Flyer for Jack Whitehead's and Marie Huxtable's 2024 book on 'Living Educational Theory Research as an Epistemology for Practice: The role of values in practitioners' professional development'

Flyer for Jacqueline Delong's and Jack Whitehead's 2023 book on 'You and Your Living-Educational-Theory: How to conduct a values-based inquiry for human flourishing'

Free copy of Jack Whitehead's 2018 book on Living Educational Theory (Living Theory) As A Way of Life

Free copy of Jack Whitehead's 1993 book on The Growth Of Educational Knowledge - Creating Your Own Living Educational Theories

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A Living Educational Theory Research approach to professional development focuses attention on the experiences and implications of living values that carry hope for the flourishing of humanity. These values are the life-affirming and life-enhancing values that give meaning and purpose to the researcher’s professional life. They are clarified as they emerge in the course of researching questions such as, ‘How am I improving what I am doing?’ They form the explanatory principles and standards by which improvements in both practice and knowledge-creation are judged.

The approach stresses the importance of extending the influence of these ontological and relational, embodied values and understandings in explanations of educational influence. The relationally dynamic values are influenced by ecological perspectives. In a Living Educational Theory Research approach to professional practice, individuals hold themselves to account by producing valid, evidence-based and values-laden explanations as their living-educational-theories. of their living-educational theories: that is ‘explanations of their educational influences in their own learning, the learning of others and the learning of social formations, in enquiries of the kind, 'How am I improving what I am doing?'with values of human flourishing’(Whitehead, 1989).

A Living Educational Theory Researcher can use insights from a range of methodologies, methods and theories, such as Action Research, Narrative Enquiry, Self-Study, Participatory Research, Autoethnography, Ethnography, Grounded Theory, Critical Theory and Case Study, as well as various quantitative methods. Researchers new to Living Educational Theory Research might create and submit a living-poster and browse through the Archive of the Educational Journal of Living Theories (EJOLTs). Do please remember that action-reflection cycles are transformed into living-educational-theories by the necessary condition of generating and sharing a valid, evidence-based and values-laden explanation of educational influences in one's own learning in the learning of others and in the learning of the social formations within which the practice is located, with values of human flourishing.

For tutors and practitioner researchers on masters degree programmes interested in classroom research that generates and shares living-educational-theories see for a Living Edational Theory Research Action Planner. See also the Master's Writings.

For Living Educational Theory Research continuing professional development Programmes (CPD) see Living Values, Improving Practice Co-operatively and Joy Mounter's 2024 doctorate on 'A Living Educational Theory Research Approach to Continuing Professional Development in Education'

For supervisors and Living Educational Theory Researchers on doctoral programmes interested in research methodologies see Doctoral Writings

For those wanting to develop their support for doctoral and masters researchers and looking for further references try here

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Jack Whitehead, Visiting Professor of Education, University of Cumbria, UK & Extraordinary Professor in Community-Based Educational Research at North West University, South Africa. E-mail me at jack@livingtheory.org