Search results for: Teacher research

This paper makes a contribution to the theory and practice of educational action research by introducing two theoretical and methodological resources as part of a personal review of sustained professional experience: 'appreciative inquiry' and the 'enneagram'. It is more than a theoretical exercise, however, because it also constitutes an action-oriented reflection on the transitional nature of the author's professional situation, moving from work as a school-based primary school teacher and head teacher to work as a consultant.

This article began as a response to the article 'Action research as narrative: five principles for validation' by Heikkinen, Huttunen and Syrjala, which appears in this issue of Educational Action Research. In so doing it addresses the question 'How can we tell whether an action research study is good?' by arguing that validity is a construct that can be used to evaluate the quality of qualitative research studies, including action research.

In discussing the relevant theory and the issues identified in focus groups and interviews held with the young researchers, we, firstly, consider the exclusion of some student voices from education discourse. We then identify the features of students as researchers programmes, focusing on the Student Action Research for University Access (SARUA) project, which promote student voice on educational issues.

Action research that attempts to engage practitioners in self reflexivity and textual analysis is a fertile site for a consideration of how silences are used in research settings to communicate meanings previously ignored because they were unspoken. In order to consider these silences as purposeful strategic moves on the part of research participants, I propose a problematic of silence that allows the silences to breathe and speak.