Action research assumes the active engagement of the stakeholders, such as the community, in the research, and a multiple-level process of reflection in order to evaluate and monitor the actions taken. This makes action research a suitable methodology to increase the critical understanding of the participants. In this paper we describe the…

This article explores the educational potential of an arts-informed performance ethnography entitled "Across the Tamar," which comprises a series of stories, songs and poems. As a classroom action research project--a "teaching experiment"--we gave three performances to undergraduate and postgraduate sport and health science, physiotherapy, and…

A number of key constructs underpin educational action research. This paper focuses on the concept of "truth" and by doing so hopes to highlight some debate in this area. In reflecting upon what "truth" might mean to those involved in action research, I shall critically evaluate Thorndike's "Law of Effect" and Bruner's "Three Forms of…

The purpose of this research was to study the design and implementation of a newly developed, two-semester, action research course in a Master of Arts in Teaching program. Over a four-year period, we (the instructors) used action research methodologies for analysis and evaluation of the course. Throughout this study, students expressed varying…

The article will review some of Bridget Somekh's action research projects as attempts to build networks of trust and reciprocity across a range of educational stake-holders. It will also examine Bridget's wider role within the education action research movement as a whole, looking at her achievements as a facilitator of networks of action…

Following the thoughts and topics we have discussed and worked on for a very long time with Bridget Somekh, we would like to present the theoretical relationship between lesson studies, action research and practical knowledge in teacher education. Inspired by the pedagogical philosophy of lesson studies, participatory action research, and core…

For about two decades only marginal relevance was attributed to action research as a research strategy by large sections of the German social science community. The growing international debate on key concepts such as community participation, community-based participatory research and participatory action research were largely ignored. In this…

Bridget Somekh's contributions to the debate on the theory and practice of action research and associated methodologies have often been gained through leadership of innovative action and research with computers in education. A review of her work provides evidence of the journey that starts with an appreciation of the wonders of technology before…

This article provides an analysis of the Collaborative Action Research Network's (CARN) origins and development since its foundation in 1976. The author brings the unique perspective of active involvement in CARN almost from its inception, and editorship for many years of its journal "Educational Action Research". Cultural-historical activity…

Despite major efforts to change teachers' practice through professional development activities, much remains as it always was. Our claim is that this rarely happens because significant change in how one teaches can only come about as a result of some realization about oneself as a teacher, and the resulting changes in identity. In recent years we…

Over the years, Bridget Somekh has made a substantial contribution to the development of action research. Her concern has been to make real change in the quality of everyday practices in education and to influence policy. In particular, this article explores the significance of her work for methodology, professional practice and for what may be…

Action research changes people's practices, their understandings of their practices, and the conditions under which they practice. It changes people's patterns of "saying", "doing" and "relating" to form new patterns--new ways of life. It is a meta-practice: a practice that changes other practices. It transforms the sayings, doings and relating…

We reflect on the action research process implemented in assisting the development of a culture of practitioner inquiry amongst social workers in social services agencies, and highlight the overall outcomes of the intervention. The paper outlines the rationale and process for undertaking an action research process with social services…

This paper reports on the pedagogical changes that I experienced as a teacher engaged in an action research project in which I designed and implemented an indirect, developmentally appropriate and child-centred approach to my teaching. There have been repeated calls to expunge--or at least rationalise--the use of traditional, teacher-led practice…

This article describes a journey of exploration in which I take a hitherto unexamined aspect of my teaching practice, the use of disruption, and subject it to interrogation. The journey is an exercise in auto-ethnographic research in that I am my own subject, located within the context of the classroom. My purpose is to surface the beliefs that…