NOTES FOR TUESDAY 29 NOVEMBER 2005
I left last Tuesday evening's session glowing with the energy from your writings and conversations. It probably should be the other way round, but I can live with the pleasure! Here are some thoughts for this coming Tuesday.
Ed is hoping to bring a visual narrative (a combination of video and writing) that might help us to understand better his educational influences in his own learning and in pupils' learning. So, after we've had our initial check-in let's focus on Ed's account (Marie – we know your computer will play Ed's memory stick so let's set this up a few minutes before the start).
If you browse to the bottom of last Tuesday's notes at:
http://actionresearch.net/writings/tuesdayma/t221105.htm
You'll see a list of references, largely on pupil voice and building learning power. I'd like you to become familiar with up to date references from research on pupil's voice and I'll bring copies of these references to share on Tuesday evening. I don't believe any ideas in these references will explain your educational influence in your own learning or in your pupils' learning. I believe that only you and your pupils can explain this. Your explanations may show wider and deeper insights by integrating ideas from others, but the ideas of others will never replace the validity of your own explanations.
Ros asked a question about the history of the living theory approach I'm advocating – the approach that says that you are creating your own living educational theories in your educational enquiries as explanations for your educational influence in your own learning, in the learning of others and in the learning of social formations.
Juliet and Joy – just take your time in sharing thoughts/feelings/values from your embodied knowledge as
educators. There's a 16th March 2006 examination board and I'll check with Mike Fertig our Director of Studies when is the latest date we can hand in our educational enquiries to go to this board – the next board is in the Summer. Registrations last for a year from the registration date, so I don't think you are under pressure other than those you generate for yourself and the normal pressures of life and work!
Claire, Meg, Nina, James, Ailsa and Ros – a good part of me leaving on Tuesday evening with that glow of energy came from the power of your writings to captivate my imagination and enable me to feel your own passion and insight for the work you are doing with your pupils. Looking forward very much to seeing if you can move us to a closer understanding of your educational influences with your pupils.
Richard and Vicky – I suspect that if you will keep your 'stream of consciousness' writing flowing as you engage and respond to your daily experiences, two most exciting and influential accounts will emerge – we'll try to ensure this through the quality of our responses.
We've a system of evaluation in the Department of Education that includes your evaluations of our programmes and on Tuesday I'd like to make this a useful exercise for you, by asking you to include an evaluative response that says what you would like from me to help you to enhance your educational enquiry.
On Monday evening 28th November Belle Wallace will be coming with Marie to the Monday evening conversation 5.00-7.00 in 1WN 3.8 (our normal room). You are most welcome to come along. The Monday evening conversations are informal get togethers and don't have the accreditation focus of our Tuesday sessions. I know two evenings in one week may be a bit much!
I also don't want to overwhelm you with material than isn't directly related to your own enquiry. However I can see Ros has a good point and that it might help you to 'frame' your own educational enquiry from a living theory perspective if you've got a good understanding of its genesis. I'll bring copies of my 1993 book on the growth of educational knowledge for you to borrow. This explains the genesis of the approach. I've explained why I think the approach continues to have significance in that 2005 keynote I gave on the 11th November to the Act, Reflect, Revise III Conference in Ontario at:
http://www.actionresearch.net/writings/monday/arrkey05dr1.htm
Marie is working on a research proposal for a doctoral enquiry that is focused on the generation of her living theory of her work in education. It might be that Marie has some of this proposal to share on Tuesday as part of her educational enquiry.
The Note that follows is just for your information. It might be that you'd like to share ideas in these conversations.
I've just sent this round the following e-forums:
British Educational Research Association (BERA)
Collaborative Action Research Network (CARN)
Self-Study of Teacher Education Practices Special Interest Group of AERA
Practitioner-Researcher Special Interest Group of BERA
7th World Congress on Action Learning, Action Research and Process Management 21-25 August 2006.
"I'd like to extend my contribution to understandings of the standards of practical judgement used by educational researchers to constitute research as educational. To do this I'm hoping that you'd like to join me in extending and developing a living archive of accounts by educational researchers that can explain their educational influences in their own learning, in the learning of others and in the learning of social formations.
A start has been made in the May-July 2005 BERA Practitioner-Researcher SIG e-seminar - see the What's New section of http://www.actionresearch.net . You can see the kind of archive I've got in mind, from the e-seminar, in Branko Bognar's response of the 3rd July 2005 to my request for evidence of educational influences in learning. Branko's posting gave access to three video-clips that showed himself, the teachers he was working with and the pupils, researching their own learning in a school in Croatia. The three clips on action research, creativity and validation, with the visual narrative of the text superimposed on the video-clips, communicated the meanings of action research, creativity and validation as living standards of practice and judgement. You can access the video-clips with the English sub-titles by browsing down the following paper to Branko's letter which begins 'Dear Friends' in:
http://www.actionresearch.net/writings/monday/arrkey05dr1.htm
I've got four events in mind for 2006 where developing an archive of explanations of educational influence could help to enhance understandings of standards of practice and judgement in education:
1) At AERA in April 2006, in San Francisco, the Business
Meeting of the Action Research Special Interest Group will include a
presentation, coordinated by Michael Brody, of web-based resources such as
Action Research Expeditions at: http://www.arexpeditions.montana.edu/index.php
If you have accounts on the web that could help educational researchers to enhance their understandings of living standards of educational judgement do please add access to these accounts to the archive (details below), I could then include them in the presentation at AERA.
2) On the 19th June 2006 there is a gathering in Bath to explore the potential of living educational theories of educational influences in professional learning. You can access the details from the What's New section of http://www.actionresearch.net at:
At this gathering I intend to draw the attention of the participants to the archive in relation to educational standards and explanations of educational influence. If you would like to add to the archive of evidence of educational influences in learning, from the BERA 2005 Practitioner-Researcher e-seminar, just click the 'Join or Leave the Living Archive' button in the What's New section and when you receive a confirmation from me, just add the details of the research that you believe will contribute to our understandings of the standards of practice and judgement that constitute research as educational and/or explain educational influences in learning.
3) The 7th World Congress on Action Learning, Action Research and Process Management is taking place between the 21st-25th August 2006 in Groningen. The web-site for the Congress contains a guest forum that is open to all interested participants. What I am suggesting we could do, between now and August 21-25 2006, is to make contributions to this guest forum that will help to develop a living archive of research accounts that shows the standards of judgement we use to constitute our research as educational and the explanations we believe can explain educational influences in learning. You can access the details of the World Congress with its focus on standards, and the guest forum from the What's New section of http://www.actionresearch.net . If you access the guest forum you will see I've started a thread on 'Evidence of our Standards in Accounting for Ourselves'. 'Accounting For Ourselves' was the theme of the 3rd World Congress.
4) The call for proposals for BERA 2006 at the University of Warwick, 6-9 September is now out. It might be that a group of us could submit a proposal to the Practitioner-Researcher SIG for a symposium on Standards of Practice and Judgement in Practitioner-Research and Educational Theory and/or submit a proposal for a keynote seminar. Do let me know if you are interested.
Love Jack."