Back to Practioner Research in History Action Research as Professional Development
by Shirley Grundy
Introduction
Action research as on-going professional development
Journeying through action research
The collaborative nature of action research
The action research process
Conclusion
References
Sources of Evidence
IntroductionIn the following paper the process of action research is described and discussed. In the paper I argue that action research is a powerful form of professional development. Its power comes from the fact that the focus of inquiry and interest in action research is the participants' own practice. Moreover, action research does not send people off to engage in solitary action and reflection. It incorporates a commitment to collaborative inquiry which means that not only is the work of individuals encouraged and supported, but it allows the possibility for real change as alternative interpretations of evidence are considered.
The paper has been written in a form that will allow it to be 'worked through' by groups who wish to begin an action research inquiry. In various places through the text 'Reflection Points' have been inserted. These could be used by groups to provide a basis for discussion and for the beginnings of an action research project.
Having worked through this introduction to action research, the only thing that remains is for the members of the group to commit themselves to make a beginning. The most important thing to do after making the decision to engage in action research is to decide where to begin and make a plan for the group's activities. This will involve deciding how often the group will meet, and setting targets for planning, action, collecting evidence and reflection.
Action research groups need to be committed, professional learning groups.
Making Professional Learning Public
Action research is not just a process of change, it is also a process of professional learning. While it is not a good idea for groups to burden themselves with massive amounts of data collection and documentation, it is an excellent idea to find some way of making a record of the professional learning that occurred. Sometimes members of a group do this by keeping personal professional journals. I would also encourage action research groups to write case studies of their work.
Case studies can bring enormous satisfaction to the group as they distil the experience of the project and provide assurance to participants that something worthwhile was achieved. A case study can also provide an accountability mechanism by providing a public account of the project. But more importantly still, case studies are a way by which groups of professionals can make their experiences public and thus accessible to others. I use the metaphor of the 'journey' in the paper. Case studies can become ways of swapping yarns with fellow travellers, not just as a form of mutual admiration, but as a sharing of information that others can use for their journeys also.
A Word about Facilitation
Action research is essentially a democratic form of work organisation. Hierarchy is not privileged in action research, nor is experience or other status conferring attributes. Two attributes only are privileged in action research:
being a practitioner who is engaged in systematic reflection and action in relation to some aspect of his/her practice, and
being able to engage in rational critical interpretation of evidence.
I would want to add that the right to 'engage in rational critical interpretation of evidence' is also and importantly dependent upon 'being a practitioner who is engaged in systematic reflection and action in relation to some aspect of his/her practice'.
This means that being an 'outsider' becomes problematic in action research. Yet I would also want to assert that action research groups benefit from having 'significant others' as part of the group. Often this person is known as the 'facilitator' of the group.
Facilitators can provide many benefits to the group. Essentially the facilitator is the servant of the group. Facilitators often are people with more flexible working conditions than other members of the group, and this flexibility can be used to the group's advantage. A facilitator might arrange venues and materials for meetings and for the collection of evidence. She/he can often collect evidence on behalf of (and always under direction from) practitioners; maybe undertaking observations or interviews. The facilitator might also be able to assist in the interpretation of evidence, especially bringing alternative interpretations. And one of the most important roles that the facilitator might play is to make a wide and appropriate range of professional reading available to group members. If practitioners are to develop critical understandings of their work, they need access to the work of other professionals (whether they be practitioners or researchers in the field). It is often the facilitator who can make such work available to the members of the group.
While there can, therefore, be many roles played by an outside facilitator, one important principal should underpin the facilitator's participation in the group. That is that he/she should also be engaged in investigating and improving her/his own work of facilitation. Only when that work is opened up for critical reflection, can the facilitator claim the privilege of engaging in critical interpretation on the evidence of the work of others.
Many have found the experience of engaging in action research exhilarating. I trust that you will also. I also hope that you will find the following discussion of the action research process helpful.
Action research as on-going professional developmentRETHINKING PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT A common conception of professional development is that it is a 'pit stop' activity. That is, when teachers are 'low on fuel', in need of a 're-tread', or whatever, they are taken out of their classrooms and schools and 'fixed up' with a bit of professional development.
But what if we challenge this conception of professional development? What if we assert that professional development isn't 'the pits'; it isn't an 'off the track' activity1 &endash; it is a dead centre part of professional work? How do we think about 'doing professional development' then?
This challenge to the 'pit stop' approach to professional development is the one that I would want to mount. Further, in this paper, I want to propose 'action research' as a form of practical action which teachers undertake as part of, not separate from, their professional work. Moreover, this sort of professional development is for everyone; it isn't just for those in whom some form of professional deficit has been diagnosed.
But here we need to get away entirely from the metaphor of the race track. The metaphor of the 'journey' might be a more appropriate one for the idea of continuous professional development, which is action research. In taking a journey we plan to various degrees beforehand what we will need and which way it would be appropriate to go2 . If we don't have maps or directions or haven't been that way before, we may need to do some form of reconnaissance, in order to decide on a direction. Having struck out for our destination, we probably will want to record the journey &endash; take some photographs, buy some postcards, keep a diary, write to our friends about our experiences. And at journey's end we recall our adventures, describe what took place to others, remember and reflect upon our experiences. We say to ourselves things like 'next time we'll stay longer' or 'we won't camp by a railway line again!' We talk to others who have also been to that destination, compare notes and pick up information from them. And next time we journey forth we are wiser, better prepared, more willing to take some risks, open to even greater adventures and experiences.
That, I would argue, is a far more worthwhile way to think about professional development than the 'pit stop' approach. Thinking about professional development through the metaphor of the journey breaks us out of the restrictive notion of 'fix up' strategies for the professionally deficient.
The journey metaphor also helps us to break away from the metaphor of 're-inventing the wheel'. It would be surprising if someone said, given the opportunity for a journey to Venice:
Going to Venice? That's simply re-inventing the wheel! Thousands of people have been there already. I can look at their photographs or talk to them. I don't need to go there myself.
I think we would want to say to that person: Reinventing the wheel is an inappropriate metaphor here. Sure people might have been to Venice before, but some aspects of life are about having experiences yourself, not simply borrowing the experiences of others.
Again I want to assert that professional development is like this. While it is most appropriate, indeed crucial, to think of learning from others and sharing experiences, professional development isn't a game of 'pass the parcel' (you have it so give it to me). It is a journey that we all need to take.
REFLECTION POINT I have deliberately been playing with metaphors here. I have used the metaphors of 'the pit stop', 'the journey', 're-inventing the wheel' and the 'parcel' to talk about conceptions (and misconceptions) of professional development. Are these metaphors meaningful to you? Do you agree with the blanket claims I have made about professional development? In what circumstances might the metaphors that I have rejected above be appropriate?
Journeying Through Action ResearchI described professional development above as a 'journey'. The journeying process that I described is actually the 'action research' process in other language. It is this process that I want to describe in the remainder of this paper.
Before We Begin: A Definition
In 1981 Stephen Kemmis from Deakin University in Victoria and I wrote a paper entitled Educational Action Research in Australia: The State of the Art. I want to begin this discussion of action research with the definitions that we used in that paper.
The aims of action research
We claimed that action research had two principal aims improvement and involvement.
The aim of improvement targets three areas:
improvement in practices
improvement in the situation in which practice is occurring
improvement in understanding both the practice and the situation.
Similarly, the aim of involvement has an expanding focus. Of central importance is the involvement of practitioners. That is, those who are actually engaged in the practices are the ones who are also engaged in all facets of the action and the research. (To revisit our journey metaphor &endash; it is a process directed towards and directed by those who are actually taking the journey).
But involvement should also widen as our understanding about who is part of the action develops. For instance, it often becomes clear that students can no longer be regarded as passive recipients of learning but are active constructors of the learning environment and processes. Thus, students often become co-participants in the research and the action (not just the subjects of research, which is often the case in traditional research).
So, action research is a process of change, but not just change for change's sake; it is change specifically directed towards improvement.
The improvement towards which action research is directed is not only improvement in the results of action; even though 'results' [at the moment more commonly called 'outcomes'] are clearly important. Action research is concerned about improvements in the 'action' (professional practice).
Action research doesn't just admonish practitioners to 'lift their game', however. It is recognised that real improvement of practice by practitioners is grounded in improved understanding by practitioners about their practices. Put succinctly, action research advocates 'rational' improvement.
But action research goes even further than this. This approach to professional development recognises that there are things outside the practitioner's control that might inhibit improvement. Often before individual professional practice can be improved, improvements need to take place in the situation, the context or the environment in which the practice is occurring.
For instance, it is no use admonishing teachers to introduce collaborative group work as a teaching strategy if the school consistently rewards competitive individualism or if the ideology of the students is competitive individualism. A teacher in a situation like that might think that he/she simply needs to try harder or become a better teacher. But the understandings gained through action research might suggest that what needs changing (if not first, at least along with the practices) is the situation (in this instance, the ethos of the school). And, of course, some of these things, like student ideology, might realistically be beyond the influence of the teacher and the school altogether.
The collaborative nature of action researchOne more definitional aspect of action research needs to be discussed before we move to a consideration of the process &endash; this is its collaborative nature.
Action research is a form of social practice. As such, it recognises that social practices like teaching and learning take place among and between people. While action research might be directed towards practitioners, it is not an individual process. It is by its history and philosophy collaborative.
Action research has a long tradition stretching back to the post-war period in the United States where it was fostered as part of the 'group dynamics' movement. The idea was that social change (and action research didn't begin just with education) would be more real and lasting if people themselves made decisions to change, supported by others who were similarly committed.
But it is not just because of this history that collaboration in action research is advocated. Rather it is because of the social nature of the practices being investigated. Real improvement in social situations depends upon people acting together to bring about change. Moreover, as we shall see below, action research involves research as well as action. While we might need the support of others to act, we also need the critical eyes of (trusted) others to test our interpretations and understandings with and against.
You might hear of the idea of a 'critical friend' in action research, someone who works with the action researcher questioning assumptions and interpretations but also supporting and collaborating3 .
REFLECTION POINT In this section I have discussed the twin aims of action research (involvement and improvement) and its collaborative nature.
Do these aspects of action research make it differ from other approaches to
professional development with which you might be familiar?
The Action Research ProcessReconnaissance
Planning
Acting
Collecting Evidence
ReflectionWell, so much for general principles underpinning this form of professional development activity, but how do real teachers in real schools set about doing action research?
The process involved in the journey which I described above, is really the action research process. That is, we4 do some reconnaissance first to decide what we are going to focus upon, we plan what we are going to do, carry out our plans, collect evidence along the way about what happened and reflect upon our evidence in order to make judgements about the improvement that occurred. On the basis of this reflection we plan the next action, act, observe and reflect.
Indeed, another important feature of action research is its cyclical rather than linear nature. That is, it is not a process that proceeds from planning through action to evaluation and then stops. It recognises the uncertainty of social action and the need for improvement to take place as part of an on-going cycle of action rather than as the consequence of a one-off activity.
The elements of the process which I named above (reconnaissance, planning, acting, collecting evidence and reflecting) are often called the 'moments' of the action research cycle5 . I tend to call these 'moments' rather than 'steps' or 'stages' or 'phases' because they are not necessarily discreet events in the cycle. That is, even as we begin to act, we already begin to reflect. But the 'moments' are the main focus of activity at a particular time.
The figure depicting these action research 'moments' (Figure One) is taken from Kemmis & McTaggart's Action Research Planner. Readers will find this a useful supplementary guide to action research.
I shall discuss each of these action research 'moments' below.
REFLECTION POINT Some people ask of action research (usually before they actually engage in it),
'Isn't this what all teachers do all the time anyway?'
At this stage of your thinking about action research, how do you think it might be
the same and how do you think it might be different from 'what teachers normally
do?'Back to the action research process
ReconnaissanceThe metaphor of reconnaissance has a long history in action research. Since action research developed in the immediate post-war period, it is not surprising that a military metaphor should have been used. To me 'reconnaissance' still has connotations of flying over the ground in order to decide where to drop our bombs! While not wanting to perpetuate the violence inherent in the historical metaphor, the implication that we need to be strategic about our action is an important one. As teachers our time, energy and resources are limited. Therefore we need to focus our attention carefully upon what needs to be changed. It is often better to take some time to decide on the target of action than to take action impetuously.
Reconnaissance often consists in going backwards and forwards for a while between reflection and collecting evidence. Often the target of action can be agreed upon through discussion (reflection). People sit around and talk about their perceptions of what has been going on and the problems that they perceive. However, very often, what we think is the problem is not the real problem and collecting some evidence about what actually is going on, can help to target the action more acutely.
For instance, I have heard many accounts by groups of teachers who have become concerned about 'behaviour problems' in the playground. However, before plans were made to take action to improve the situation, it was wisely decided to collect some evidence about what was actually occurring in the playground. As a consequence, the problem revealed itself not to be a general behaviour problem, but something specific that was going on with a particular group. Thus, the proposed action could be targeted more precisely.
Although reconnaissance might appear to delay taking action to deal with a problem to improve a situation, it inevitably leads to improvement in understanding which ultimately might lead to even greater improvement in practice than would otherwise have occurred.
REFLECTION POINT Think of an aspect of your practice that you think is in need of improvement.
What sort of reconnaissance might you undertake to pinpoint just what aspect you might work on? In what ways would it be useful to work with a colleague to undertake this reconnaissance?
Back to the action research process
PlanningPlanning arises out of reflection and occurs on the basis of evidence about what has been occurring. It also obviously projects forward to action. But it isn't only action that needs to be planned. The next round of evidence collection should also be planned along with the action.
Thus, the questions to ask at the planning phase are not only 'what will we do?' but also 'how will we produce appropriate evidence of what is going on so that we will be able to make judgements about what occurred?'
Planning, however, should not be regarded as a technical process. Rather it should be an act of imagination. That is, we should imagine beforehand the scenario in which the changed practice will occur. The more that planning involves imagination, the more likely it is to have a positive impact upon action.
REFLECTION POINT Imagine that you have undertaken some reconnaissance and you feel justified in concentrating your action research on the area you first identified as being in need of improvement.
What factors would you need to take into account in planning to take some action to bring about some change in relation to this area of concern? What would be your focus for change &endash; your practice (individually or collectively), some aspect of the context in which you practice or your understanding of the practice?
Back to the action research process
ActingAction obviously takes its cue from planning. However, action is not controlled or constrained by planning. That is, action in the real world of social practice is risky and unpredictable. Thus taking action to improve a social practice is not just a matter of implementing a set of carefully worked out plans. We need to be more flexible than that. Professional practice requires judgement and the ability to think and act 'on our feet'. Thus we will not be a slave to our plans.
The participatory nature of action research encourages us to ask the question 'who should be part of the action?'
In traditional, experimental research we think of 'acting upon' the subjects of the research. The research subjects are regarded as passive in the process. In action research, however, the 'subjects' of the research (often students) are not necessarily regarded as passive subjects which are acted upon. Rather, it is often the case (given the involvement aims) that the students themselves become involved in the planning and in carrying out the action.
Indeed, we know that students are among the greatest resistors of change. Many teachers have told tales of how they tried to change their teaching practices but met with implacable resistance from students until they let the students in on what was happening. I recall the story of a teacher who tried to change the gender balance of her classroom interactions and met with revolt from the students &endash; the girls charged her of 'picking on them' and the boys charged her with favouring the girls (even though the proportion of talk allotted to each sex had changed very little). It was only when she shared her concerns and what she was trying to do with the students that things began to improve. The whole class (teacher and students) began monitoring interactions and all began helping each other to change.
REFLECTION POINT If you took the action you have been thinking about, who would be affected? What
negotiations or preparation might you need to undertake prior to bringing about
the planned change?Back to the action research process
Collecting EvidenceThis is really where the 'research' part of 'action research' comes in. We do not assume that just because we have carefully planned an action and carried it out that the desired improvement will occur. But nor is it sufficient to judge what happened on the basis of reaction or perception. We need evidence of what occurred in order to have a rational basis for making judgements about the worthwhileness of what happened, and to provide a basis for further planning.
I am appending to this paper (Appendix A) a list of suggestions of a variety of ways of collecting evidence in educational situations.
I also append a short discussion on ensuring the trustworthiness of our evidence (Appendix B). Every bit of evidence might not be of equal value. We need to be rigorous in our collection and interpretations of evidence.
REFLECTION POINT: What evidence would be appropriate to collect in relation to your planned action?
Why would that be appropriate evidence? Would the evidence you plan to collect
provide you with a basis for making a judgement about the worthwhileness of
what occurred? What would you expect your evidence to tell you? Will it allow you
to take a critical look at what went on?
Back to the action research process
ReflectionThis term 'reflection' is again a metaphor that is open to many interpretations. Reflection is not simply standing around in front of the mirror admiring how nice we look (that is it is not merely sitting around saying to each other 'Didn't that go well!').
Reflection is having a good hard look at the evidence of what went on; not just to pick up the blemishes and not just to apply a 'make up' gloss. Rather it is about making a rational judgement on the basis of the evidence about what occurred and how worthwhile it was.
But reflection is tricky. It needs to be 'critical'. By that I don't mean it is 'negative' but it should provide a critique, rather like that of the theatre critic. Reflection tries to take (as far as possible) a dispassionate view of what went on in order to make a rational and supportable (on the basis of the evidence) assessment of the worthwhileness of what occurred. Reflection also needs to provide a basis for planning the next phase of action.
But reflection is tricky, not just because it needs to provide justifiable judgements on the basis of evidence; it is also tricky because our seemingly justifiable judgements sometimes can be made on the basis of hidden assumptions and values. For instance, I recall hearing a group of art teachers reflecting upon the evidence they had collected in the form of pieces of art from boys and girls. The judgement they made (which was going to inform the action that they were to take next) was that the art work of the girls needed to reflect more of the dynamism and action that they noted in the boys' work. It seemed to me that the intricate detail that I perceived in the girls' art work was missed, perhaps because it was not valued. It seemed to me that there were some taken-for-granted values about what was 'good art' that maybe needed challenging here.
Reflection that allows us to make judgements on the basis of our taken-for-granted values will run the risk of perpetuating action that supports and reinforces these values. And sometimes (often?) these taken-for-granteds support and perpetuate unequal social relations in the field of action.
What is needed for us to break out of our taken-for-granted values, and hence to open up the possibility of real rather than pseudo improvement is 'critical' reflection. A useful metaphor for this sort of critical reflection is interpreting 'against the grain'. By that I mean, always asking the question 'could there be another interpretation for this data?'
REFLECTION POINT How would you organise reflection upon the evidence that you imagined above
you would collect? Who would be involved?
What might this reflection tell you?Back to the action research process
ConclusionWhat I have outlined above is all part of the action research process, but discussing it in this way tends to make it seem a rather technical process. In fact people usually find it a far more dynamic process than it might appear from the above description. The essence of action research is groups of professional practitioners with a passion for improvement taking risks and assessing what happens when they initiate changes. This often involves a great deal of argument and debate. It is only possible in situations where there is trust.
High levels of commitment are also required &endash; commitment to do the work necessary, but also commitment to principles of equality and freedom. Action research is not effective where people feel coerced into participation. Critical reflection and alternative interpretations will not be possible where people do not feel free to speak their minds. Moreover, all opinions and interpretations need to be valued equally for real improvement to occur. Years of experience might suggest a degree of prudence, but it does not guarantee interpretation free of unrecognised biases. Occupying a position of authority in the school, such as school principal, does not privilege an interpretation. The only basis upon which an interpretation or an opinion is to be accepted or rejected is on the basis of rational discussion of the evidence. Position and power bring no privileges in action research.
ReferencesThe following is a brief list of references in which readers might find useful additional material.
Elliott, J (1991) Action Research for Educational Change, Milton Keynes: Open University Press
Grundy, S & Kemmis, S (1981) Educational Action Research in Australia: The State of the Art, in Kemmis, S & McTaggart, R (1988) (eds) The Action Research Reader, Third Edition, Geelong: Deakin University Press
Grundy, S (1981) Three modes of action research in Curriculum Perspectives, 2(3) 23-34
Grundy, S (1987) Curriculum: Product or Praxis? London: The Falmer Press
Johnson, S (1993) Action research as a school-level change process, in Curriculum Perspectives, 13(1) 21-28
Kemmis, S & McTaggart, R (1988) (eds) The Action Research Reader, Third Edition, Geelong: Deakin University Press
Kemmis, S & McTaggart, R (1988) The Action Research Planner, Third Edition, Geelong: Deakin University Press
Tripp, D (1993) Critical Incidents in Teaching: Developing Professional Judgement, London: Routledge
Back to the main menu
Sources of EvidenceThere are many sources of evidence available to the professional practitioner. Perhaps the best evidence of what happened is a record of the actual event. Audio or visual recording is useful for this.
But an actual recording is not always possible or appropriate in a situation. Written recollections in the form of diary entries are admissible in courts of law and they are also important sources of evidence for action research. The professional journal is a particularly powerful source of evidence, for it not only allows a record of what took place to be made, but also provides a vehicle for recording your thoughts, reactions, feelings and reflections as you go along.
Photographs can also provide a powerful record of the action moment. While they don't record all the action, they provide a powerful source for reflection upon the event.
Student work samples are also a significant source of evidence. Much worthwhile learning occurs when groups of teachers jointly reflect upon the meaning of samples of student work.
Below is a summary list of some sources of data for action researchers:
Back to the main menu
Interviews:
&endash; with students
&endash; with other teachers
&endash; with parents
&endash; with significant othersChecklists:
&endash; of resources
Portfolios:
Journals:
Logs:
Audio and Video tapes:
Photographs: