6) THE USES OF WRITING IN ACTION RESEARCH

  In Action Research, writing can fulfil broadly four functions: 
a) It documents actions and ideas as they take place for future reference. 
b) It can reveal meaning and significance to you in the act of writing itself. 
c) It enables you to make substantiated claims over time about your research.
d) It can contribute to other practitioners’ understanding of what constitutes educational practice.

In this chapter I will be illustrating all of these with extracts from my own and others’ research. 

There are two principle aspects to remember when you are writing in Action Research:

What are you writing, and who are you writing for?

WHAT ARE YOU WRITING?

Journal/Diary/

  Writing can take many forms. It can be a detailed diary produced over time in which you explore through the medium of writing your thoughts, feelings and intentions. This is, as I am sure you are already saying, time-consuming and involved, and therefore every bit of writing you do, just as in the collection of data, every piece of evidence you gather has to be worthwhile and meaningful. Doing it for its own sake is hardly worth the ink or computer-chip you use. However the writing of a journal can become almost an end in itself. Certainly I have always felt when writing a journal, that I am learning an incredible amount about what my own values are, and how I can try to channel my understanding (see later examples in this chapter). I have always wanted to explicate my values, but until I started to write in this way I had never really taken the trouble to do so. In Action Research it is vital that in some way you do explore your values. It is almost inevitable that you will do so, because of the nature of the question that you are posing yourself. And if you are challenged on what you are doing in your Action Research, then you will start to realise from what value-base you are operating. Part of any such enquiry necessitates at some stage an exploration of your own values. 

  In my experience (and I cannot speak about yours) writing in such an involved way has helped me to clarify my understanding of what I am doing. This is also done very effectively through discussion of course, but words spoken can be forgotten unless taped, whereas the written word is there for good. It is advantageous for you to write about your ideas and feelings as you are doing this research. If the research is close to your heart and you feel very strongly about it, you will probably do this more readily: you can write a personal log that is not for any kind of public consumption but enables you to organise your thoughts and feelings. 
During this year I have kept a detailed log about the work I have been engaged on with Justine and others. I was lucky enough to see Justine teaching once during her second teaching practice. I was not her Method Tutor but wanted to see the sorts of things she was doing in her History teaching. In my log I wrote the following after my visit on 15.3.92.:

	What I saw this morning didn’t surprise me, but it took my breath away! I 
	knew that she was going to be good in the classroom. I had a feeling about
	her, from everything she’s said and done since I’ve known her. Today I
	saw someone who was really engaged with the children. It was a privilege
	...to watch them learn. She has created something with those children that
	goes beyond rules and formulae. If she could only explain what she is doing
	there, I mean really explain it, so that anyone could understand the
	process...then she would be doing something [equally] valuable.’

  That entry serves two purposes for me now and for the Guide as a whole. It makes the point clearly that writing down thoughts and perceptions can focus the writer on what is really valuable in the processes s/he is engaged in. I know that the writing of that entry served to emphasise my own perception about the importance of Justine’s Final Report to an educational world that does not often enough value the insights of individuals as they struggle to come to terms with, and to explain, their contexts. It honed my insights about the value of nurturing Justine’s incipient educational expressions. For I believe as well with Jack Whitehead that it is in such descriptions and explanations for our professional lives that we contribute to a living educational theory. More about that later.

   Before she came to write up her Final Report, she wrote to the Validation Group (see section on the purpose of a Validation Group) about her disillusion about the stage she had reached in her action reflection cycle on her teaching practice. Her negativity worried me greatly, and Justine herself writes about her own state of mind in her Report in the section entitled: “The Interval: Disillusionment.”

  That evening I went home and wrote the following in my journal:

	15.5.92. What the hell am I going to do about Justine? She seems to have
	reached a really difficult stage at the moment and if I don’t press the right
	buttons (and I know she’s responsible for doing this too) then I may see
	her throwing away her insights on a mistake...How can I help her? ...The
	way through it is dialogue. I have to talk to her. Failing that I have to write 
	to her, to let her know that I understand something of her torment and that
	there are pathways through it, if one is willing to open up.

This writing enabled me to start making practical plans about how I could better facilitate Justine. I subsequently wrote two letters to her and went to see her at her teaching practice school. She writes about this period at length in her Final Report.

Notes

Notes can be long or short depending on the use you are going to make of them. They should suit the purpose of writing and should not simply fill up vacant space on a page. They must inform you of things you might otherwise forget, and which you realise could have a future significance.

 Let us imagine that you are having trouble with the placement of furniture in a room in which you teach. You have no fixed room and quite often the room has been so arranged when you get there, that it causes problems. So you decide to engage in an Action Research enquiry, because you feel that the arrangement is having a negative effect on the children’s education. You decide to keep notes on the proceedings.

    Set up classroom furniture differently today. Wanted to see what reactions
   the children had. Mark asked why it had been changed. Didn’t like it. Pat
   complained about not sitting next to the window. Altogether the kids made
   a lot of fuss. Will see how it goes tomorrow. 13.6.90.

   Some of the kids commented today but seemed to accept it. Mark and Pat
   wandered by the window but actually undertook more work than usual.
   Quite pleased so far.  Will tape lesson tomorrow. 14.6.90.

   I was delayed and when I got there, Mark and Pat had moved the furniture
   back by the window. Argument ensued. Then a discussion about why the    		       
   positioning meant so much. Really useful understanding emerging with the 
  kids. Taped conversation. Mark suggested we try it for a week their way. 
  Was  reluctant  but will give it a try. We have a contract. 17.6.90.

   Tried it their way today. Kids reacted quite negatively except Mark 
   and Pat. Try something else next time 18.6.90.

   Marvellous discussion ensued today when I tried the furniture in a
   circle for a change. The kids loved it. Want it like that all the time.
   Talked about need for desk-space. Can’t talk all the time. Have asked
   for a proportion of week to be conducted in circle. I suggested beginning
   of lesson to recap. Perhaps at end during whole afternoon as well. Kids
   really enthusiastic.  23.6.90

  Now however, I include some of the most pertinent comments to have emerged out of my own numerous personal log-entries over the last few years, those which seem to me to hold some meaning which lasts and has significance across the years. There have also been times when the very act of writing enhanced my thinking processes and enabled me to come to conclusions that would not have been possible without a commitment to the written word:

  ‘Children believe that everything is possible. School teaches them that it 
  isn’t’. (The Diary of a Frog Lover, 1987)
  ‘Next year I am going to Bath University to read for an M.Ed. As long as I
  remember that no amount of book learning was ever a substitute for 
  empathy or a respect for the individual, then I will be all right.’ (see above)

I think I thought that doing a higher degree was going to take me away from values which I held dear and might actually be quite dangerous to the integration of my personality; and though I smile at the memory of the person I was then, I think there is still an essential truth in that statement for me, something against which I can measure my present reality. The above entries are examples of the kind of record-keeping that can become valuable later on. 

The notes show intention, action and consequences, and this constitutes evidence. When coupled with taped evidence (because you can see the progression over time more easily that way) then you can start making claims about moving forward. Imagine you make notes for the next couple of weeks. You have some tapes, and a ‘critical friend’, and you feel the time has come to say what you have managed. You feel that your research enquiry has come to the stage of being ‘made public’. A little later I will take you through the intricacies of Report-writing in Action Research.

  This year with my English Elective and tutorial groups I asked the students to write to me about any issues which arose. Justine wrote to me and we discussed (in the conversation already partially quoted) the value of the act of writing.

M. First I have to ask you whether the things I said in that response to your writing about the seminar are actually true about what happened. Because I want to reflect back some things to you. And I’d like to know and to check out with you if that is actually what you perceived.
J. Um, perhaps if I can just read it through. It’s difficult just having the one go.
M. O.K. then.
J. I ended up writing this, partly ‘cos...just to sort things out in my head, well, really I came out thinking I wasn’t that much the wiser. And then I started writing it down I realised what a lot had come from it. So at, I think it was the beginning I put I can’t define, ‘educative relationship’. Turn over the page, and what do I do?!
M. Yes I think I noticed that in the writing, when I was writing my response. I thought, hang on a minute, she has actually said.
J. Yes, yes that just made it clearer. Got things straight in my mind. Sitting in the seminar I didn’t know whether to write things down. I just wrote down key words to prompt me later on. 

Report/Making Public

By the time you come to write the Report, you have learnt a few things about your own practice, you have started to discuss with the children why you place importance on certain things, and they are following you to a certain extent. You feel that you have cause to feel some measure of success in your aims. You have the evidence to prove it. You have discussed with your critical friend and colleagues during the enquiry. Now you want to terminate the enquiry, or at least this stage of it. You think the time has come to write a report. You do so (perhaps as briefly as two sides of A4) introducing what you set out to do, how you conducted it, how the children responded, and quoting evidence where necessary about how you have got there. You give it to your critical friend. He can now challenge anything that is in your written report that does not seem to be substantiated or logical. See next section about who you are writing for. You may then have to revise your Report.

  The writing you do (which is never for the sake of it, but to ensure that you are being systematic and rigorous) is a vital aspect of Action Research because it enables you to make claims about the validity of your research. It has those claims documented for future reference. It is a record of a process that it might be useful to adopt again. If you simply try to remember every detail, you will forget something that might be crucial later. Keeping notes and writing up a report ensures that you have a record of development which will enhance present and future practice. As professionals, by doing this, we are adding to the knowledge that teachers possess, because in our own practice we are the experts. It is up to us to say what happens in our classrooms because we know them. ‘Not some so-called ‘expert’ from outside, who comes in, shoots a few stray bullets into the crowd (most of them blank!) and then leaves, with a trail of devastation behind her or him’. (Comment made about INSET courses by Kevin Eames, Action Research conference, Bath University, 16.6.90.) 

WHO ARE YOU WRITING FOR?

  This is a very important question. Let us imagine you have done the first  thing: you have decided that you want to write something down. You have to decide for whom you are writing. It can be for:
  a) yourself.
  b) your critical friend.
  c) the target group of the research itself.
  d) a Department.
  e) a Year Head’s group.
  f)  someone with whom you team-teach
  g) the Head.
  h) an academic journal.
  i)  a combination of the above.
etc.
This means that you have to write with an audience in mind. Even if you are writing for yourself, does it meet up to your criteria? If you are writing for a critical friend, have you asked him for criteria? What does your Head expect? What about your colleague/s? Do the people (like pupils) for whom you are doing the research, agree with your findings?

  The ‘audience’ for your report might be a group of interested people, as at Greendown School, for example, who regularly meet to monitor Action Research carried out in the school. They read the reports, long or short before the meetings and then at the meetings comment on them, help to revise them, point our perceived inconsistencies etc.. The Headteacher is a member of this group, and as such is just a member, not the leader. The co-ordinator is another member of the group who acts as the Chair. They meet every fortnight after school and it is the turn of one of the members to have her/his paper scrutinised by the group. Yes, it is time-consuming, but it must be worthwhile as the group of about nine colleagues has been meeting for over two years every fortnight, despite the pressure of all their other manifold commitments.

  I think there is another reason for writing in Action Research, and that is something which I alluded to at the beginning of this Guide and this chapter. Teachers have a great deal of knowledge at their disposal, but often they do not make the most of their insights in ways which could communicate to others what they understand and know.

Case Study

  In helping Justine and others in the preparation of her Final Report, we had a conversation on 31.5.92. about the value to others of writing up in systematic detail her findings from her teaching practice. Although sadly, the conversation was not taped (which it should have been, but unfortunately it was not possible and neither of us was wired for sound!) I made notes on it afterwards which she verified as being a true account of the gist of what we said. I reproduce extracts of it here. We started by talking about a recent address to the AERA Conference in San Francisco in 1992 by Lee Shulman (*see below) who talked about ‘the landscape of cases’ that educational students could write and share as they come to know their own practice and the process of education more thoroughly.

J. What I want to ask is, where do I put Shulman in all this?
M. He is saying that you’re creating a part of the landscape of cases. There is a landscape out there. It is our educational world and we need to make sense of it. And it’s not just the map we need, it’s an analysis of the use of that map in the actual landscape itself...
J. But I don’t see that. I’m writing this for me. It’s about me and my classroom. You can’t say, ‘oh well, someone else will read that and then they’ll know how to do this or that.’ It’s not like that.
M. Yes, your insights are unique, your classroom, your children are unique. You are unique, but you work in a context and that context is education...And that’s the whole thing about Action Research...it’s about how do I move the world to a better place?...You see, I’m not saying that what you’re doing is generalisable in the sense that what you say can be transposed...to another setting, another individual.
J. Then what’s the value of writing this? I mean you talk about this work being significant, but I’m not seeing this, other than helping me to explain what  I’m doing with my students in my setting.

* Schulman, L., (1992), “Knowledge, Integration and Application in Teacher Education: Development of Cognitive Flexibility in Complex Domains”, address as AERA Conference, San Francisco.
M. It’s a question of what we think we’re doing in education. If it were a technicist activity then all we would have to do would be to give a list of instructions which anyone could follow, And everyone could predict outcomes from input. But education is, I believe, ‘a practical value-laden activity’  (Jack Whitehead) and it is through the values that we need to communicate our values. We need to show cases of people negotiating the mine-fields of values which constitute a teacher’s practical life so that we can understand them. It is surely in the written explanation of our values and practice in which so much meaning lies hidden and can be drawn out.
J. Yes, I suppose that writing this now means I am explaining about my values and about what they mean...

Writing up one’s findings at the end of an Action Research cycle is not just about dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s. It helps the researcher to understand her/his practice even better and it is a method whereby practitioners can publicise and share their knowledge and understanding. Justine and I were to have many conversations about how she could best relate what had happened to her on her teaching practice, what she had learnt and begun to understand, and how best she could communicate this knowledge to herself and others.

Case Study

I would like now to present some of the conversation that Justine and I had on 21.5.92. about the writing up of her Final Report. I had offered all my Action Research students individual tutorials so that they could ask questions and find out about anything of which they were unsure. Because this was largely an information-giving session I do more talking than I would normally be happy with. Justine had already started the writing up and came to see me to clarify some ideas and queries. Although it is quite a lengthy extract I think the reader should start being able to see the rationale behind the writing up process, and begin to understand the kinds of explanations and descriptions which practitioners can use to inform themselves and others about their professional lives.
 
M. O.K., so have you got any particular questions? 
J. Can you just give me a quick run-through on the actual format? I’m writing a Report, aren’t I? Not an essay. 
M. Yes. You’re writing your account of your action research on teaching practice, and as I said to Alison, (Irwin)  because she was really concerned about how she could actually integrate her pupils’ learning in her Report. 
J. Yeah...
M. And so my answer to that was, really you’re writing a story about what’s happened to you on teaching practice.
J. Right.
M. And using the action research as a focus for what you’re writing about.
J. So that’ll be...it’s hard to tie it in with the reading and the bibliography.
M. You bring the reading in when it’s relevant to what you’re saying. To back up what you’re saying. Just as you would bring in anything from Lee (chosen focus of Justine’s Final Report) to back up what you’re saying. You use it in exactly the same way. 
J. Yeah. But are there guidelines on how we should use them? I mean, how much background literature?
M. Well, if I give a number of books, it’s simply arbitrary. I think that you have to show evidence of having read the works of others. For example Zac’s, that could act as part of a bibliography, and my Guide.  (in its draft form)
J. That counts, yeah...
M. And Carol Black’s Final Report, and Alison Blofeld’s as well. For your interest in motivation, which is roughly, isn’t it, the area you’re working on with Lee, then people like Carl Rogers, Guy Claxton, Brandes and Ginnis etc. etc. And then just bring in comments from their work as it seems appropriate. Just as you would bring in comments from Lee or about him. 
J. Yeah.
M. So they’re totally integrated. 
J. But when you sort of say, write a story, it almost seems too good to be true. To do this as your ‘Final Report’. I mean, I’m actually looking forward to writing it. This is a bit of a luxury really. 
M. The thing is, it is a story, it’s a narrative, but it’s a narrative with discipline.
J. Yes.
M. It’s just as complex as writing a short novel, or writing a very good short story. If you read this here, (pointing to Lee Shulman transcript) there are things here which actually refer to what we’re talking about. (reads)  ‘How do we develop a strategy for developing what I am now going to call a syntax of case studies?’ You’re writing a case-study...so that as you criss-cross this landscape you have a sense that there’s a structure there.
J. Right, yeah.
M. That’s precisely what you’re doing. But it is a story in as much as you could literally state: I am going to tell you the story of my educational development over the last nine weeks and how I have tried to promote pupil learning, using my experience with one pupil as an example. You see, you can do it and be as ‘informal’ as that. 
J. Uh huh.
M. You don’t have to use a lofty, educational-jargon style.
J. Right.
M. But we do expect the literature to be in there, because it is part of an academic course and because other people have something to say of relevance about the experiences that initial teachers go through.  So if you can flick through those [other Reports] it might give you the courage to use your own style. Whatever that is. 
J. ‘Cos it’s only just dawned on me - it’s taken until now to dawn on me - that I’ve been having an educative relationship with Lee. Because I thought only you and I had those!
(laughter)
J. That’s the label on us, isn’t it? Obviously that’s what I’ve been having with everybody in the classroom, but I have never labelled it as that before. So it would be useful to look back on some of our conversations, correspondences, whatever, and see where the parallels are. 
M. Oh yes, I think that would be really interesting. And have you written about that insight?
J. No.
M. Well, note it down and put the date on it. I know it might sound perfunctory. So if you’re going to include it, then it’s evidence of the way in which you are developing, how your insights are developing. Does that make it any clearer for you?...I’m not telling you to fictionalise it, your account, but I am telling you that you can if you want make it like a story. If you see the distinction. Fiction is something to do with not telling the truth, but telling a story doesn’t have to be telling lies. You can tell the truth by telling tales.
(laughter)
J. I see, yeah, that’s making sense. I think I thought it could be like that, because I think that’s why I’m looking forward to it. 
M. Release your imagination, Justine. You’ve got the data. You know, it seems to me, the data you ought to bear in mind that you had...quite a crisis about the action research a few weeks ago. I do think that needs to be brought out in your Final Report.  (See section in Justine’s Report, entitled, “Interval”.)
J. Yeah. Yeah.
M. I’m not asking you to reveal anything you don’t want to reveal, but you were obviously going through, ‘I don’t see the relevance of this. I don’t see the point of that. It’s inappropriate. I can’t do it. It’s unrealistic.’ All these things that you wrote to me about, or you wrote to the group, and then we had a conversation and I wrote to you...But I do think it may be true that you went through a bit of a crisis about your action research and out of that crisis emerged that it was all right to look at Lee, even though it was only for a few days. 
J. Yeah.
M. Because that was almost like, ‘well there’s no point in that now.’ And that you only had a few days after several weeks at the school. But do you think now that it is valid?
J. Oh yes, definitely.
M. And I do think all that is part of your development, your educational development. I think it’s crucial. So, you’ve got a lovely literary style. You’ve got a gift for writing stories anyway.  You’ve proved that in the English Elective. Use those talents... And bringing in the reading should be done to make what  you are writing more true, not less.
J. That’s helped. I understand now. I think I know what to do now. 
M. Is there anything else? Do you need any help sifting any data? Another viewpoint on what you’ve got in terms of whether it constitutes evidence?
J. Not yet, but that might emerge as I get started. 
M. Well, you will come back to me on that, then?
J. Yes. Oh yes.
M....I think it’s important, that it’s not only about your professional development and personal development, this Report. I want your case study and Katie's and Alison’s, so that next year’s students can be helped with their development and understanding. I have a feeling that the quality of the insights... are going to be of a high quality this year, partly because I have been more clued up with the process and able to facilitate more efficiently. But then time will tell. I think I’ve been clearer about the fact that it’s your learning together with pupil learning. I’m talking too much. 
J. Oh no, this time next week, I’ll be doing all the talking. 
M. Fine, I’ll hold you to that.

  It was important at this stage of the proceedings for Justine to ask questions and listen, and perhaps most of all to start to understand that the writing of a Final Report has to be an integral part of the enquiry itself. There are no hard and fast rules which would constrict the Report into a formula. As you will see when you read Justine’s work, her writing is part and parcel of the pathway of her research, dictated by her personality, her findings, her pupils, her context and her understanding. She chose to express herself with rigour and systematic awareness in the most authentic way she could, and in the end that is the most that any Action Researcher can do! 

PART THREE

1)  COLLABORATION IN ACTION RESEARCH

  I would now like to include the draft Report which Jayne, a P.G.C.E. student, wrote as a result of her first Teaching Practice. I believe that showing you a report in an unfinished state with comments from me about how to move it forward gives you a chance to see the minds of processes that it is necessary to go through in order to produce something which can make substantiated claims to educational knowledge. I am grateful to Jayne for being prepared to allow the publication of this report at an interim stage of development. My comments are in italics.

Jayne Prior’s account

INTRODUCTION

I first heard about Action Research from Moira Laidlaw via Jonathan Jones.  She had suggested that he do an Action Research during TP1.  He asked me, as his TP partner, to act as his Critical Friend.  I read some introductory information about Action Research that Moira had given him, and his "Action Research Planner".  I found the idea of systematising personal 'improvement' very appealing and, having familiarised myself with the role of Critical Friend, happily agreed to attempt to fulfil this role.  I think it is worth mentioning here that Jonathan  and I discussed the idea at some length before I decided to act as his Critical Friend as we were both aware that it would involve a degree of commitment and time, but perhaps more importantly, a degree of mutual respect.  Prior to TP1 Jonathan and I didn't know each other very well but felt, after the initial discussion about Action Research, that we would be able to work together on this.  The next stage was a discussion with Moira about my role as Critical Friend, and a discussion with Jonathan about his aims and objectives.  The more I found out about Action Research, the more enthusiastic I became, and the more "at home" I felt with it.  

During TP1 I attempted to fulfil my role as Critical Friend as best I could, and in the process learnt more about it myself.  I soon began to consider doing an Action Research myself, with Jonathan as my Critical Friend. Initially, however, I had problems identifying a specific area that I wanted to work on.  As a student teacher I felt that EVERYTHING needed working on!  After identifying a few vague areas which I felt were weak, I decided to shelve the idea until I was more sure, and continued to concentrate on my role as Critical Friend, something from which I was also able to learn (as regards the development of a constructive approach towards self-criticism).  During my fourth week in school, it suddenly became absolutely clear what my Action Research project should centre around.  I think I had needed several weeks to discover my own strengths and weaknesses.  As there were only two more weeks of TP1 to go, I decided to embark on a "mini" Action Research.  With hindsight I feel that during a first teaching practice it is perhaps a good idea to limit an Action Research in any case, as there are so many other things to think about. 

FINDING THE QUESTION

As indicated above, the area that I needed to improve upon was, after four weeks teaching practice, very clear.  I feel that I could only have identified this after a period of practice, however.  It is, after all, the practice of teaching that Action Research attempts to improve.

The School has many children recognised as having special educational needs, and is committed to a policy of integration.  As a teacher of Humanities, where none of the classes are streamed, I had to cope with the notion of making all my lessons accessible to a wide range of abilities.  After four weeks of frustration, and feelings of failure on my part (and probably on the part of many of the pupils in my classes) I decided that this was the area that most needed improving, and which I would most LIKE to improve.  While this problem persisted I would never be satisfied with my teaching.  Given that I only had two weeks in which to do this I decided to concentrate on children of low ability rather than attempting to look at the whole range of abilities in my classes.  I also decided to limit my work to two classes: a year 8 and a year 9 class. 
Having decided on the boundaries of my research, I set about reducing the problem to a simple question.  I wanted to make my lessons more accessible to low ability children in mixed ability classes and therefore came to the question: 

"How can I differentiate my year 8 and year 9 classes in order to make them  (the lessons ) accessible to low ability pupils?"

WHERE WAS I AIMING?

The next stage for me was to attempt to define what success would constitute for me.  The area on which I was working is of course one of the most fundamental problems facing teachers in comprehensive education, and I couldn't hope to solve it in two weeks!  I realised that it was essential for me to achieve something concrete in order to have completed an Action Research enquiry.  I therefore isolated the following as the aim of my research.

From every lesson, there is a fundamental concept/fact/skill around which the lesson is based. (Do you think this could perhaps be backed up by evidence of reading on the subject? ) I would isolate this and try to ensure that  every child in my class had mastered at least this (if not, then I have not succeeded).  There would of course be various extensions to this for brighter pupils.  I would then devise some form of concrete 'test' which would confirm that all pupils had achieved at least this. 

I then set about defining my view of 'an ideal lesson' from this point of view:

"As a teacher, I would reduce the content of a lesson to one basic concept/fact/skill.  I would plan my lesson around this, making the lesson accessible to all children in terms of language, boardwork, explanation and materials. In addition, I would build various extensions to this so that brighter pupils were stretched (rather than being bored).  During the lesson, all pupils would feel involved, and would be able to participate to an extent.  All children would be occupied at all times.  At no time should a child in this class be bored or threatened by material that they could not cope with.  At the end of the lesson every child should have a feeling of satisfaction as a result of what they had learnt, and I as their teacher, should be able to produce concrete evidence that every child has learnt something. " (I would hope to find comments later on from pupils to confirm or deny this. The comments and feelings of the pupils in this situation certainly could be part of the evidence you bring to make claims to validity. Do they feel satisfaction or not? ) 
 
I was aware of course that this was idealistic, but felt that it was important to keep this 'ideal' firmly in my head.  After all, isn't Action Research about converting ideals into reality? (Absolutely! )

HOW WAS I GOING TO GET THERE?

Having identified where I was going, I set about deciding how best to get there, or to put it another way, I set about finding the answer to my question "How can I differentiate my year 8 and year 9 classes to make them accessible to low ability pupils?"

The first stage in solving this was to reduce the 'problem' as I saw it to six main points.

i)  Planning - how do I build differentiation into my lesson plans?

ii) Worksheets - how do I make my worksheets accessible to all the pupils in my class?  So many Humanities lessons are based around worksheets, I felt that if I could produce a worksheet that was accessible to everyone half the battle would be won.

iii)Instructions- how do I ensure that every child in my class can                          understands both verbal and written instructions?

iv) Rewards - how do you reward low ability children who have worked  well without appearing unfair or patronising?

v)  Homework - how do I set homework fairly?  One piece of homework might be very easy and require very little time for a bright child, but might be viewed as impossible to a child of lower ability.  And, how do I avoid the problem of 'finishing class work at home', which in  reality means that the brighter child who was able to work very  quickly is left with little or no homework while the less able child is left with an impossible volume of work?  

vi) Support - how can I use available support more effectively and                    efficiently?
       
These were the main areas that I had been battling with unsuccessfully for four weeks. (You say  that  you  started out  covering a small area. Isn’t  it  amazing  how  fast  a  small  area  grows?  )

The next stage was to seek help.  While I could imagine various solutions and answers, I felt that at this stage in my 'career' I could benefit from the experience of others.  

The first person I turned to was Jonathan.  Discussing my project with him helped me to clarify my ideas and aims. (I would like to see evidence of these conversations, perhaps excerpts from transcriptions, which would substantiate this stage of development. I know that you have had these discussions, and there is no reason not to include extracts, Jayne. This would also give us more to go on in making judgements about what you offer in the Report. ) And he agreed to act as my Critical Friend.  As a student teacher, he did not feel able or qualified to offer very much concrete advice, however.

I then decided to approach Rachel, a teacher in the Humanities Faculty at the School who specialises in special needs provision.  She was very helpful and gave me a lot of useful advice as regards planning, the production of worksheets, instructions, rewards and the effective use of support staff in the classroom.  She also lent me her 'file' on the subject which comprised various pieces of information that she had gathered from various sources.  This proved invaluable, giving practical help as regards the production of worksheets and language/board work. (For example? )

I also approached the I.L. Faculty and asked if they had any advice.  They suggested that I spend some time with them in order to pick up some tips as regards working with children with special needs.  I therefore spent a day in the I.L. faculty, watching them work, talking to the staff and pupils and examining the resources that they had.  

Finally, I approached a teacher in the Humanities Faculty who is known to have a lot of success with children of lower ability.  She suggested I observe some of her lessons and see how she went about dealing with a mixed ability class.  She also warned me that I was dealing with a difficult area and should not expect miracles.  I learnt a lot from watching her, especially as regards her use of language,  the way in which she simplified concepts, making them accessible to all, and the way in which she involved all children at all times.  I noticed also how she used effective classroom management to make the above possible. (Perhaps a comment from your diary about these insights would again offer us the dimension of evidence that seems at times so far to be lacking.  Do you see my point? )

At this stage I felt able to formulate strategies for dealing with the six points raised above.  They were as follows:

i) Lesson Planning - it was pointed out to me (by Rachel) that the most effective way of differentiating a lesson was to build the differentiation in at the planning stage. I therefore decided to  re-design my basic lesson plan format by adding a special needs section.  In this way I ensured that every lesson was planned with this mind.

ii) Worksheets - it seemed that there were two alternatives a) to give out separate worksheets according to ability or b) to build the  differentiation into one worksheet, by ensuring that the basic  concept/fact/skill was contained in the first few questions and that  the subsequent questions acted as extensions, allowing the brighter children a chance to expand (there are of course many other, more complicated methods; for my purposes as a student, I decided to limit my options)  I decided to adopt the second method as a matter of personal preference.  Had I had more time I might have experimented  with both. (This  point is well-justified. It is perfectly in order to limit the scope of your activity as long as you justify it. ) Apart from this, I would now try to ensure that the presentation was as clear as possible and the vocabulary was as simple as possible; where possible I would use visual illustrations either as well as or instead of the written word.  

iii) Instructions - as far as instructions were concerned, I decided to attempt to plan them as far as possible so that I could ensure that my vocabulary was not too complicated and that I was to the point.  I would also try to ensure that I used visual back up wherever possible, and that all vital information was written somewhere and not simply delivered orally.  Having acted as Jonathan's Critical Friend (his Action Research had dealt more specifically with this problem) I felt able to employ some of what he had learnt to my own work. (Again I would like substantiation of this point. It is an integral part of your understanding of your own development - another point of Action Research itself. )
 
iv) Rewards - I found this a difficult one to deal with and nobody seemed  to have the answer. In the end I decided to try to reward children through my attitude, making it clear that I was appreciating the effort that they personally had put in: that I was rewarding their personal achievement. (Give us examples so that we can better understand your intentions. )

v)  Homework - I never fully solved this problem either.  I decided that the best way was to avoid giving homework which involved finishing off class work at home.  Instead, to set something separately.  And,  to try to make it open ended, so that all children could do the task in their own way, making as much of it as they were capable.  I did not, however, feel satisfied with this approach and would like maybe to deal with this point at a later stage, maybe through another, separate Action Research. (I like the way you make us aware of the processes going on. Should you decide to take up this point on T.P.2, you can point back to this idea as constituting a valid starting point as it has arisen out of an informed need. )

vi) Using Support - I decided to be sure that I was aware of the support that would be available in each lesson at the planning stage.  I therefore added another section to my lesson plan format entitled "available support".  I would then include the role of the support in the lesson plan.  In this way I hoped to make full use of the support teacher.

I now felt ready to put some of these ideas into practice.

MEASURING SUCCESS

During the following two weeks I attempted to convert the above into real lessons.  It did not happen instantly.  I started by working with one or two points at a time.  I do not feel that it is necessary, or of any use at this stage to detail the various lessons in which I attempted to realise my aims. (Give reasons. You may well be right, but the way you have written it gives us no opportunity to make up our own minds. This is a draft, and therefore in any subsequent write-up, I would hope to see evidence that you have at least thought about such comments and have either changed certain aspects in agreement with what I have written, or you do not. Whether you change it or not, you need to allude to the fact that questions were asked about this issue. ) I will therefore move on to two lessons where I feel that I began to get close to my target, and where I was able to collect concrete evidence to this effect.

Year 8 lesson:  I gave a lesson on colonialism.  I decided that the basic element of this lesson would be the concept of colonialism.  I had one support teacher in the class who I decided could work with the four weakest children.  My lesson plan was such so that at every stage of the lesson I had considered the less able children.   The previous lesson, I had  asked them to find out as much as they could about colonialism.   As expected, most children had simply taken a dictionary definition of the term.  None of the children could give me a reasonable definition of the  word.  At the beginning of the lesson I wrote the question "What is colonialism?" on the board.  None of the children could answer this.  I left the question on the board.  During the lesson we explored the concept in various ways.  At the end of the lesson, I went around the class.  Every child that I asked (I was careful to ask a range of abilities) could answer "concept questions" and all could, when asked, tell me what colonialism was, how and why it had happened, and which countries were involved.  This I felt to be evidence of learning, and evidence that I was beginning to reach the least able children in the class. (This is most interesting. I would like more detail because it seems to me to be the crux of what happened, and a close analysis of that might give the reader, and yourself, more insights into it, and thus enhance your practice.  I like the way you seize on this point of the children’s learning as it appears to you at this stage. One of the central aims of Action Research is to enhance learning for the learner, so it is quite right that you should be  emphasising their new understanding of colonialism.)

Year 9 lesson:  I wanted to teach my year nine pupils the concept of "population boom".  I reduced my lesson to the following basic areas that I felt I wanted all members of the class to learn.  The concept of population boom; the population of the world in 1900, today and the projected population in 2010; the concept of developed and developing countries; and the fact that the population is growing faster in the latter.
Again, I attempted to build the differentiation into the lesson plan, and I attempted to present the lesson in as simple a way as possible, with a variety of activities.  I used a worksheet in this lesson, with included many visual representations of the above concepts/facts accompanied by written explanations.  At the beginning of the following lesson I set about finding out how much they had learnt the day before.  I told the class to arrange themselves for a test.  I then gave each a piece of paper and asked them to write down everything that they could remember from the lesson the day before.  As expected, the brighter pupils produced a side or more of writing containing many facts and ideas.  All the children had written at least some of the above concepts as well as other things that they had remembered.  I was particularly interested to see how the weakest child in the class had responded.  He cannot read, and has problems writing.  I was aware, therefore, that he would have had problems coping with the worksheet.  His work showed me that in fact he had learnt something during the lesson:  he indicated that we had looked at "over population", what the population of the world is today, and what it will be in 2010.  He mentioned India, but unfortunately I was not able to understand what he wanted to say about it.  Given this pupil has many problems, I felt that it was an achievement for him to have learnt as much as he did.  
Although I still felt that my "ideal lesson" was a long way off, I did feel that I had made a lot of progress, and I now had concrete evidence to support this. (I feel I would like more detail about how it was you arrived at your sample group, and if, in fact, you might have been better sticking to one group instead, as this could have generated a great deal of information in itself.  I don’t know. It’s just an idea, Jayne. You have a right to choose your own target group, of course. I was just wondering whether in fact choosing two groups was putting an added burden on you without necessarily giving you richer material and conclusions. I think your choice is at least open to question. )

NOTE ON CRITICAL FRIEND

At this stage, Jonathan had decided that he did not feel able to make any further time commitment to Action Research. (Jonathan has said he is not sure this is true. ) It is absolutely essential that all parties involved in Action Research feel happy about what they are doing, so I decided to seek the help of other teachers in this capacity.  Unfortunately, concrete help never materialised, for a variety of reasons, but largely because I was running out of time myself.  I did manage, however, to discuss the above lessons and other lessons with members of staff who were very helpful.  

CONCLUSION AND GENERAL COMMENTS

Although very short, and limited, I felt that the Action Research project had helped me to go a long way towards dealing with the problems of mixed ability teaching, and that as a result, my teaching had improved.  As a result of the project, I left my first TP school with a feeling a satisfaction which I would otherwise not have had:  I had concrete evidence of an improvement in my teaching, and now felt more secure about an area which had previously been causing me many problems. (I think this needs firming up for a final draft, and it would have been helped if, as an integral part of the Report you could have given us extracts of your journal/log, which, you have told me, documents changes in perception as a result of your enquiry. This is the heart of Action Research - the coming to understand through practice (of which writing is a part) and reflection (of which writing is also a part) how you can enhance what you are doing. So such journal entries would constitute evidence, as they are the results of a development in perceptions over time ).  I felt that by doing an Action Research project, a load had been lifted from my shoulders.  Before starting it, I had spent endless hours contemplating my teaching practice, analysing every aspect of my teaching, but without actually dealing with anything.  By identifying one specific area, I felt able to concentrate on this, and felt justified in pushing other aspects to one side for a moment.   As a result my load was lightened.  And, by identifying positive, concrete results, I felt more satisfied with myself and with my practice overall. (I think this point cannot be made often enough, Jayne. Action Research enables you to take control of your own practice and to develop at your own pace, and in ways which can genuinely improve the quality of your pupils’ learning. )

As a result of my involvement with Action Research, I have noticed that my mind has begun to work differently.  I have developed a more constructive attitude towards self-criticism and have learnt how to limit my aims, making them more attainable.  I feel that, in that sense, Action Research could have many applications outside of teaching.

WHERE TO NOW?

I am already beginning to formulate my next Action Research (for TP2) in my mind, and will probably work on extending what I've already done as regards mixed ability teaching.  I will attempt to address some of the questions which I was not able to deal with last time, and will probably try to deal with provision for the most able as well as the least able.   I feel that next time it might be useful to collect evidence of the problem as I see it before beginning the Action Research so that at the end I have something against which to compare my evidence of 'success'.  Without this, the evidence that I collected could be regarded as meaningless (even though I'm sure it wasn't) - I felt that I needed proof that there had previously been a problem in this area.

  What impresses me about this draft is the fundamental grasp of the direction in which Jayne sees herself going. I would like to see some evidence of background reading because as teachers we have a responsibility to be informed about the philosophy of what we are doing as well as our own practical needs. It also places ideas in context and adds another dimension. 

  This draft also demonstrates at this stage (but it is something which Jayne has acknowledged in conversation) a reluctance to use what she sees as subjective material. In Action Research, as should now be clear, the individual’s perceptions are valid, and it is precisely because of this, that in a Report of this kind, the ‘public’ will want to enter the reality of Jayne’s experience, so that in the end there might develop a consensus of understanding. The teacher in the classroom is closest to the reality of that classroom, but through consistent and systematic enquiry, we might all share in this reality. 

  Jonathan observed Jayne’s 9th year lesson and I include his comments as they shed another light on the writing that Jayne has produced. His words also show the value of the observer to the researcher, in that subsequent discussions about his perceptions of the situation might be able to take Jayne forward in her practice.

 “I did actually observe the 9th year lesson which from a differentiation point of view, passed off really rather well. (Well done, Jayne!)  What interested me most about this lesson was not the fact that Jayne had built all this differentiation into her plan, but the fact that at one point she got the children to work in pairs. The lowest ability child, whom she mentions in her piece, was paired with a fairly intelligent girl to do the task she set, which was listing the problems of over-population. Jayne might be concerned with differentiation, but by doing this pairing, the problem solved itself. The girl led the boy through the task, providing guidance, and getting some responses from him. - I was giving support at this point, but basically allowed her to ‘teach’ him. I think perhaps here Jayne has not thought of the value of peer-group tutoring. Here was a perfect (successful) example.

I would want Jonathan to qualify  in more detail the responses that the child provided for the girl. Would any response do? What constitutes quality, there?  That is something that would have to be talked over with Jayne to get her viewpoint.

 To summarise:

- Always bear in mind what and for whom you are writing.
- Don’t write for the sake of it but make it an integral part of the research
   process. 
- Date and label all writing for future reference and organise it in chronological
   order.
- Writing not only acts as a record, like taped conversation it can organise and
   even create thought and conceptual developments.
- Remember that the Report needs to be put through some form of public   		         
   scrutiny                                  
   before the enquiry can be said to be completed.

2)  NOTES ON COLLABORATION

  Collaboration is one of the most important aspects of Action Research as a genre, because the nature of the research method necessitates your working closely with other people. As in other areas of life, there will be people involved with you and whom you come to meet, who do not share your values. However, what unites action researchers is their willingness to discuss differences, to explore them in order to come to a greater understanding of their and others’ realities. In fact I would go as far as to say that this willingness is a prerequisite.

  When I was facilitating at the Avon initiative in 1990, many people expressed concern that Action Research seemed a rather solitary activity. (This might, of course, be a comment on how well I had put across certain concepts, and I think they may have been misinterpreting the meaning of the term ‘Action Research’. See section at the beginning on this issue.) In fact, as I pointed out, teaching itself could be seen as solitary in an environment in which each individual goes into her/his own classroom, closes the door, creates the world, and perhaps never sees what is happening in other classrooms, and God forbid! would never expect any other colleague to take an interest. Action Research requires that door to be left open so that trusted colleagues from the outside world can enter and help to create an even richer environment for the pupils. Action Research is not just about individual researchers improving their practice; on another level it is about creating whole environments in which professionals are less skeptical about collaboration, are more receptive to team efforts, and are prepared to acknowledge failure and success openly. At the moment schools do not often seem able to provide that sense of security for their staff and this becomes a vicious circle of suspicion and stalemate. Much of this is due to a mentality discussed in the Introduction to this Guide, that holds that outsiders are the experts. Practitioners who work in their classrooms are somehow, according to this dubious reasoning, less able to create meaning for themselves, and that any significant reality has to be bought at an INSET price. This is not to say that outsiders can contribute nothing to the researcher’s understanding. Indeed, such viewpoints can be most valuable in enabling the researcher to see the situation with new eyes. 

Case Study

  During the students’ action enquiries on teaching practice this year, Alison Irwin and Katie Norwood often talked together about their research. I reproduce here a conversation which Alison had with Katie about her eighth year class to whom she was teaching Religious Education on a once-a-week basis and which she integrates into her Final Report. Alison was concerned about how she could differentiate fairly with this group. She wrote:

  “It was at this point that I found another critical friend, Katie Norwood. Katie and I had been partners during our first teaching practice and during that practice and since, we had worked well together. Katie was also undertaking an enquiry of her own and we decided to discuss our enquiries together, bouncing ideas off each other to further our research.

  I have decided as well to use some of a discussion I had with Katie on 22.4.92. which show the point I had arrived at and the frustration I felt. As the conversation flowed, I came to realize what my next move would be with the group.

K. What is your question?
A. How can I differentiate with this year eight group and instil in them a motivation to learn?
K. Why this question?
A. They are a difficult group and they have no enthusiasm basically because of these five children...who get the attention. Everyone is really apathetic, even the more able.
K. So you found you were teaching them to ‘average’.
A. Yes, there are four or five girls who are really bright who I’m giving extra work to. But what’s happening is that because I teach a different topic every week any extension work cannot be followed up. I want to finish but not give them extra homework.
K. You’ve got to plan extension work that’s going to be quick, that’s not going to take so long.
A. But that doesn’t seem to be any fun for them.
K. Is it [the extension work] something that you want the rest to do, or just for extension?
A. Extension.
K. Don’t worry then.

Up until this point I had never really thought that setting the more able girls extension work had bothered me so much. As the conversation followed I came to realize the impression the extension work might be giving to the girls and how unfair I was being to the rest of the group.

K. It’s a way of organizing the differentiation so that they’re all doing the same thing...
A. I have the sheet the whole class does, then I do one sheet for the more able and a completely different one for the less able.
K. So you’re producing two sheets...You’ve got to catch their interest.
A. Yes, that’s the problem...
K. So you’ve differentiated. What about the others, though? Are you sure they’re average?
A. To say there’s a group in the middle that are not more able is wrong because there are certain boys in that group that are very good and love to get on with their work but with peer-pressure they lay back. They don’t work as hard as they should or could. They don’t push like the girls do. What I was getting from these girls was that they were annoyed because everything they had to do was too simple, the pupils in the middle didn’t seem to mind what they were given.
K. Nobody likes extension exercises - they have to stretch them intellectually and not be used to fill in their time.
A. Maybe I should put the extension exercises...
K. ...earlier on, the more able may think the work you are setting them is a waste of time, jut to fill up their time so that they don’t start chatting or moaning in the lessons.
A. Then I would be focussing on the middle group as well.
K. Yes, I don’t think you should ignore the middle group - I’m not saying that you are, but you seem to be concentrating, from what you said before, you were talking about the low ability and the more able, and there’s a group in between in limbo in the middle just getting on with it. It’s not fair to them really.

Now the conversation turned and having fully realized the situation I had created in the class, a different strategy emerged that I could take with the class.

K. You said you were doing worksheets, make them more time-consuming, different to what they are used to, to stretch them.
A. Perhaps halfway through the worksheet a question of either/or.
K. Give them the choice - I suppose that’s O.K.
A. Hand it out to everyone, but wouldn’t they pick the easier one?
K. Differentiation is difficult...it’s setting different work to do from the same material.
A. Maybe if I take the sheet I’m given and rewrite an extra sheet that is differentiated all the way down so the middle table table possibly...
K. Yeah, it would save you some time and worry in the long run.
A. Some students on the middle table get to question four and some five and six, and the girls five to eight.
K. Yeah, that’s O.K., one worksheet, make sure you’ve got a cut-off point yourself and go around the class and say, ‘come on. I want to see you get to a certain question by the end of the lesson’, to the girls and to those boys. That’s saying you can do it - if you set them targets, that might work. Targets for them to get to if you’re trying to motivate them.

I now had a strategy that I could employ next time I saw the group.”

  I hope that this Guide has begun to show you that you can start to make you own  meanings, and that if you work systematically and openly, if you engage others in the work you are doing, if you question your preconceptions and review your findings, you will be engaging in the quality of work in schools that must be of benefit to your pupils. Clearly, as Alison’s Final Report shows, her discussions with Katie kept her mind alert to what was going on and gave her a much-needed other perspective. Both women noted the value of this collaboration for their research and their developing insights.

   It is also true, as far as I understand it, that the teaching profession needs a body of professional knowledge. Your descriptions and explanations, which you as individual learners produce for your own educational development, can offer this rich source of meaning, experience and knowledge for the profession as a whole.
 And in the end, that’s what Action Research is all about.

3)  COLLABORATION WITH JONATHAN JONES

  To begin with a positive statement: I do not doubt the value of Action Research and the beneficial effect  it had for me on my first teaching practice. However I feel that this needs to be qualified as many problems arose, many of them extrinsic, which hindered the proper development of my research. This brief reflection will outline some of these problems while also mentioning what I feel I gained.

Introduction

My action Research was based around the question: ‘How do I improve my communication skills?’ In particular I was concerned with simplifying the language I used so the information and instructions I gave were clear, precise and understandable.

  This was a potentially broad-based and vast topic although my initial vagueness was focused by talking to Jayne (see conversation in chapter on critical friend) who demanded and forced me into thinking about specific problems rather than broad generalisations. Jayne, in fact, played a very large part in my Action Research, and I therefore feel it would be best to begin by looking at her role as my critical friend.

The Critical Friend

Jayne and I were paired together for our first teaching practice so she was a natural choice as a critical friend. She certainly embraced the idea of Action Research in a very positive way, but then, that’s Jayne!

  During an English Elective discussion on Action Research I asked Moira what would happen should the ideas and attitudes of the critical friend be at odds with that of the person carrying out the Action Research. I was concerned because the way we were paired for T.P.1 meant that the choice of critical friend was, more or less, forced on me. Moira conceded that there could be problems in this. However, having worked with Jayne, perhaps my question should have been, what happens if the critical friend and person carrying out the research get on too well? Perhaps this needs some explaining.

  Prior to T.P. I had not talked much to Jayne, although having broken the ice, we found that many of our ideas and attitudes were similar in nature and that we got on with each other well, developing a reasonably close social relationship. However I felt this possibly hindered our working together. For example when I was transcribing a conversation between Jayne and myself I actually became very resentful of the things Jayne was saying, many of which seemed to me to be nitpicking. Why did I feel like this? Part of the reason could have been...that I found it difficult to separate myself in a social context and myself and Jayne in a ‘professional’ context. Perhaps I feel more at ease by being criticised by people who I do not feel close to. With Jayne this seemed to become a problem.
 I think this raises the question of personalities. Although Jayne and I share many similar attitudes, as characters we are very different. She was always positive and enthusiastic while I was far more negative and likely to give up should I feel it no longer relevant. In parts this contrast certainly had its benefits, as Jayne’s enthusiasm almost forced me into carrying on with my Action Research, whereas otherwise I would almost certainly have given up.

  Many of the ideas I took on board came directly from Jayne - very good ideas but I felt I became too reliant on her rather than thinking of my own solutions. And because of our personalities I felt this was being unfair to her and also I accepted this situation far too readily...

Extrinsic Problems

The first T.P. is a demanding thing. One is concerned about a great number of things - preparation, observation, trying to develop a relationship with kids in six weeks, behaviour, getting on with staff, fitting into a new environment, and, of course, trying to learn the craft of teaching. On top of this Bath insisted we undertake various activities - the School and Community essay, pupil pursuits, following a special-needs teacher, gathering evidence of pupil learning, as well as other activities. I saw this as a burden and resented having to do them rather than just be allowed to concentrate on the practicalities of teaching.

  It is with this background that I approached Action Research. The Action Research initially was not a problem as it fitted in with the teaching side of the T.P.. However, when Moira presented me with the chapter of her book (this one ) and Jayne decided she wanted to concentrate on her own particular Action Research I began to feel burdened which I think reflected on my own Action Research.

  ...As a result I stripped away the things which I did not perceive as being directly, immediately related to the children’s learning and my producing good lessons. I did not abandon the research altogether but reduced the emphasis I placed on it...
  Action Research was, however, very valuable on a first T.P. in that it worked, but I think it would be better used by qualified teachers who are, perhaps, in a better position of taking on such a project. I am as yet, undecided as to whether or not to continue my Action Research into the next T.P..

Gathering Evidence

  My particular evidence depended very much on interviews and discussions, particularly with Jayne, but also with the members of the faculty of the school I was working at. Having focused on some negative points of my Action Research, I can now write something altogether more positive! Both Jayne and the teachers who observed my lessons commented on how much my instruction-giving had generally improved and that they felt the kids were able to grasp what I wanted far more quickly. I think these comments alone mean that Action Research was a worthwhile project to undertake.
  However, again partly because of the situation I was in, other methods of gathering evidence were never put into practice, something I regret because I felt it would have given me something more tangible to focus on. I would have liked to have videoed and taped some of my lessons but in the hubbub of T.P. this never happened. I would also have been very interested in gathering pupil-evidence to find out their perspective. After all this is all done ultimately for their benefit. During my pupils pursuit I did attempt to engage the girl I was following in some sort of discussion on this. However, she was reluctant to criticise and I felt that the exercise had little meaning unless I could formalise it in some way (eg. a questionnaire), but time was short and the opportunity slipped by.

  Of course my main form of ‘evidence’ was the journal I kept during T.P.. Initially I did concentrate on the Action Research but as I taught more and more I felt that more serious issues were being raised which I wanted to note and deal with. As a result the journal became more general and less focused on Action Research. I felt that this was the way I wanted to take my journal as in the broader contest of learning how to teach. I felt there were more important issue to be discussed.

If I Knew Then...

  If I knew then what I know now, would my question have been the same? Would I still have focused on communication? I think I realised half-way through the T.P. that I would not. Yes, I recognised it as being a problem but in terms of children’s learning not so much of a problem as the fact that I do not work the children hard enough, that I have a problem trying to re-activate very unmotivated children, and that I am not systematic enough.

  Of course I could have changed the focus of my Action Research, but I felt that this was like changing horses in midstream. Having set up an Action Research with Jayne based upon my communication problem, and having got somewhere with it, I was reluctant to change even though I felt more serious issues needed to be addressed. Again perhaps this affected my attitude towards the specific Action Research I was undertaking. I was probably more eager to address other topics rather than the one in hand.

Did It Help?

  I have again looked back at this piece of work. It does appear to be very negative, an impression which I am reluctant to give because Action Research certainly helped, and I think that it is necessary to restate this point of view. I think that for me, the problems came more from extrinsic factors rather than problems with the Action Research itself. For me teaching practice raised a whole series of issues which got in the way of my continuing with the Action Research.

  So much of what Jonathan writes about resonates with me: the sense of wondering what on earth he was doing, a feeling of overload, a lack of direction at times, a need to step back and scream to name but a few. All these things, although unique to the person who is going through them, are symptomatic of beginning a teaching career as well of beginning action enquiries and they reveal a very necessary stage of self-appraisal and development. Another aspect of Jonathan’s reflections that I would like to comment on, is the point at which he writes about perceiving the need for collecting data in a variety of ways. If he decides to conduct an Action Research enquiry later on, it would be very useful for him to discuss with a critical friend about the ways in which he could do that in order to enhance the validity of what he is trying to do. So that later he might be able to point to evidence of how gathering information strengthens his claim to have moved forward in his professional practice for the benefit of the learners in his classroom.

4)  VALIDITY AND PUPIL LEARNING

  The battle over what constitutes validity in the various forms of educational research is one which rages on. Here is not a suitable place for an exposition of the forms these battles take. Suffice it to say that much of the disagreement about Action Research stems from the quantitative research paradigms (see Introduction) and centres on the means whereby action researchers arrive at their solutions.

	Claims to validity in Action Research are connected to claims about pupil/student learning. If you can point to evidence of pupil learning then your research can make greater claims to validity. This is because action research exists to enhance the quality of learning of the learner.

  In my experience, evidence of pupil learning is always, at least initially, thin on the ground! It seems to be quite in order for teachers to produce eloquent claims to their own development, but this is not wholly sufficient for an action research enquiry. Integral with these insights ought to be the emergence of a greater sensitivity by the teacher/researcher to the effect she is having on her pupils. The reason for this state of affairs has to be in part that it is easier for a researcher to reflect on her own practice, and to have access to the evidence necessary to prove it, than it is for her to accrue evidence that the pupils have learnt something from their interactions. A conversation I had with a student, Carol Black after her second teaching practice (March 1991) and before her final write-up, is of relevance here:

	C. How do I know it’s because of me? I mean, they might have 				learnt the same things from someone else. Or more? This is the 				problem I have with action research? I suppose it’s because we 					haven’t got a control group.
	M. ...Are you saying you can’t prove that you had the final say in 			
it?
	C.  ....Yes, I suppose so.
	M.  In the sense that you can say 2+2=4, no I suppose not. But you 				are in a position to make a professional judgement about what 				happened. You can point to evidence of what you did, and how 				they reacted. What they said, wrote, etc..... You see, the way you 				interact in the classroom with the kids will create an atmosphere 				that will change their understanding. You could do the same 					content as another teacher, but they wouldn’t necessarily learn it 				in the  same way as with another teacher. And anyway, the idea 				of having a control group negates everything action research 					stands for. Human reactions and interactions can’t be compared as 				if they were hothouse plants, or better still, products from a 					conveyer belt.

So, validity does not rely on external proof. Let me explain. I am not trying to imply that valid claims can be made by a single person without reference to others. What I am saying, is that the action researcher first helps to create a critical world around her/himself. S/he has her/him self, the pupils, the classroom,  colleagues, and other interested people (hopefully!). These are the sources of interest and endeavour. From this partly given, and partly negotiated environment, s/he is attempting to improve the quality of the children’s learning through the improvement in her/his own practice. 

What does Evidence of Pupil Learning look like?

Look first at the chapter on data collection. As you can see, the comments about evidence of your own development are generally fused with those of your pupils. However, as I mention in the footnote on page one, this chapter was written after the others because it was only after a period of second teaching practice that these points came to light for me. Look especially at the points raised about pupil comments. 

It can take many forms. It can be:
1) Pupils’ work 
2) Pupils’ written/oral comments over time
3) Your evaluations after each lesson
4) Colleagues’ contributions

Note the order of these. The pupils’ come first.

  The concept I would like to discuss here, is the one about ‘over time’. In one second teaching practice, many of the students saw fit to conduct a questionnaire (see end of chapter three). This, however, despite the work that had obviously gone into it, yielded a disappointing amount of information. This is discussed in greater detail in chapter three. However there is an underlying principle which should be followed by researchers if they want to conduct such a method of data collection. It is not adequate to give out a questionnaire at the end of a series of lessons which you have been focusing on for your enquiry, and expect it to yield detailed evidence of learning. Such an act reveals a lack of understanding about how learning takes place, and the ways in which it can be voiced by the learners. It is an improvement on this state of affairs to conduct periodical questionnaires, one at the beginning, one in the middle and one at the end, for example. There are dangers here as well (see chapter three), but there is at least the possibility in these circumstances of making a professional judgement over time. And this is the crucial point that is sometimes missed. Your period of time could be as long as three years, or as short as two weeks.

	You must have seen the Tom and Jerry cartoons in which Tom is battered with some heavy object, turns sideways, and has become two dimensional. And yet in the next frame, he’s as three dimensional as ever. (Bear with me, the analogy is going somewhere! ) Questionnaires conducted at one moment in time are like the two dimensional Tom, no colour, no life, no dynamism. Flat and uninteresting. And not characteristic of the real Tom at all. Questionnaires implemented over time as one method of evidence-gathering, are like the fatter Tom, colourful, lively, (more!) interesting and believable, foibles and all! And healthy too! Let me say, though, that questionnaires are very difficult to conduct meaningfully, and you should treat them with caution.

  Evidence of pupil learning can take many forms, and the most useful are those in which you can point quite clearly to developments in the pupils’ understanding. To comment that you ‘have a feeling’ that they were enjoying it and therefore learning something, is not going to stand up to a Validation Group. (See section on Collaboration for further details about this.)

  However, if you were able to show that over a period of time that the children were revealing changing perspectives, new insights about the content and/or the process of what you were doing, or behaving in a way towards which you had been working with them, then I think you are in a position to say that they have learnt something as a result of your enquiry. This is a thorny and difficult area, but its importance cannot be stressed often enough. Action Research will not tolerate wishy-washy and tentative statements which when scrutinised are not really substantiated in any significant way. Every claim has to be backed up.

5) COMMENTS FROM OTHER ACTION RESEARCHERS * 

CAROL BLACK 

Carol was teaching English at a local comprehensive school on her second teaching practice. After much discussion and research she finally came up with the question: ‘How can I make ‘Far from the Madding Crowd’ more accessible, enjoyable and interesting to my tenth year mixed ability group?’  In her final report she wrote:

	‘In summary I have discovered that for me, the most satisfying mode of teaching is to involve the children as much as possible in all decision making processes, to force responsibility on them for their own actions and learning, and certainly to treat them as friends and adults. This has been perhaps the first step on the road to creating my own style of working and it is certainly due to the minute details of analysis which are used in Action Research. What is fascinating about this is that it reflects something which Moira declares as a stated aim in her own Action Research enquiry, which has to do with helping people like me on our first attempts at A.R.: “Something was needed that would give student teachers a sense of the importance of creating their own values and realities in their own classrooms based upon systematic research into their own practice.” Well it has certainly done that for me. The most surprising thing for me from the whole enquiry has been to discover that some of the best things I achieved during my teaching practice, were not among my original stated aims and objectives.. It seems to me that one of the greatest achievements of this Year Ten group was a high level of independence, the beginning of an ability to make decisions for themselves and perhaps even the awareness of of the fact that their opinions are as valid as those of their teachers. ...What I failed to do in this enquiry was to link up all the values and ideas that have emerged for me on this course and to try and see how these related to this particular enquiry...I think that the action research enquiry certainly benefited me and them for all the reasons outlined above. In the writing of this report as well I have come to realise that even though the gathering of evidence is certainly a most difficult task, the question of comparing what they learnt through my method of teaching with what they might have learnt with someone else is actually fruitless. As Moira wrote on 17.5.91.: “A.R. starts from the premise that interactions between human beings are unique and can be described and captured through sensitive and imaginative portrayals from which professional judgements can be made about likelihoods...That learning would have taken place with another teacher is not in dispute, but it would have been different learning with different outcomes. All we can do is to try and improve the quality of our own practice in our own environments.”  

DIANE SMITH

Diane taught French at a comprehensive school and entitled her Final Report: “A Study of an action research enquiry: a process of personal, professional and educational understanding. How can I differentiate with my mixed ability year seven class in order that all pupils fulfil their own individual potential?’”

She writes in conclusion:

“In carrying out an action research enquiry through my own classroom practice and an evaluation of that practice and the pupils learning I have increased my awareness and understanding of the requirements and strategies of differentiation. My increased awareness and knowledge and understanding gained from the experience will undoubtedly be passed on to my teaching of other heterogeneous sets as well as homogeneous sets (which are always to a certain extent heterogeneous).  My diary entry culminates the satisfaction I felt :

(18.05.92)  “I am convinced that the systematic approach within the framework of an action research enquiry has been to the benefit of my year 7 pupils’ learning - it has undoubtedly raised my awareness of the strategies of differentiation  a teacher has at hand, and how my newly found knowledge may now be used to benefit other classes.”

My diary entry further illustrates how action research has assisted me in an understanding of the actual concept of differentiation and in the methodology of language teaching and learning, it continues:

“an important factor for me in the action research process is how it has clarified my particular subject and methods of teaching. The concept  of differentiation before action research seemed quite airy-fairy.  The research has enabled me to become more attuned to the concept and bring the loose threads into a patchwork quilt”.

  It helped me to narrow down and clearly define my objectives and to understand that all pupils need to work at their own appropriate level in order to perceive their achievement as worthwhile and successful,

I have found that through action research I have gained an intimate knowledge of my pupils, an understanding and appreciation of their strengths and weaknesses and the values I have as a teacher.  It has helped me to accept that all my pupils are different  and that a flexible approach to their learning is thus a prerequisite of my role as teacher. I feel I can claim to have used this information to provide effective learning for my pupils.

I would like to raise the question “To what extent are the children’s learning difficulties teacher - generated?”  I have through my enquiry gone through a process of analysing and reflecting on myself as a generator and facilitator of information and assessor of pupils’ learning skills through feedback from the pupils own reflections on their learning process ( study  diaries and  personal and whole class questioning)

During the process I have realised that deep down inside what I want most is for the pupils to take responsibility for their own learning and that I would like to aim towards that of the role of facilitator as defined by Margaret Tumber:

“The task of the teacher as facilitator ranges from that of the practical provider of a classroom environment and atmosphere conducive to learning to that of a guide and moderator capable of setting up and monitoring widely differentiated programmes within a coherent framework”.

I have drawn the conclusion that a sense of fulfilment, satisfaction and enjoyment in teaching and learning  must come from the teacher taking responsibility in providing,stimulating and encouraging learning and the learner taking responsibility for their own progress and gaining an understanding in the process of their learning.  It is through the teacher’s role as facilitator, as perceived above, that she can gradually move towards the process of pupils taking responsibility for their own learning.

Despite the difficulties I still faced with Lorraine, during my enquiry, I gradually became more convinced of the benefits of mixed ability teaching and the values it upholds: that all pupils be respected as equal. I saw benefits in terms of the pupils’ educational social and personal development.  For differentiation to succeed every child must feel valued.

As my diary entry (18.05.92)  states:

“I seem to be becoming more and more convinced of the benefits of mixed ability teaching despite the difficulties I am facing with Lorraine.  The benefits that weaker pupils have are enormous, they can use their peers for assistance and motivation.  Pupil motivation  has improved and the extra homework and extension activities have served as a stimulus and additional educational element. I feel that I am striving towards pupils taking responsibility for their own learning.”

In writing this report and making my action research subject to collaborative critical evaluation I feel that I have gone through a further reflective and analytical process.  I would like at this stage to stress the significance of recording reflections and analysing during the process of action research, something which I think I could have done more of.  Indeed, it is only through the writing of this report  that it became clear to me that I had now completed my cycle and had in fact found another question, that of improving the learning environment for Lorraine.

If the reader is considering a form of action research themselves I would strongly recommend it for all the reasons mentioned above.  As Jack Whitehead says in his foreword to Jean McNiff’s book “Action Research Principles and Practice”, Macmillan, 1988: 

“it is a timely invitation to help strengthen our profession through critical engagement from within..we learn from our mistakes in detailed criticisms of our positions”.

In conclusion I would like to quote Moira Laidlaw “Action Research: A Guide For Use On Initial Teacher Education Programmes”:

“Action Research empowers the classroom teacher to construct her own knowledge and to make it available to others for their benefit and the benefit of their pupils””

STELLA SOUTHGATE

Stella also taught Modern Languages on her second teaching practice and her question resolved itself to: ‘How can I ensure that my Year Eight Class actively participate in their French lessons without my having to threaten them into it?’ In her conclusion to her Final Report, she writes:

“AN EVALUATION OF MY ENQUIRY AS ACTION RESEARCH:

What Action Research should be:

Classroom practice should be investigated through participative research. The teacher in the class may well be the best judge of her or his total educational experience, but it is imperative for it to be a collaborative process, too. The value of the critical friend - a third party with as much interest in the class as the researcher, but with the advantage of distance and objectivity - cannot be overstressed.
	
	The model I used largely followed the format outlined below:

	1: I have a problem because in my practice my educational values 		are in some measure being denied;
	2: I imagine (or research) a solution;
	3: I implement the chosen solution;
	4: I evaluate the results;
	5: I reformulate the problem in the light of my evaluation.

“It is primarily his [the researcher’s] insights and understandings that are moved forward by his own involvement and his enquiries.” (McNiff)

but Action Research should not be such a personal thing as I made mine. Just as a theory is invalid if it cannot be demonstrated to have practical implications, the factors which the researcher claims to be important in her or his classroom must also be proven. There is thus a commitment on the part of the researcher to find evidence to show the improved present practice, not simply to describe the intervening action that led to this situation.

What my Action Research was:

When I started out on my enquiry, and even until I began the research for the write-up, I had a very simplistic view of what Action Research entailed.
It was in my case the first and simplest definition of Action Research: 

“A loose set of activities that are designed to improve the quality of education; an essentially eclectic way into a self-reflective programme aimed at such educational improvement.”  (McNiff)

I adhered broadly to the recommended format and my enquiry did progress along the expected avenue of research and evaluation, namely one principal spiral with other questions spiralling off from it.

Yes, I had problems with my classroom practice: I had certain educational values which were being denied. Yes, I wanted to find out or imagine for myself solutions to the problems. Yes, I wanted to be a reflective practitioner - I was already used to writing evaluations for every activity undertaken in every lesson. Yes, I wanted to be a better teacher.

I completed the proforma to find out what my question was. I had grasped the notion that record keeping was an integral part of Action Research, that discussions had to come into it along the line somewhere, and that I had to find out what the pupils thought at some stage. I did not really understand the importance of the critical friend, of validation meetings and I thought that writing an interim report was for the real enthusiast only. If only I had read some of the relevant literature before starting…

I had not taken on board the idea that my enquiry was to be“research with, not research on,”  (McNiff) and so I was not adequately geared up to looking for pupil validation. I fell into the trap of thinking of how what I was learning would be applicable to some future class, not specifically for 8*2. This, I suspect, is a problem which faces many people on Teaching Practice.

When I did collect samples of pupil work I was not sure what I was looking for, or what I was trying to prove. At one stage I was so absorbed by my practice, my learning and my interpretation of the situation that I lost sight of what it was all about: pupil learning.

Furthermore, I was uncollaborative in my approach: if Diane (Smith) had not offered to act as my critical friend before it was too late, I doubt whether I would have found anyone else, yet the insights she gave me into my own practice were invaluable.

I should not be too negative as my study did do what it set out to do.

“Experiments never fail - they are things we do to find out what we can’t work out.”  (Claxton). 

Yet quite apart from the fact that the short duration available to me was likely to make my enquiry superficial, I exacerbated the superficiality of what I did through the way I approached it.

It is too late now for 8*2 and me: I undertook to be honest, so I must admit the inadequacy of what I did. I will have to be sure to use what I have learned about Action Research, as well as what I have learned about teaching in general with that hypothetical future class. At least I can be sure that from what I have experienced in this study, I will be looking for a future Action Research enquiry.

CONCLUSION:

I understand and agree with the values underpinning Action Research. McNiff quotes Pam Lomax as saying:

 “We do not claim to find the final answer to a question, but we do claim to improve and change educational practice through the educational development of practitioners.”

My practice has been developed and improved, but although I think I have proven, with evidence, that my Action Research enquiry helped me to improve my teaching technique and make the lessons more enjoyable for some, if not all, pupils, I failed to answer my question.

I have concluded that it was not possible for me to encourage 8*2 to participate actively in the lessons without the use of threats, particularly not given the short duration of the enquiry.

“Real concern for his students may make a teacher stern.”  (Claxton). 

I have become more stern than I was before. Yet it still worries me that I have to threaten them. I still hope, naïvely, for a class where all the pupils will enjoy their involvement in the lesson.

Maybe I am pessimistic about the quality and value of what was being achieved in 8*2’s lessons. McNiff says Action Research involves a change from a negative state to a positive state, and that certainly occurred in our case.”

IONE STANSFIELD

Ione taught English at a local comprehensive school on her second teaching practice. She was concerned about the atmosphere in her classroom, particularly with her Year Nine class and her question became: ‘How can I establish a good enough relationship with 9B to enable them to engage fully with the novel ‘Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry’ and the issues raised in the novel?’  In the conclusion to her Final Report she writes:

“ Comment on the Action Research Process

I have found this an extremely useful exercise - I feel I have definitely progressed in the area I have researched and will hopefully be able to build on this in my first teaching appointment.  It has been extremely useful to have a document which reflects and documents my personal and professional growth  in such a systematic way.  I would be very keen to undertake this type of research again.  However, next time there are certain mistakes that I hope I would be able to avoid.

I feel that this Action Research has suffered from lack of evidence from the pupils.  I have already explained above that this is partly circumstantial, but I also feel it is my lack of planning in the early stages of the research, in terms of considering what it was I wanted to achieve and how I was going to collect the evidence to prove this.  If it did the same again, I would monitor progress quite closely with one or two pupils, involve them early on with what I was doing, enlist their cooperation and engage in some sort of ongoing dialogue - perhaps in the form of a diary or journal that they would keep.  I would also be systematic about collecting copies of all the written work they produced over a period of time, so that I could then evaluate whether there had been any real development.  I think this, rather than a questionnaire, would have provided me with some sort of real evidence that significant learning, or change in attitude, had taken place.  

I acknowledge this lack of real input from the pupils as a weakness of this study and feel now, in writing, it, disappointed that it is not therefore as valid a study as I would have hoped, in terms of the claims I would hope to have made about the interconnectedess of learning and the teacher-pupil relationship.  I cannot, really, make any claims because, without a substantial amount of evidence from the pupils, there is nothing to support such a claim.  All I can state as evidence is my feeling that there is a connection and I know I experienced that. 

 Again, the process I have been through with the pupils would seem to be at odds with what I hoped to achieve in living out my values and being a 'complete person' in the classroom.  Again, I have to acknowledge the contradiction I have been living as I see my theory out of line with my practice.  But, next time,  I hope, the gap will be narrower.”

6) QUESTIONS MOST COMMONLY ASKED ABOUT ACTION RESEARCH

Q. Who can do Action Research?
A. You can.

Q. What is it?
A. It’s a way of finding out how you can improve what you are doing for your benefit and the benefit of your pupils.

Q. How does it work?
A. Let’s call it ‘Seven Steps To Heaven’.

Step One:	What is it you would like to improve? Isolate that.
Step Two:	Imagine a solution to it.
Step Three:	Do it.
Step Four:	Observe it in action. Collect data etc.
Step Five:	Evaluate where you’ve got to.
Step Six:	Modify/continue.
Step Seven:	Write it up for others involved to evaluate. 

Q. Action Research. Research? Sounds a bit academic to me, the sort of thing university lecturers get up to. Am I getting it wrong?
A. It is both intellectually demanding and immensely practical. It might also be relevant to university lecturers who are trying to improve their practice for the benefit of their students, but the main focus of it is for teachers in schools, who can decide what it is they want to improve, go about doing it, evaluating it, and then sharing their newly acquired insights with others.

Q. What’s the hardest part of Action Research?
A. That’s a difficult one! I think it obviously depends on your line of enquiry, but in my experience finding your initial question can be pretty tough.

Q. How do I go about it, then?
A. Find somewhere comfortable. Go with Jack Whitehead’s ‘Action Research Planner’ tucked under one arm, and if possible a critical friend tucked under the other! Think about one thing that you would like to work on that is manageable. This is hard, because as you will find out, each thing you come up with probably has half a dozen other things tagging along in a block. Try to hone it down though. Talking it through with a critical friend is really helpful here. S/he needs to try to make sure that there are no ambiguities in what you are planning to do.

Q. I’m a busy teacher. How am I supposed to fit all this in, let alone everything else I am trying to do?
A. I’m not going to say it doesn’t take time, but look at the seven steps above. How many of those are you doing already? A fair few, I bet. What Action Research tries to do is to approach the matter of professional improvement with your practice in the classroom in a systematic way, so that you can say: I’ve succeeded in that. I’ve done it, and I can prove it! And you have improved your practice for the benefit of the learners in your classrooms.

Q. That’s all very well, but the mechanics of it worry me. I’ve got 28 pupils in my 10th year G.C.S.E. English group, for example. Imagine I want to work on something in relation to that class. Are you saying that I have to teach that class, isolate one concern, collect data on it, talk to a critical friend (see later) do all my lesson plans, attend all my meetings, do all the paperwork, organise all my fourth and fifth year examination work, do all the marking, see parents, go on courses, teach all my other classes, and still find the time and energy to undertake an action enquiry?
A. I can only answer that people have reported feeling empowered by undertaking Action Research. I’ve felt that myself. It gives us new insights into what we are doing, informs all of our practice, not just a part of it, and enables us to improve the quality of learning for our pupils. Yes, it does take systematic organisation over time, but the benefits of it are enormous. Consider Greendown Community School in Swindon. They have adopted a whole school policy on Action Research, that all their meetings, policy-decisions, staff development will be run on such a basis. And for over two years now they have had an active research group of nine people who meet fortnightly to discuss progress in an individual’s enquiry. The Headteacher is a member of the group but he does not run it. It is chaired by another member. These staff must feel it is particularly worthwhile if they are doing all this. Having talked to some of them, they appear to feel that the process is immensely valuable. So the answer to your question in a nutshell is, yes it takes time, but all professional development takes time, but it appears to be worth it for both you and your pupils, and by extension, the profession as a whole.

Q. What sort of data do I have to collect?
A. Whatever you can manage. Tape-recording, videoing, notes, journal-writing, interviews, pupils’/colleagues’ observations and comments. There’s a wide spectrum, and you have to do what is manageable. If you collect data over time you can start seeing a progression in your research, and then make claims about the validity of what you are doing. Only ever collect material that is entirely relevant to what you are trying to look at, otherwise you’ll suffer from that mysterious ailment, ‘data overload’ which can be fatal! A critical friend can be very useful in this whole exercise of gathering evidence. S/he can also have an overview of the whole process you are going through and that can be illuminating.

Q. What is a critical friend for?
A. S/he stands between you and bias. S/he’s there to act as a sounding board, and someone who will try to listen and encourage your point of view, but also to challenge you when you are inconsistent. 

Q. Who is the critical friend?
A. Anyone you choose. It has to be someone you feel comfortable with, and with whom you can perhaps reveal weaknesses in your practice without feeling humiliated or apprehensive. Someone you trust, in other words.

Q. I don’t mind this thinking of a concern and then imagining a solution, putting it into action and then evaluating it perhaps with a ‘critical friend’ because I think I’m doing at least some of that already, and this just seems a bit more systematic and rigorous. But I’m not at all sure about the writing part. Do I have to do it? I don’t like writing.
A. Writing is an integral part of the process, because through writing, like in a journal for example, you can keep tabs on your ideas, and later on even show it as proof of development. At the end you need to do a write-up to round it all off or to help you before progressing to another enquiry cycle and this you might need to show to your critical friend, or other colleagues whom you’ve drafted in to help, or even to pupils. They will then have the chance to see whether what you have written fits with their ideas of what went on. It’s all part of the research process, but for all that the writing doesn’t have to be very long. 
It has another purpose as well, I think, and that is that teachers have so much expert knowledge, and write-ups can add to that knowledge even if only locally. Teachers face many similar concerns in the classroom. For example, one of the concerns that I often see explored is how best to reach each individual or particular individuals in a mixed-ability class. Such Reports may help to inform the practice of your colleagues as well as yourself.

Q. How will I know when I’ve finished?
A. At the very beginning of your research you will stipulate what you want an end result to look like, and when you get there, you stop. However you may find that the focus of your research changes mid-stream due to the development of your insight as things progress. This is fine, and almost par for the course, so set yourself a new set of targets, document the reasons for the change and carry on until you’ve reached your new target(s).

Q. Can you give me an idea of the sorts of questions people ask?
A. They vary tremendously, but here are a few:

- How do I ensure that Group X in my tenth year C.D.T. class use the equipment with more respect?

- How do I improve the quality of my ninth year French lesson on a Friday afternoon?

- How can I arrange the furniture in my room so that Gary and Tom are focused more on the tasks I am setting them?

- How can I encourage a better quality of oral participation by the girls during class discussion in my eleventh year G.C.S.E. English Group?

- How can I introduce lessons better with my eighth year History group so that they understand what is required of them?

- I would like a wider variety of responses in writing with my seventh year Science group because I believe that they learn better through creative writing than through the more standard approaches. How can I facilitate this?

- How can I improve the quality of homework from my fifth year R.E. group?

- How can I improve the quality of the way I work with my Learning Support teacher?

- How do I help X fit in to her new class?

- How can I as Head of Department improve the participation of some of the staff who seem reluctant to take part during meetings?

- How can I as a Head of Year stimulate more interest in a Standard Tutorial Programme across the tutor groups?

- As a Headteacher how can I improve parent participation at X event?

So as you see, there is an infinite variety. Action Research has methods to follow, but you set the criteria. You call the shots! 

Q. Who decides what I should be researching on?
A. You do. In the final analysis you have to decide because you are yourself one of the focuses of research. Look at the questions above. There is an ‘I’ in every one. That’s vitally important. Who you are, affects what you do and how you act in the classroom. That is part of the area of study.

Q. But what if it says in the S.D.P. (School Development Plan - every school has one in Avon, for example) that it’s all about teaching and learning styles this year, isn’t that stipulating over my head what I might want to look into?
A. Tell me about some issue in the classroom that cannot be fitted under the heading of teaching and learning! And there is nothing to stop the individual teacher taking on an Action Research enquiry in the classroom that is an integral part of her/his classroom strategies at that time. Of course it gathers momentum when it is part of a wider sphere of activity within the school. It can be hard to be/feel isolated.

EPILOGUE

  Action Research is clearly not an easy undertaking. It requires commitment, a critical openness, a sense of the importance of the individual learner, a desire to improve what one is doing, and a belief that the teaching and learning can be improved. An Action Researcher needs to be flexible and prepared to learn from experience and/or failure. It would seem to me, however, that the exacting nature of an action enquiry is a sound preparation for a career in which the above virtues are a prerequisite to the job of teaching itself.

  I believe that there is a profound correlation between good teaching and critical self-knowledge. By good teaching I mean the activity that facilitates learners into a greater understanding and ultimately a practical wisdom, about themselves and the world in which they find themselves and of ways in which they can act in that world to improve it. And I think that it is important for teachers to be able to perceive their own strengths and weaknesses and to be prepared to face and act upon the responsibilities that this knowledge incurs.
  
  It is clear to me this year that much progress has been made here at Bath in the students’ Final Reports in terms of their depth, range and impact. They will be a source of great stimulus for the students in 1992-1993 and beyond in the work Jack Whitehead and I are trying to promote with teachers and student teachers as researchers into their own practice. I hope that you will find this Guide and Justine’s Report which follows, of benefit to you as you follow through your own enquiries, and come to share them with others. In all your endeavours I wish you success, insights, improvements and a sense of humour! 

  I think it is vital that we stimulate this diverse and profound source of insights for the improvement of the learning both of the students and their pupils in whatever educational settings they find themselves. By sharing the work we do in teaching we can enrich and deepen our own abilities in the workplace and the quality of learning possible. In addition we can begin to refute, with evidence, the dominant received wisdom that teachers are mere recipients of the ideas of others and not makers of their own meanings which must be implicit in an activity which demands social justice, parity of opportunity and respect for individuals. I believe that Action Research offers the teaching profession a way forward for the future of humanity.

FURTHER READING

Elliott, J., (1989), ‘The Professional Learning of Teachers,  Cambridge Journal Of Education, 19, 81 -83.

Hustler., D., Cassidy, T., & Cuff, T., (ed), (1986), “Action Research in Classrooms and Schools”,  Allen and Unwin, London.

Kemmis, S., & McTaggart, R., (1982), “The Action Research Planner”, Deakin University Press.

Lomax, P. (1989) The Management of Change. B.E.R.A. Dialogues, No. 1. Multilingual Matters.

Lomax, P. (1990) Managing Staff Development in Schools: an action research approach. BERA Dialogues No.3, Multilingual Matters.

Lomax, P. (1991) Managing better schools and colleges: the action research way. BERA Dialogues No.5. Multilingual Matters.

McNiff, J. (1988), “Action Research: Principles and Practice”,  Macmillan, London.

McNiff, J., (1992), “Creating a Good Social Order Through Action Research”,  Hyde Publications, Poole, Dorset.

Whitehead, A.J., (1989a), ‘Creating a Living Educational Theory from Questions of the kind, ‘How do I Improve my Practice”,  Cambridge Journal of Education, 19, 41-52.

Additional useful texts produced since the writing of this Guide:

Laidlaw, M., (1994), ‘The Democratising Potential of Dialogical Focus in an Action Enquiry’, in Educational Action Research, an International Journal, Vol. 2 no. 2, pp 223-247.

McNiff, J., (1995), ‘Action Research for Professional Development’, Hyde Publications, Dorset.

Russell, T., & Korthagen, F., (eds.) (1995), ‘Teachers who Teach Teachers: Reflections on Teacher Education’, Falmer Press, London, Washington.

Whitehead, A.J., (1993), ‘The Growth of Educational Knowledge’, Hyde Publications, Dorset.