This paper makes a contribution to the theory and practice of educational action research by introducing two theoretical and methodological resources as part of a personal review of sustained professional experience: "appreciative inquiry" and the "enneagram". It is more than a theoretical exercise, however, because it also constitutes an…

This article began as a response to the article "Action research as narrative: five principles for validation" by Heikkinen, Huttunen and Syrjala, which appears in this issue of "Educational Action Research". In so doing it addresses the question "How can we tell whether an action research study is good?" by arguing that validity is a construct…

This paper is written in a personal capacity and mainly takes the form of a poem--in five sections--composed as a response to some of the ideas in the article by Hannu Heikkinen and colleagues in this same issue of "Educational Action Research": "Action research as narrative: five principles for validation". The poem takes its title and structure…

This paper reports on a formative evaluation study of 10 practitioner research projects linked together under the title "Better Communication Skills as a Means of Reducing the Barriers to Learning", which aimed to identify conditions through which practitioner research could help teachers to improve the quality of pupils' classroom talk. The paper…

Busy educators find it difficult to work creatively in conditions imposed by ill-conceived, politically charged reform initiatives such as the No Child Left Behind Act. In order to keep up with research findings, emerging theories and practical recommendations in the creativity literature, they need accessible, highly condensed distillations of…

Collaborative approaches designed to increase writing productivity (amount written) as well as writing quality were implemented over a period of six months with a small group of 12 six-year-olds in a Primary School in Newcastle, NSW, Australia. The study demonstrated the positive nature of peer interactions with an increase in quality and…

In this article an educational action research study, based on a phenomenographic approach, is reported in which unexpected results have been possible to gather thanks to the inductive design of the study. The aim is to describe the ways in which contrasts of critical aspects of a learning object affect the students' generative learning found by…

This article reports on a self-study that focuses on encouraging a group of undergraduate students to be active learners by promoting their critical engagement with what they are learning. The descriptions and explanations in the self-study give account of the contradictions and challenges encountered in my attempts to reconcile between students'…

In this paper, we argue that teacher-researchers, especially those in politically contested school communities, should be encouraged to conduct critical action research that is contextually bound. Such a research methodology includes tenets of critical action research, postmodern and feminist theory, and attention to how oppression manifests in…

My purpose in writing this article is to examine the claim that "Teachers are responsible for what happens in their classrooms" in relation to action research. Although the claim appears to be a fairly straightforward, it has multiple meanings that depend on the ideologies of those making the claim. I argue that an often-overlooked way of thinking…

Here is a conversation between two former colleagues about action research and academic writing. Richard Winter opens the discussion with a series of reflections on his work as an action researcher. These reflections include the key argument that action research is a noble cause because it is relevant to working life, has a practical impact and…

In this article, we describe our efforts as project coordinators to negotiate directions and meanings at the initial stages of a childcare curriculum development project for children from birth to age five in the Province of New Brunswick, Canada. Understanding curriculum as a complex relational dynamic that is shaped by the multiple social and…

The Bologna Process presents both opportunities and challenges for teachers in the European area. As tensions surface between different forms of national legislation, accreditation and quality assurance, projects need to be developed that model ways of resolving problems within a European context. Utilising their links and network of contacts…

This paper explores the central place of stories and narratives in action research practices and accounts to argue that it is hard to imagine how we might do or write about action research in a non-storied way. The paper argues that good stories help us to think well and more wisely about ourselves and our practice. An historical example is chosen…

This paper offers a preliminary tribute to the work of the late Jean Rudduck, pioneer of student voice, both as an academic field and as a potential agent of school transformation. Tracing the roots of her student voice work back to CARE (Centre for Applied Research in Education) and the Humanities Curriculum Project (1967-1972), the author…