The Pedagogy, Education and Praxis (PEP) network is a cross-institutional, collaborative research programme which brings together researchers from Australia, Columbia, Finland, Norway, Sweden, the Caribbean, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. These researchers are investigating the nature, traditions and conditions of pedagogy, education and…

Action research concerns action, and transforming people's practices (as well as their understandings of their practices and the conditions under which they practise). Sometimes we may feel that action research works best when it contributes to our understandings. In this paper, by contrast, I want to explore the "happening-ness" of action and…

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…

Some action research today lacks a critical edge. This article identifies five inadequate forms of action research, and argues that action research must be capable of "telling unwelcome truths" against schooling in the interests of education. It reasserts a connection between education and emancipatory ideals that allow educators to address…

Explains why definition of action research is problematic and presents working definitions developed internationally that indicate its nature, philosophy, and methodology. Suggests that pragmatic approaches to definition serve communication purposes without narrowly confining the concept. (SK)

In this article, the two authors of "Becoming Critical: education, knowledge and action research" look back at the book's history since its publication 20 years ago. We describe how the book was originally written, and the diverse responses and reactions that it has produced. We identify some of the book's inadequacies and limitations,…

This article elucidates criteria which might be helpful in evaluating praxis-related research. The authors explore both sides of the research and development (R & D) project. They examine different ways of understanding contributions to knowledge through research but more especially exploring ideas about contributions to changing praxis. Changing…

Two major contradictions found in the "Deakin view" of action research are identified and discussed. These contradictions are characterized by the tension between individual and cultural/collective action in action research; and the tension between technical and practical conceptions and culturally based conceptions of the nature of…

The distance between educational researchers and classroom teachers benefits disinterested observation, but dispossesses the researchers of participatory modes of understanding. In attempting to resolve this problem, some researchers have developed the theory and practice of teachers as researchers, similar to Kurt Lewin's action research. Lewin…