Philosophical Tenets of Action Research in Education

Abstract

The juxtaposition of action and research conveys a sense of the richness and complexity of action research, yet it does not entirely translate its nuanced and sophisticated philosophy. In turn, an understanding of this philosophy is crucial for grasping action research’s radical originality. In this context at least, it may be more accurate to define action research by drawing on the term practice, even though it does not form part of the basic conceptual pair. Not only does practice make it easier for us to trace the constellation of philosophical influences behind the theory and practice of action research—from pragmatism to postmodernism, including Greek philosophy and Marxist and psychoanalytic schools of thought—but also to identify where these influences end and action research emerges as the bearer of a nontransferable view. Beyond this, at the heart of action research lies a structural affinity with singular social practices, which are its key ontological sites—that is, the context where action research in each case fills its epistemological and ethical dimensions with meaning. What kind of knowledge does action research aim to produce? What behaviors do action researchers engage in? Compared to other research paradigms in the social sciences—the field of education included—the specific quality of action research has to do with how its epistemological and ethical dimensions are shaped not from without but from within any given social practice. This is the key to its specific ecology. In action research, the epistemological and ethical realms do not stand beyond or above the situated social practices, with their values, principles of procedure, knowledges, and discourses, including their own literacies and modalities—in short, their own internal cultures. Action research conceives and presents itself as a rational and systematic way for members of the different social practices to build and rebuild their own epistemologies and ethics precisely by drawing on, and selecting from, their own internal cultures. How does this ecological perspective translate itself in education? Education is one of the key areas in which action research is generally applied, together with welfare and healthcare. Yet apart from the specific use of action research by educators, action research carries within itself a specific educational philosophy (and a political philosophy as well) which underlies its application, regardless of the specific social practice in which it takes place. In the same way that action research is politically democratic, educationally speaking action research is participatory, meaning that learning, improvement, or development can only be realized through a self-determining process in which people act and research freely upon and among themselves. This is precisely what action research facilitates in the different social practices. Action research is always educational, whether one develops it in education, welfare, or healthcare. As a result, action research has contributed a clear-cut pedagogical model that some critical educators have already imported to their own educational institutions and practices: youth participatory action research.

Emotion Labor as Professional Development Work: Insights from Teachers Doing Action Research

“…Such perspectives have also been reflected in the ideas of John Dewey who emphasized collective inquiry as an approach that transcends mere educational issues toward embracing the sociocultural particularities that define educational work and how individuals could move toward dealing with those particularities for purposes of responsive education. Such a quest for embracing sociocultural particularities in the context of AR has been effectively employed by recent scholarship on AR (e.g., Banegas & Villacañas de Castro, 2015, 2019; Villacañas de Castro, 2014, 2020; Villacañas de Castro & Banegas, 2020). This recent and emerging line of thinking and research has the principle that “social practices” (Villacañas de Castro & Banegas, 2020, p. 1) form the ontological underpinnings of AR, which was also empirically corroborated in the study by Villacañas de Castro (2014) in dealing with academic, conceptual, and socioeconomic obstacles of a professional development course, as ameliorated by AR, and resulted in better mutual understanding in the course.…”

“…Such a quest for embracing sociocultural particularities in the context of AR has been effectively employed by recent scholarship on AR (e.g., Banegas & Villacañas de Castro, 2015, 2019; Villacañas de Castro, 2014, 2020; Villacañas de Castro & Banegas, 2020). This recent and emerging line of thinking and research has the principle that “social practices” (Villacañas de Castro & Banegas, 2020, p. 1) form the ontological underpinnings of AR, which was also empirically corroborated in the study by Villacañas de Castro (2014) in dealing with academic, conceptual, and socioeconomic obstacles of a professional development course, as ameliorated by AR, and resulted in better mutual understanding in the course. Such perspectives also informed our study, as we show later.…”

“…This line of thinking and research highlights that teachers' engagement in AR brings implications for their identity construction, emotions, and agencies (e.g., Burns, 2019; Derakhshan & Nazari, 2022; Edwards & Burns, 2020; Nazari, 2022; Trent, 2010). A closely related argument is that teachers are in persistent connection with the way AR is contextually understood and how situated policy, planning, and discourse come to shape their engagement in AR (Edwards, 2020; Villacañas de Castro, 2014; Villacañas de Castro & Banegas, 2020; Yuan & Burns, 2017). Considering that context is key to conducting AR (Burns, 2005), it is important to explore how contextual expectations and discourses shape teachers' emotions in AR.…”

Teachers’ understanding and enhancement of learning for sustainability in Mauritian primary schools.

“…Therefore, it can be deduced that when experts conduct action research, they engage in an energetic process based on their professional, social, ethical, religious values, and self-esteem (Villacanas de Castro & Banegas, 2020). By applying the modifications in classroom teachinglearning situations, a better improvement is achieved in linewith predetermined goals (Mertler, 2019).…”