Researching And Explaining Improvements In Practice With Children's
Services From An Educational Perspective on Learning.
Symposium Proposal for the British Educational Research Association
2007 Annual Conference at the University of London, Institute of Education.
Convenor Marie Huxtable
Chair Je Kan Adler-Collins, Fukuoka University.
Discussant Dr. Margaret Farren, Dublin City University
Presenters:
Nigel Harrisson, Inclusion Manager
for Special Educational Needs, Bath & North East Somerset.
Christine Jones, Inclusion Officer
for Bath and North East Somerset.
Marie Huxtable, Senior Educational
Psychologist, Bath & North East Somerset.
Jack Whitehead, Lecturer in
Education, Department of Education, University of Bath.
Overview
There is much debate in BERA and
elsewhere about the nature of the standards that are appropriate for judging
the quality and validity of the knowledge created by educational researchers
who are researching their own workplace practices. The presentations focus on the narratives of the educational
influences in learning of four practitioner-researchers who explicate their
living standards of judgment as explanatory principles in their workplace
practice. The narratives explain their educational influences in learning in
the processes of improving practices in the context of children's services. The
ontological coherence in each narrative is given by each researcher outlining
the ontological values and understandings they use to give meaning and purpose
to their productive lives in their workplace. The methodological coherence is
supported through the use of an action research approach in which the embodied
ontological values expressed in practice are clarify and formed into
explanatory principles. These principles are used to explain the educational
influences in learning in the processes of improving practice.
The coherence of the symposium is
also supported by its educational perspective on the focus of learning in
educational research. Educational research is characterized in terms of
educational theories that can explain the educational influences of individuals
in their own learning, in the learning of others and in the learning of social
formations through their organizational learning. As well as principles of
coherence being derived from
ontology, epistemology and methodology, the main principle of coherence is
provided by the logic of inclusionality.
Following Marcuse, logic is taken
to be the form of thought that is appropriate for comprehending the real as
rational. Following Rayner, the logic of inclusionality is a flow form of
relationally dynamic awareness of space and boundaries that is connective,
reflexive and co-creative. Each
presenter demonstrates this awareness of inclusionality in the interconnecting
and branching networks of their communications as they influence each others'
enquiries into their work as:
an Inclusion Manager for Special
Educational Needs, managing parts of the service;
an Inclusion Officer responsible
for recommending the award of the Inclusion Quality Mark to Schools;
a Senior Educational Psychologist
working with teachers to enhance the gifts and talents of all pupils through a
perspective of inclusionality;
a University Educational
Researcher seeking to contribute to educational knowledge through research into
the logics and values of inclusionality.
Supporting Statement
¥ Background to the
topic
The membership of BERA has always included
education and educational researchers (Whitty, 2005). The kinds of theory
generated by education and educational researchers are different. Education
researchers generate and test theories within the forms of fields of knowledge
associated with sociology, psychology, philosophy, history, theology,
economics, politics, leadership and management. Educational researchers
generate and test theories of educational influences in learning. As an
association of Educational Researchers we hope that BERA members will be
interested in the educational theories generated by educational
practitioner-researchers, with their living standards of judgment, logics and
values of inclusionality (Jones & Huxtable, 2005).
¥ Research questions and foci of enquiry
The issues and questions that move the enquiries
of the four researchers are:
The question that draws the
researchers into a collaborative enquiry is:
How do we influence each others'
enquiries into the generation of educational theories that can explain each
individual's educational influences in their own learning, in the learning of
others and in the learning of social formations?
¥ Research methods and mapping
of literature
The living theory action research methodology draws on the work of
Whitehead and McNiff (2006) and includes the methodological inventiveness
described by Dadds and Hart (2001) and the emergent living theory approach to
inclusional and responsive practice developed by Naidoo (2005). In relation to
the methods used to study the organisational learning, Naidoo's inclusional and
responsive approach to learning will be connected to ideas on organisational
learning (Porras and Robertson, 1992, Marshall 2004). Organisational Learning
will be taken as a metaphor that provides a 'rallying cry' (Harvey and Denton,
1999) for those in organisations who are tasked with developing their
organisations to adapt to their environments (Harrisson, 2005). A key feature of the research approach
is the integration of learning with 'organising' (Kirk, 2001) in the
organisation.
¥ Analytical and theoretical
frames
The robustness of the analytic and
theoretical frames will be ensured by the application of the principles of
rigour for action research first explicated by Winter (1989) and the principles
of social validity in Habermas' (1976) analysis of communication and the
evolution of society. The theoretical frames of each individual's explanation
of educational influence in learning will be formed from the ontological
principles used by the individual to give meaning and purpose to their
productive work in education (Whitehead & McNiff, 2006).
¥ Research findings and
contribution to knowledge
The contributions to educational
knowledge will be constituted by the explanations given by each
practitioner-researcher for their educational influences in learning. Evidence
of this influence will be provided by narratives subjected to the social
validation of peers in the service. The original contributions to knowledge
will be in the explication of relationally dynamic standards of judgment for
evaluating the quality and validity of the explanations of influence in
learning about improving practices of inclusionality within a childrens'
service. The contributions will
include visual narratives with video-data to show that standards of
inclusionality can be understood in terms of the expression of the individual's
embodied values in workplace relationships.
References
Dadds, M.
& Hart, S. (2001) Doing Practitioner Research Differently, p. 166. London;
RoutledgeFalmer.
Harrisson, N. (2005) Integrated Local Authority Children's Services: A
Critical Review. Dissertation for the MSc in Leadership and Organisation in
Public Services, University of the West of England. Retrieved 10 January 2006
from
http://www.jackwhitehead.com/B&NES/nhma.pdf
Harvey C. and Denton J. (1999) 'To come of age: the antecedents of
organisational learning'. Journal of Management studies 36:7
Jones, C. & Huxtable, M. (2006) How can we support
educators to develop skills and understandings inclusionally? Paper presented
at the Annual Conference of the British Educational Research Association, 7
September 2006, Warwick University. Retrieved 10 January 2007 from http://www.jackwhitehead.com/bera06/mhcjbera06.htm
Kirk P. (2001) 'Organisational Learning: containing the turbulence'.
Unpublished notes for the Leadership and Organisation in Public Services course
(LOPS). University of the West Of England.
Marshall, J. (2004) Living systemic thinking: Exploring quality in
first-person action research. Action Research Vol. 2 (3) Summer 2004, pp.
309-329.
Naidoo,
M. (2005) I am because we are (a never ending story). The emergence of a living
theory of inclusional and responsive practice. Ph.D. University of Bath.
Retrieved 10 January 2006 from http://people.bath.ac.uk/edsajw/naidoo.shtml .
Porras J and Robertson P (1992) 'Organisation Development in handbook of
industrial and organisational psychology, eds. Dunnette M and Hough L 3:
719-822. Consulting Psychologists Press.
Whitehead, J. & McNiff, J. (2006) Action Research Living Theory,
London; Sage.
Whitty, G.
(2005) Education(al) research and education policy making: is conflict
inevitable? Presidential Address to the British Educational Research
Association, University of Glamorgan, 17 September 2005.