By its very nature ethnography is an emergent methodology. To be ethical the ethnographer needs to manage research ethics in-situ. This need to manage ethical dilemmas as they arise often comes into conflict with increased ethical regulation and procedures from ethics review boards that require the researcher to foresee ethical quandaries before…

This article studies the dialogues, agreements, and actions in defence of a fairer and more inclusive school, carried out during ethnographic research in a Spanish rural school between 2019 and 2021, the period in which an ethnographer accompanied the professional work of the school principal, also the tutor of a class group. The research is…

We have used the concept of ethnography as explanatory critique in earlier research in three projects in Spain relating to teacher professional development and leadership for socially just schools. This research involved participant observations, interviews, informal conversations, document analysis and virtual ethnography. However, we have also…

In my research I examine the linguistic practices of Moroccans in Spain, many of whom speak Moroccan Arabic as well as Modern Standard Arabic, Tamazight, French, English and Spanish at varying levels of proficiency. As part of my research, I conducted a 10-month linguistic ethnography. I was able to rely on my native English and near-native…

This book engages readers via the international contributions from "home" field sites around the world and international authors. Importantly, the various chapters address a wide spectrum of educational contexts -- ranging from higher education, to K-12 public and private schools, to prison schools. The realistic accounts portrayed in…

Research in schools entails a journey of mutual recognition and trust between the researchers and the teaching staff, and a negotiation of give-and-take. The most effective reward for both parties is engaging in a mutually satisfying project in which both the researchers and the teachers occupy complementary spaces--rather than asymmetrical…

This paper builds on the history of Esbrina, an established research group in Spain with almost 20 years' experience and a deeply-rooted tradition of self-reflection and learning. We start by analysing the academic and social contexts in which the group was created and recognised. We make explicit team members' backgrounds, dispositions and…

This article focuses on how issues of power and identity were negotiated when doing a critical sociolinguistic ethnography as a Spanish researcher in the Chinese educational context. Data come from fieldwork conducted in 3 different primary and secondary schools together in Zhejiang province, where inside- and outside-classroom…

This article discusses the language and identity challenges I faced as a critical border ethnographer from Spain doing fieldwork in Southern California. I focus on the multiple positionings that I negotiated doing fieldwork in La Clase Magica (The Magic Class), a computer-based, after-school bilingual program for Mexican/Mexican American/Chicano-a…

This article shows part of the results of a research project: The Impact of Social Change in Higher Education Staff Professional Life and Work (Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, SEJ2006-01876). The main aim of this project was to explore and understand how scholars establish a dialogue, resist, adapt themselves or adopt changes, in the…

The authors carried out a 4-year qualitative analysis of a case study in higher education. An undergraduate course based on the principles of computer supported collaborative learning (CSCL) was designed, implemented, and evaluated. The process was developed by a community of practice, formed by quite a number of researchers coming from the…