The SAGE Handbook of Educational Action Research

Abstract

This chapter examines and explores the potential of action research to enhance social justice in education. It discusses different approaches and practices within the field of education in relation to epistemologies and principles underlying research for social justice. Implicit in many characterizations of action research is the potential to work for justice-in small-scale projects or for larger social and educational ends. At the same time, disquiet has been expressed by many action researchers about the co-option of action research for merely instrumental ends, or for purposes of social control rather than of social justice. The chapter addresses the question: when and how far is action research coherent with aims for social justice? Action Research and Politically Committed Research Arguments rage over the issue of politics in action research. The term 'politics' here means a concern with power relations, decision making and action in large-or smallscale social worlds. Thus a concern for social justice is a political one. All sides claim the moral high ground. There are those who would see particular kinds of politics as basic to good action research, and others who would not want their research to be political at all. I myself take the position that all research which enhances social justice is to be welcomed, and indeed that it is a moral and/or political obligation for action researchers at some (but not all) points in their action research careers.

Saúde e migrações: metodologias participativas como ferramentas de promoção da cidadania

“…O desenvolvimento da metodologia de investigação-ação (IA) está associado à tentativa de superar o dualismo entre a teoria e a prática, entre investigadores e investigados 5 . Noffke 6 agrupa os estudos desenvolvidos em três dimensões: pessoal, profissional e política, embora todas envolvam as três dimensões e estejam inter-relacionadas.…”

Facilitating preservice teacher induction through learning in partnership

“…As Noffke and Somekh (2009) argue, 'all forms of action research (and indeed all research) embody the political' (p. 8), and the politics of research in teacher education is no exception. Employers clearly have a stake in improving the provision of high quality teachers to hard to staff regions, particularly those in low SES and rural settings.…”

The Transfer of Problem-Based Learning Skills to Clinical Practice

“…The key aspects of action research, which contributed to this research design, were its theories on insider research (Bryman, 2008), improvement in education practice (Noffke & Somekh, 2009;Pring, 2004), and openness to pragmatic research methods. Eighteen graduates of the PBL program were approached to arrange semi-structured telephone interviews using the contact details volunteered at the consent stage of the research.…”

“…The research was guided by a pragmatic approach (Biesta & Burbules, 2003;Scheffler, 1999) and employed an action research design (Herr & Anderson, 2005;Koshy, 2010;Noffke & Somekh, 2009;Pring, 2004). The key aspects of action research, which contributed to this research design, were its theories on insider research (Bryman, 2008), improvement in education practice (Noffke & Somekh, 2009;Pring, 2004), and openness to pragmatic research methods.…”