What is Jack doing to understand himself and his learning from his educational perspective?

A response to the question asked by Louise Cripps and Marie Huxtable after my tutoring of a master's session on understanding learners and learning in the Department of Education of the University of Bath on the 5^th December 2006.

Jack Whitehead, Department of Education, University of Bath

6 December, 2006

What I am doing in understanding myself as a learner and my learning from my educational perspective in December 2006 has emerged from 62 years of personal learning. This learning has been influenced by the cosmic, global, and sociocultural formation of the UK where I lived and worked. In answering the question from what I am doing in the here and now I want to draw attention to two narratives I have already published about my understanding of myself as a learner and my learning between 1973-1993 and between 1993-2004. Both accounts are accessible from a presentation in Action Research Expeditions at:

http://www.arexpeditions.montana.edu/articleviewer.php?AID=80

My present understandings have emerged from my creative responses to this history as I continue to generate new meanings that contribute to my learning and to my understanding of myself as a learner.

This is what I see myself doing as an educator and educational researcher.

As an educator I think I engage with those I tutor, supervise and teach with an educational perspective that communicates a recognition and value of the other as a person, with valuable embodied knowledge and with a capacity for knowledge-creation.

As an educational researcher my use of multi-media technologies, particularly digital video and the channels of communication opened by web-space, is focused on legitimating as valid knowledge in the Academy, the embodied knowledge of educators and other practitioner-researchers.

In my Presidential Address to the British Educational Research Association in 1988 on research-based professionalism in education (http://people.bath.ac.uk/edsajw/writings/jwberapres.html) I included an Appendix of accounts of practitioner-researchers to demonstrate that the embodied knowledge of practitioners could be legitimated in the Academy. My present learning with the masters group studying the understanding learners and learning module is focused on my pedagogy as I seek to communicate my own understandings of the given curriculum, without losing a primary connection with the living curricula being created by the individuals and group as we help each other to a successful completion of the unit.

In working with an understanding of learners and learning from an educational perspective this is what I understand about my present educational perspective and the learning involved in its development. To explain my meanings I feel the need to use a visual narrative. This is because my text on a page, without the dynamic moving images to show what I am doing seems to lose vital meanings. I would like you to browse quickly through the following:

This is a still image of a computer window that opens in a browser when you click on:

http://www.jackwhitehead.com/jack/my_videos.html . The video-clip of Alan Rayner is significant because this is the demonstration during which I felt my perceptions transforming with an understanding of the meanings of inclusionality being expressed by Alan. This transformation has been significant in terms of my capacity to use three theories of knowledge in comprehending the knowledge being generated from these three different ways of knowing.. I can now move between propositional, dialectical and inclusional knowing with an awareness of the different logics and standards of judgment from each perspective. The distinguishing characteristic of inclusionality is that it is a relationally dynamic awareness of space and boundaries that is connective, reflexive and co-creative.

In my previous accounts of my learning between 1973-2004 I have used both propositional and dialectical theories in the generation of my own living educational theory. In 2006 I am learning how to live and research with an understanding of inclusionality. In my tutoring I am encouraging other educators to frame their educational perspectives with the relationally dynamic awareness of inclusionality. In my educational research I am seeking to find appropriate ways of representing the living logics and standards of judgment of inclusionality in a way that enables the embodied knowledge of educators to be legitimated with as little distortion as possible.

To communicate the state of my present learning about these forms of representation I use the video-clips at:

http://www.jackwhitehead.com/jack/my_videos.htmlto show the distinguishing flow-form qualities of the expression of embodied relational values and living standards of judgement. For example the one minute video-clip of Moira Laidlaw at the end of a class at Guyuan Teachers' College in China, shows the flow form of Moira's expression of her relational values as she moves and connects with her students as they leave the room. When I talk about the recognition of the value of the other, I have in mind the quality of connection Moira is expressing as her students flow past her. At the end of the clip, Moira beckons a student to join her and congratulates the student on questioning something Moira has asked her to do. Moira explains how much she values the courage of the student in questioning a teacher, especially from within a culture where traditionally such questioning has not been encouraged.

What I think that I do in my educational relationships as I work with someone to bring their embodied knowledge into the public domain, is to communicate my recognition of the other as of value, as I think Moira is showing in this clip. I think that I also communicate my valuing of the embodied knowledge of the other and their capacities, as knowledge-creators, to bring their knowledge into the public domain. This is how I worked with Moira in supervising her research programme for her doctorate (see http://people.bath.ac.uk/edsajw/moira2.shtml ) and I have checked with Moira to see if she feels that my description of the way I work is valid. She does. What I learnt in working with Moira in his research programme was that the standards of judgment could be understood as living. Until Moira pointed this out I had thought of standards of judgement as being explicated in the clarification of their meanings in the course of their emergence in practice. What I learnt from Moira was the living nature of the standards of judgment.

If you view the video-clip of me working with Yaakub Murray on a text he brought to me on Progressive Islam you will see that the camera is moving round and helps to emphasise, for me, that we exist in space. This particularly clip helps me to appreciate the importance of a relationally dynamic awareness of space and boundaries that is connective, reflexive and co-creative. In viewing the clip I can also re-live the expressions of life-affirming energy, flowing with pleasure and laughter and that are also significant in my understandings of what I do in my educational relationships. I think that those I work with evoke this flow of life-affirming energy, pleasure and laughter and that these expressions add to the motivations required to sustain each others' enquiries.

In what I do I am continuing to learn about the education of social formations. I understand, from my readings of other theorists, something about the political, economic and cultural influences in what I do. I understand the economic theories of human capital and human capability sufficiently to locate my own perspective within a human capability approach. I understand enough of the work of Basil Bernstein to work to avoid the creation of mythological discourses that ignore the power relations in the wider social systems that influence particular contexts. I understand the distinction that Foucault made between the power of truth and the truth of power and I retain a commitment to speak truth to power. I am also drawn to explicate my theory of learning in terms of Vasilyuk's idea of creative experiencing where he distinguishes between realistic experiencing (accepting the world as it is), value experiencing (where the world is transformed in a desired direction in our imaginations) and creative experiencing, where the world is lived in and engaged with practically in seeking to bring about desired improvements. This learning is also influenced by Karen Tesson's doctoral research into flow-form networks and interconnecting and branching channels of communication.

The diagram that changed my awareness of communications through the internet was on a slide, shown by Karen Teeson at a presentation of her doctoral research programme at the University of Bath. It was a slide showing the natural connection between tubular structures or anastomosis. Before seeing this diagram I had been working with a linear sense of communication between a transmitter and receiver. The following diagram transformed my perception of communications through the internet into my present understanding of interconnecting and branching channels of communication where boundaries can act as guidelinings for the flow of life-affirming energy, values and insights.

I have modified the diagram to open up channels of communication in the encircling boundary.

I now want to use this image as a metaphor for the development of an inclusional approach to the creation, testing and communication of living educational theories, their embodied values and living standards of judgement.

A loving flow of life-affirming energy as an embodied value and living standard of judgement in educational relationships and claims to educational knowledge.

Before I pause to check with readers if I am being understood I want to bring in my present learning about the expression of relational values that can sustain humanity. With the video-clip of Alan Rayner and Eden Charles I produced the following video-narrative to see if I could communicate meanings of inclusionality with ubuntu in a way that could captivate the imaginations of others in using inclusionality with ubunt as a living standard of judgment.

Distinguishing World Leading Educational Standards of Judgement Through Living Inclusionality With Ubuntu

Jack Whitehead, Department of Education, University of Bath

DRAFT FOR CORRECTION AND MODIFICATION

For discussion at the Monday evening conversation 5.00-7.00 in 1WN 3.8 of the University of Bath on

4 December 2006

http://www.jackwhitehead.com/movie/eden271106alan.mov

For a fast download using streaming video with You Tube click on

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ap06AxMQbkg

Context

The video clip was made on 27^th November 2006 in a Monday Evening Educational Conversation in the Department of Education of the University of Bath. The educational conversations are intended to support doctoral, post-doctoral and other enquiries into the creation of living educational theories with inclusionality by practitioner-researchers. At the beginning of each session participants have a 'check-in' time where we listen to any news from the week that participants want to share.  Alan Rayner, on the right of the picture, has been preparing for an interview with an American radio station on inclusionality. In the 'check-in' time he expresses some anxiety about the interview. Eden responds to Alan.

Through his expression of inclusionality as a relationally dynamic awareness of space and boundaries that is connective, reflexive and co-creative, Alan has helped to extend and transform my understandings of the logics and standards of judgement that can be used to evaluate the quality of contributions to educational knowledge and educational theory.  I could not have predicted Eden's response to Alan's 'check-in' but having taken the video I now want to use it to communicate my understandings of how inclusionality with ubuntu and living educational theories could form world leading standards of judgement for educational practitioner-researchers.

Eden is in the final phase of creating his thesis for submission by the end of January 2007. Eden's thesis connects his Afro-Carribean heritage and culture to an African Cosmology with Ubuntu in his work as an educator, international consultant, father and educational researcher. I asked if I could take the video-recording because I felt that it might be useful for Eden's thesis in showing his expression of an Ubuntu way of being. In working with Eden, in the development of his research programme, I have been aware that he lives distinct qualities of presence and relationship. These resonate with a flow of my own life-affirming energy and my understandings of the embodied expression of values that sustain humanity. I associate such flows of life-affirming energy and values with Ubuntu. I am aware of the risk of colonising the indigenous meanings of Ubuntu in my use of the word. Hence I want to avoid this colonisation by checking with Eden that I have understood his meanings as I claim to be recognising the humanising relational qualities of his expression of Ubuntu. 

My reason for wanting to recognise the value of Ubuntu for sustaining humanity is that it is a quality of presence and relationship that is coming out of Africa. I am aware of the danger that I may seem patronising when I say that I want to acknowledge qualities of humanity emerging from Africa that offer a globalising hope for sustaining humanity. Yet I do think Ubuntu expresses such qualities and wish to face any criticisms of colonisation and of being patronising.

One of my interests in holding open a space for educational conversations in the Department of Education of the University of Bath is in contributing to the generation of educational theories that explain the educational influences of individuals in their own learning, in the learning of others and in the learning of social formations. There are many ways of understanding the word 'educational'.  My purpose in what follows is to distinguish my meanings of 'educational'  through my experience and interpretation of living inclusionality with ubuntu in the dynamic of the relationship and communication between Alan and Eden in the above video-clip.

This purpose is linked to my vocation in education and its present expression in the 2006-7 e-seminar I am convening for the British Educational Research Association Practitioner-Researcher Special Interest Group. The seminar is focused on the standards of judgment for evaluating the quality of the educational knowledge created by practitioner-researchers in relation to it being world leading, internationally excellent, internationally recognised or nationally recognised in terms of its originality, significance and rigour. These are the criteria to be used in the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise in the UK to allocate funding for research in Higher Education. My own desire, because of the significance I attach to educational theory, is to contribute to educational research, as a practitioner-researcher, that is world leading. You can join and participate in the e-seminar from the What's New section of http://www.actionresearch.net .

As I watch the video-clip I bring my awareness of inclusionality and understandings of ubuntu and living educational theories into my interpretation of the significance of what I am seeing. Sharing my interpretations needs the following understandings of inclusionality, ubuntu and living educational theory.

Following Rayner (2004, 2006)  I understand inclusionality as a form of awareness. It is a relationally dynamic awareness of space and boundaries that is connective, reflexive and co-creative. As I watch the video-clip I see both Alan and Eden relating with inclusionality. By this I mean that both are communicating with a relationally dynamic awareness of the space they are included within. They feel to me to be aware and sensitive to each other's boundaries while connecting through the warmth, humour and energy of their humanity in ways that are both reflexive and co-creative. I experience this warmth, humour an energy as Eden responds to Alan's concern about the interview through a shared desire to communicate more widely the idea and implications of inclusionality. Without the video and with just the transcript below to communicate, most of the expressions of warmth, humour and energy are missing. Hence my emphasis on the significance of visual narratives in generating world leading standards of judgement and practice from educational practitioner-research. I have developed my case for visual narratives in the generation of world leading standards of practice and judgement in an Institute of the Ontario College of Teachers on Living The Standards at  http://www.jackwhitehead.com/jack/jwoct06presentation.htm .

To understand the quality of Eden's presence and relationship in Ubuntu it is necessary to understand Eden's African Cosmology and its connection to Ubuntu. Here is my present understanding of Ubuntu, expressed through my use of the English language that is open to the distortions of translation from one language to another. I shall stand corrected by Eden for any misinterpretations I may be making.

In Eden's African Cosmology with Ubuntu individuals see themselves as intimately connected with others and as sharing a responsibility for individual and collective well-being. There is a flow of life-affirming energy with Ubuntu that can be expressed collectively and individually through music, dance, song, drama and art. There is a love of learning and sharing learning through stories that is connected to the education of the social formations in which individuals, families and communities live and work. Ubuntu includes a relationally dynamic awareness of space and boundaries that flows with the values of care, trust, integrity and respect.

In addition to inclusionality and ubuntu I am suggesting that world leading standards of judgement in educational practitioner-research can be expressed through living educational theories. What I mean by a living educational theory is a theory generated by an educational practitioner-researcher that can explain their educational influence in their own learning, in the learning of others and in the learning of a social formation as they seek to live their values of sustaining humanity as fully as they can.

In viewing the video clip of the conversation between Eden and Alan I am seeing Eden express his African Cosmology with Ubuntu through his enlivening presence and his receptively responsive relationship with Alan. In the flow of life-affirming energy that is amplified through the pleasure in the laughter I am experiencing Eden's love of life and relationship in ubuntu. I am thinking that if the world could be formed through the qualities of such relationships of inclusionality and ubuntu, it would be a world of educational quality in which present conflicts and poverty could give way to such flows of well-being.  This is what I am meaning by world leading standards of judgement in the contributions of educational practitioner-research to the creation of a world of educational quality. I am suggesting that such standards could be formed with inclusionality and ubuntu in the creation and sharing of living educational theories. 

My vocational commitment is to supporting the creation of living educational theories and enhancing their flow as cultural artefacts through web-space and other social formations. This commitment is grounded in the belief that it will be through our personal and social accountability to living our values of sustaining humanity as fully as we can that we will enhance our contributions to the creation of a world of educational quality.

Looking forward to hearing your responses that can help to evaluate the validity of my assumptions and enhance these contributions.

TRANSCRIPT

Transcript from the video clip with Alan Rayner and Eden Charles on 27 November 2006 in the context of a Monday evening educational conversation in the Department of Education of the University of Bath and Eden responding to Alan's expression of anxiety about a radio interview in December, on inclusionality, for an American audience. 

Alan: An understanding that what we perceive as human imperfection is actually the source of our creativity and understanding that at a deep level.

Eden: This may be arrogant on my part, right.

Alan: Arrogant, You?

Eden: I think that since I've been coming to these Monday evening sessions you've given me a lot of really good attention and the writings you've done are really important and I think that the things that you write have got weight in a number of different ways and what I wonder about is, well the reason I ask the question about inclusionality, it seems that you have an understand or understandings that are really quite dynamic and important and thinking about you doing the radio interview and thinking about my own experience of the media there's something about if I am going on there I need to have a purpose,, I almost need to have a hook. I need to have a clear core message and being the kind of person you are it feels to me that the clear core message resonates deeply with your ontology who you are what you value. So when I asked you the question about what you want to do with it what I was trying to do and this is the arrogant bit is to ask  you if you could almost sum it up in thirty seconds if you could explain it really easily and to do that you need to know there is a purpose you held for you wanting to do it for wanting to foreground your ideas around the notion of inclusionality.

Alan: Well I have sort of rehearsed quite a lot in my mind what is at the back of it. If you ask me where do I want to take inclusionality that is a different question from what do you want to do with it. Where I want to take inclusionality is in the direction of helping us to, that's rather difficult isn't it, can't do it, too tired...

The heart of the message is that there is my mind, no conflict, no conflict, that is probably the major message that there is no conflict and there is no conflict necessary between the spiritual the artistic and the scientific view of nature and that indeed the divine and the natural, the divine the natural and the spiritual are the same and in a sense that is the source of my passion and in the past the problems that we make for ourselves through objective definition that has set up the possibility for conflict I want to get beyond conflict, beyond conflict, beyond the kind of thinking that leads into conflict and actually start working co-creatively to restore our natural human neighbourhood.

It is wish to help restore the natural neighbourhood.

If we actually think that we are currently in a situation of global crisis and I think we are environmentally, socially, psychologically, that so much of our energies are still diverted into conflict of all kinds and actually if you think what would happen if you took all that energy we are currently pouring into all manner of conflict and actually poured it into a co-creative exploration of natural human neighbourhood that would make a big difference.

Eden: I think that the thoughts you have gathered around yourself  are more important than you might acknowledge.

Alan: I think they are very important.

Eden: And therefore if you hold that and therefore if you go onto the radio station and you are going to be communication these ideas to a lot of people then you should think about, and this is me being prescriptive the form in which you articulate it and the ability of it to connect with the people you want to connect with.

Alan: Oh yes. That's not easy of course.

Eden:  It's not easy at all. But this is what I was thinking about inclusionality.

Alan: Maybe you should do it for me! Can you come along and hold my hand!

Eden: For me one of the things I have loved about reading about inclusionality is that this notion that there isn't this separation. So, for you doing it the part that you are doing is that connection you have with the people who are listening and being inside their heads and brains and thinking as they listen to you what are they experiencing, feeling, hearing and how does your message need to be how does your communication form need to be in order to achieve the things you want. That's what I wanted to say.

Alan: Yes, very good. Your turn now.

I'm passing!

 I now what to pause and to share these writings, first with Louise and Marie to see if you think I'm offering a relevant answer to your question and then, after taking your responses into account, to a wider audience.

Love Jack.

References to be Added.