation in my own life in education.
Working with individuals who share their passion and commitment to living more
fully values of humanity has helped to fuel my own expression of life-affirming
energy.
In the growth of
my understandings of inclusionality with the inclusion support service in
B&NES I experience the recognition of each others' worth with the qualities
of lived experience described by Chris Jones above. In inclusional forms of
educational enquiry the expression of recognition involves a flow of life
affirming energy that distinguishes and moves on with a loving warmth of
humanity. This is not to deny the recognition of actions and power relations
that can threaten and abuse this value of humanity. It is to recognise and
support the living boundaries that enhance the expression of values of humanity
of love, freedom, compassion, respect, care, enquiry learning and
knowledge-creation while recognising the importance of resisting the power
relations, actions and boundary conditions that serve to undermine these values.
I have analysed some of these power relations in my book on the growth of
educational knowledge (Whitehead 1993, http://www.bath.ac.uk/~edsajw/writings/jwgek93.htm
)
Legitimating a living theory in the Academy and elsewhere has required the validation and legitimation of new living epistemological standards of judgement that are both relational and dynamic. I think Barbara Thayer-Bacon's (2003) Relational "(e)pistemology" makes an original contribution to understandings of relational epistemology. Thayer-Bacon offers her pragmatist social feminist and relational perspective of knowing. She insists that knowers/subjects are fallible and that the criteria we use in our knowledge-claims are capable of being corrected. This is consistent with her belief that our standards are social constructed, and thus continually in need of critique and reconstruction. Her (e)pistemological theory is inclusive and open to others, because of its assumption of fallible knowers. (Thayer-Bacon, 2003, p.7).
In developing
our relationally dynamic standards of judgement I think we can use
Thayer-Bacon's understanding hat the (e)pistemology must be inclusive and open
to others. However, we may need to go further than Thayer-Bacon in being
willing to research our own inclusional practices in enquiries of the kind,
'How do I improve what I am doing?' I am thinking of research in which we make
public our personally and socially validated living theories and account for the
lives we are living in terms of our personally and socially constructed
criteria and standards. Marian Naidoo has done this particularly well in her
emergent living theory of inclusional and responsive practice (Naidoo 2006, http://www.bath.ac.uk/~edsajw/naidoo.shtml
)
At the risk of
moving the complexity of my analysis too far into abstractions that lose
connection with conscious lived experience of embodied knowledge I want to
briefly explain how insights from sociocultural and activity theory can be
helpful in the generation of living educational theories and in understanding
their educational influences in the education of social formations. In the
creation of my own living theory I use the
concept of mediation from sociocultural and activity theory research. I share
the belief of socioculturalists (Popova, 2006) who draw on the work of Vygotsky
(1962) in the view that human development is mediated by socio-cultural
artifacts created, used and consumed by humans. I agree that such mediation
includes language, physical and abstract.
I work with a socio-cultural approach that acknowledges both the power
of social formations to influence possibilities for action in reproducing
themselves and the power of individuals and groups to imagine transformations
in the social formation that they can act on.
One of the reasons I draw on sociocultural and
activity theory research is because it studies the relations between
macro-social and economic factor and the development of individuals. While I am
cautious about the use of a linguistic concept to connect living relationships,
I understand that the use of the linguistic concept of activity in activity
theory emphasises the connectedness of these living relationships. In the creation of living theories I am
aware that different meanings of activity can be a source of confusion. In
activity theory an activity is understood as a collective process that has been
created and carried out by people. I understand that the concept of activity
system is used as the prime unit of analysis. What I explore are the
implications of asking, researching and answering questions of the kind, 'how
do I improve what I am doing?' I am thinking of what I am doing as an activity
in the sense that what I am doing is intimately connected with my conscious
lived experience and intentionality. However, I use a sociocultural
understanding of activity in my use of SŽve's notion of personality when he
writes that by personality:
I mean the total system of activity of a given
individual, a system which forms and develops throughout his life and the
evolution of which constitutes the essential content of his biography. The
personality is not at all to be reduced to individuality, or to the ensemble of
the particular formal characteristics of an individual's psychism whether these
particular characteristics refer back to biological conditions in themselves
independent of personal activity and to the infantile structurations which
preceded it, or on the contrary, are only explained by the particular logic of
this activity. The personality is the scientific concept which corresponds to
the fundamental unity of these two simple formulae: what a man makes of his
life, what his life made of him. (SŽve, 1978, p.461)
My
reason for including this reference to sociocultural and activity theory is to
highlight the value of integrating insights from social theories into our
living educational theories. I am thinking of insights from sociocultural and
activity theory that help to understand our living theories as cultural
artefacts that can be used by ourselves and others to contribute to processes
of cultural transformation in the education of social formations. Irris Singer
(2006) has done much to connect the psychoanalytic space of individuals with
culture and in her most recent writings on 'Unmasking difference, culture, and
attachment in the psychoanalytic space', shows what she is doing to explore her
contribution to enhancing the flow of values of humanity in her work with
bereaved parents of Israeli and Palestinian children, killed in the present
conflict.
However,
there is a danger with any propositional theory that it can captivate the mind
because of its tendency to 'totalise' in the sense of wanting a theory to
explain everything. The danger is that a totalising or comprehensive theory
loses connection with the living processes of transformation continuously being
opened by the possibilities permitted by life itself. Kierkegaard warned of this danger of the human tendency to
create a unity in the imagination that loses a connection with practical
living. The concept of activity carries this danger in activity theory as does
the concept of an activity system as the prime unit of analysis. Hence my
stress, in the creation of living theories, of using the unit of analysis of an
explanation for learning produced by an individual in the course of their
practical enquiries of the kind, 'How do I improve what I am doing?'. The meaning of what I am doing cannot
be held adequately within a concept – it is what I am doing!
As
with all propositional theories it is wise to understand the explanatory power
of their conceptual structures while resisting a tendency to believe that any
propositional theory can subordinate one's own living theory within its
conceptual structure. In drawing insights from sociocultural and activity
theory in the generation and testing of one's living educational theory it may
be wise to bear the following point in mind. I am thinking of the desirability
of ensuring that the explanations one is generating remain connected to the
conscious lived experience of practice in enquiries of the kind, 'How do I
improve what I am doing?' What propositional theories do not appear to be able
to adequately represent are the expressions of life-affirming energy that are
necessary to explain what we are doing. I am thinking of the expressions
communicated through the video-clips above as Chris Jones expresses her values
of inclusionality with her life-affirming energy in her educational practices
of inclusionality. Hence the importance of finding new forms of representation
for the communication of the meanings of the flow of energy of our values.
In
answering the questions:
How are we living our values of inclusionality in our
professional and educational practices? Can we communicate the living standards
of judgement we use to account for our influences in our workplaces?
I
need to check the validity of what I am writing in the we~i relations of this
co-creation. I mean co-create in the sense that I could not have generated my
answers to the questions without including a response to the meanings of
others, as I have shown above. I
also want to communicate the living standards of judgement through web-space,
in our living theories, as cultural artefacts that show the best that we are
thinking and doing in enhancing the flow of inclusional values and enquiries
that carry hope for the future of humanity, and our own. In the flow of
inclusional energies, values and understandings, I think that educational
enquiry has a vital part to play in generating good questions and in helping to
strengthen the validity of each individual's living educational theory. So, I
will leave you with the question I have addressed in this presentation in the
hope you will feel moved to respond to my answer in e-forums such as the guest
e-forum of the 7th World Congress on Action Learning, Action
Research and Process Management at http://www.wcar2006.nl/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4&sid=3d5a1977c1eae7d66b3957d7ab307f87
to
be held in Groningen from the 21-25 August 2006 and in the virtual space for
cooperation for living theory action research at: http://www.e-lar.net/education/moodle/mod/forum/view.php?id=13
Have we created a
new educational epistemology in our living educational theories as practitioner-researchers?
I am
hoping that you can feel that the hope in my invitation to respond carries the
combined energy of the practitioner-researchers who have already contributed to
the flow of values and understanding through the global communication channels
of web-space. I am hopeful that you too will feel moved to make your own
contribution and feel inspired by the latest contribution from Bernie Sullivan
of her living theory of a practice of social justice as she contributes to the
realisation of the right of Traveller Children to educational equality.
I
also want to congratulate Eleanor Lohr and Margaret Farren for their
graduations last week from the University of Bath for their theses on the
creation a pedagogy of the unique through a web of betweenness and on love at
work. It is my belief that by enhancing the flow of such values that carry hope
for the future of humanity and our own we will continue to make the world a
better place to be.
Note: the second part of this paper was co-created with contributions from Marie Huxtable, Chris Jones, Nigel Harrisson, the participants in the inclusionality and creativity workshop 9th June 2006 at Bailbrook Conference Centre and the participants in the B&NES Breakfast Cafe conversations.
References
Fromm,
E. (1941) Fear of Freedom, New York; Holt Reinhart and Winston.
Fukuyama,
F. (1992) The End of History and the Last Man, London; Penguin
Lyotard, F. (1984) The Postmodern Condition: A report on Knowledge. Manchester; Manchester University Press.
Popova, A. (2006) Preparation for employment in pre-and-post communist Russia: a sociohistorical analysis. Paper presented to the Research Students' Conference, 29 June 2006, Department of Education, University of Bath.
Lucien
SŽve (1978) Man in Marxist Theory and the psychology of personality
Hossocks;
Harvester Press.
Singer,
I. (2006) Unmasking difference, culture, and attachment in the psychoanalytic
space, in White, K, (Ed.) Unmasking race, culture, and attachment in the
psychoanalytic space. London; Karnac.
Thayer-Bacon, B. (2003) Relational (e)pistemologies. Oxford; Peter Lang
Appendix
Eames,
K. (1995) How do I, as a teacher and educational action-researcher, describe
and explain the nature of my professional knowledge? Ph.D. Thesis, University of Bath.
Retrieved 19 February 2004 from http://www.actionresearch.net/kevin.shtml
Evans,
M. (1995) An action research enquiry into reflection in action as part of my
role as a deputy headteacher. Ph.D. Thesis, Kingston University. Retrieved 19
February 2004 from http://www.actionresearch.net/moyra.shtml
Laidlaw,
M. (1996) How can I
create my own living educational theory as I offer you an account of my
educational development?
Ph.D. thesis, University of Bath. Retrieved 19 February 2004 from http://www.actionresearch.net/moira2.shmtl
Holley,
E. (1997) How do I as a teacher-researcher contribute to the development of
a living educational theory through an exploration of my values in my
professional practice?
M.Phil., University of Bath. Retrieved 19 February 2004 from http://www.actionresearch.net/erica.shtml
D'Arcy, P. (1998) The Whole Story..... Ph.D. Thesis, University of Bath.
Retrieved 19 February 2004 from http://www.actionresearch.net/pat.shtml
Loftus, J. (1999) An action enquiry into the
marketing of an established first school in its transition to full primary
status. Ph.D. thesis,
Kingston University. Retrieved 19 February 2004 from http://www.actionresearch.net/loftus.shmtl
Whitehead,
J. (1999) How do I improve my practice? Creating a
discipline of education through educational enquiry. Ph.D. University of Bath.
Retrieved 19 February 2004 from http://www.actionresearch.net/jack.shtml
Cunningham,
B. (1999) How do I come to know my spirituality as I create my own living
educational theory?
Ph.D. Thesis, University of Bath. Retrieved 19 February 2004 from http://www.actionresearch.net/ben.shtml
Adler-Collins,
J. (2000) A Scholarship of Enquiry,
M.A. dissertation, University of Bath. Retrieved 19 February 2004 from http://www.actionresearch.net/jekan.shtml
Finnegan,
(2000) How do I create my own educational theory in my educative relations
as an action researcher and as a teacher? Ph.D. submission, University of Bath. Retrieved 19 February
2004 from http://www.actionresearch.net/fin.shtml
Austin,
T. (2001) Treasures in the Snow: What do I know and how do I know it through
my educational inquiry into my practice of community? Ph.D. Thesis, University of Bath.
Retrieved 19 February 2004 from http://www.actionresearch.net/austin.shtml
Mead,
G. (2001) Unlatching the Gate: Realising the Scholarship of my Living
Inquiry. Ph.D.
University of Bath. Retrieved 19 February 2004 from http://www.actionresearch.net/mead.shtml
Bosher,
M. (2001) How can I as an educator and Professional Development Manager
working with teachers, support and enhance the learning and achievement of
pupils in a whole school improvement process? Ph.D. University of Bath. Retrieved 19 February 2004 from http://www.actionresearch.net/bosher.shtml
Delong, J.
(2002) How Can I Improve My Practice As
A Superintendent of Schools and Create My Own Living Educational Theory? Ph.D. University of Bath. Retrieved 19
February 2004 from http://www.actionresearch.net/delong.shtml
Scholes-Rhodes,
J. (2002) From the Inside Out: Learning to presence my aesthetic and
spiritual being through the emergent form of a creative art of inquiry. Ph.D. University of Bath. Retrieved 19
February 2004 from http://www.bath.ac.uk/~edsajw/rhodes.shtml
Roberts, P. (2003) Emerging Selves in Practice: How do I and others create my
practice and how does my practice shape me and influence others? Ph.D. University of Bath. Retrieved 19
August 2004 from http://www.bath.ac.uk/~edsajw/roberts.shtml
Punia,
R. (2004) My CV is My Curriculum: The Making of an
International Educator with Spiritual Values. Ed.D. University of Bath. Retrieved 19 August 2004 from http://www.bath.ac.uk/~edsajw/punia.shtml
Hartog,
M. (2004) A Self Study Of A Higher Education
Tutor: How Can I Improve My Practice? Ph.D.
University of Bath. Retrieved 19 August 2004 from http://www.bath.ac.uk/~edsajw/hartog.shtml
Church, M. (2004) Creating an uncompromised place to belong: Why do I find myself in networks? Retrieved 24 May 2005 from http://www.bath.ac.uk/~edsajw/church.shtml
Naidoo, M. (2005) I am Because We
Are. (My never-ending story) The emergence of a living theory of inclusional
and responsive practice. Ph.D. University of Bath. Retrieved 2 April 2006 from
http://www.bath.ac.uk/~edsajw/naidoo.shtml
Farren, M. (2005) How can I create
a pedagogy of the unique through a web of betweenness? Ph.D. University of
Bath. Retrieved 2 April 2006 from http://www.bath.ac.uk/~edsajw/farren.shtml
Lohr, E. (2006) Love at Work: What is my lived experience of love and
how might I become an instrument of love's purpose. Ph.D. University of Bath.
Retrieved 26 May 2006 from http://www.bath.ac.uk/~edsajw/living.shtml
Sullivan, B. (2006) A living theory of a practice of social justice: realising the right of traveller children for educational equality. Ph.D. University of Limerick. Supervised by Jean McNiff. Retrieved 6 July 2006 from
http://www.jeanmcniff.com/bernieabstract.html