This article examines the level of research involvement among educational stakeholders in the process of educational policy-making and implementation in Nigeria. It attributes the transformational challenges confronting the secondary school system in Nigeria to the epistemological question: "What is the relationship between the knower or…

During a project focusing on household waste a collaborative approach was deemed necessary. Researchers and stakeholders went through a series of workshops starting and ending with an appreciative inquiry which directed the ongoing action research process. This article discusses this process and presents a model for this methodology. Envisioning…

A key distinction between an education doctorate, or Ed.D., and other doctorates in the field of education is the development of scholar practitioners armed with knowledge and skills to successfully lead change in their profession. Critical inquiry is one such skill, increasingly taught in many Ed.D. programs in some form of applied research…

Participatory action research (PAR) is an embodied form of inquiry that engages those most affected by an issue or problem in creating knowledge and developing solutions. PAR epistemology intersects with the critical approach to adult education, particularly the belief that programs, methods, and content must be relevant to learner needs and…

This study chronicles a semester long inquiry focused on the impacts of pedagogical strategies informed by the tenets of third space theory on my own practices and understanding of students' learning outcomes in an action research course. As I applied new instructional strategies to promote discourse and critical inquiry, I reflexively explored…

As scholars work to decolonize educational research, new methodologies are needed. In this paper, we present our conceptual premises for a new paradigm, social portraiture, which combines participatory action research (Freire, 1982) and portraiture (Lawrence-Lightfoot & Hoffmann, 1997), and extends to include archival records and social art.…

Action research empowers teachers to choose their own learning adventure based on their interests and needs. The process uses teachers' own questions about their work and about student learning--and transforms their classrooms into dynamic learning laboratories. As a group of teachers in one Title I elementary school demonstrate, this process can…

Although committed to PAR's overarching aspirations, many advocates also have noted myriad complexities of engaging in PAR, where ambiguities and disarrays--all kinds of inconclusive evidence--can proliferate. Uncertainties especially can erupt if PAR education-focused projects are positioned, oxymoronically, as expected to produce "high…

In recent decades, three forms of practitioner research have emerged: Reflective Practice, Action Research, and Exploratory Practice. While Reflective Practice and Action Research focus on teachers-as-researchers, Exploratory Practice positions learners as co-researchers, alongside teachers, teacher educators, and others. This article adds to…

Reflective practice and inquiry are aspects of teacher professional practice that characterise teachers as learners. Reflective practice in some form is considered in contemporary education as an essential activity for teachers and teacher educators. "Inquiry as professional development" and "inquiry as research", on the other…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the idea that, in the last few decades, collaborative inquiry methods have evolved along a similar trajectory to dual lens research. Dual lens research, known in various contexts as both ways, two-eyed seeing Old Ways New Ways, and Koodjal Jinnung (looking both ways), is designed to generate new…

Practitioner inquiry provides a powerful tool for improving practice and addressing critical issues in classrooms, schools, and broader communities. However, it also raises unique ethical challenges that often go unrecognized and unresolved. Structured Ethical Reflection (SER) provides teacher researchers with a process for identifying core values…

Using participatory action research (PAR), this paper explores the ethical practice of students engaged in practitioner research in a higher education context. Using narrative enquiry, the paper explores the participants' experiences of practitioner research, including ethical dilemmas that resulted from a conflict of values between the…

This paper aims to identify key issues involved in MEd final project supervision and to highlight the potential of supervision from an academic institution to change educational reality through the postgraduate student-teachers' work-based final project as insider researchers in Israeli schools. It draws on analysis of case-study data from two…

Life in the 21st century is increasingly complex, paradoxical, and ambiguous, bringing into question the ways that graduate adult education programs function. In this article, we describe an action research study involving the method of collaborative developmental action inquiry conducted with key stakeholders of a program in adult education at a…