Perform learning to an audience
Sharing and celebrating successes with colleagues in formalised settings is a vital part of the CRP action research process. This can take the form of teacher-researchers reporting on progress during workshops throughout the year, as well as presenting their research process and findings in an end-of-year research showcase. These sessions offer opportunities to bring together what has been achieved, what has been learnt, to be honest about what didn’t work, to celebrate small successes and to tap into each other’s expertise in an atmosphere of shared professionalism (Morrison et al, 2023; Rigney, 2023a&b, 2024; Sisson et al, 2024).
Sharing learning with colleagues offers what Cochran-Smith and colleagues (2018) have termed a ‘democratic accountability’. This type of accountability is more inclusive, context-sensitive, and focused on the needs of students, educators, and communities.
Performing learning to colleagues and other educationalists becomes an alternative form accountability. The usual structures of accountability use top-down approaches, typically imposed by external authorities such as governments and accrediting bodies. They rely on narrow, technocratic methods, mostly fail to account for diverse socioeconomic factors, cultural differences, and local community needs, and are often punitive in nature with sanctions and penalties for underperformance. This type of accountability can undermine the professional judgment of teachers and the responsiveness of education to diverse student needs. In contrast to dominant forms of accountability, sharing learning with colleagues offers what Cochran-Smith and colleagues (2018) have termed a ‘democratic accountability’. This type of accountability is more inclusive, context-sensitive, and focused on the needs of students, educators, and communities.
Having a chance to share learning also takes seriously the work that teacher-researchers are doing to produce pedagogical knowledge (Hattam, 2024). In relation to the work of students, the Productive Pedagogies approach emphasises the importance of ‘the construction of knowledge (producing, rather than reproducing, meaning and knowledge)’ (Hayes et al, 2006, p. 18). Similarly, for action research, rather than teachers being the recipient of knowledge that has been produced by an ‘expertocracy’ (Grek, 2013, p. 13) far removed from the particularities of their schools and communities, action research enlists teachers as professionals who construct localised knowledges with their students and local communities (Kemmis, McTaggart & Nixon, 2014). It is important that teachers have opportunities to share some of the pedagogical knowledge that they have produced, to generate a collective body of practitioner knowledge that can inform and enrich educational practices across diverse contexts.
It is important that teachers have opportunities to share some of the pedagogical knowledge that they have produced, to generate a collective body of practitioner knowledge that can inform and enrich educational practices across diverse contexts.
This sharing process not only validates teachers’ professional expertise but also creates a dynamic, evolving knowledge base that is grounded in real-world experiences and local realities. By disseminating their findings, teachers contribute to a broader dialogue on educational practices, challenging the traditional top-down model of knowledge dissemination. This approach recognises that valuable insights can emerge from the classroom, acknowledging teachers as both consumers and producers of educational knowledge.
Ultimately, this process of knowledge generation and sharing through action research helps to bridge the gap between theory and practice (See key idea: ‘High intellectual demand’), ensuring that educational research remains relevant, applicable, and responsive to the diverse needs of students and communities. It reinforces the idea of teaching as a dynamic, reflective profession capable of driving meaningful change from within.
References
Cochran-Smith, M., Carney, M. C., Keefe, E. S., Burton, S., Chang, W.-C., Fernandez, M. B., Miller, A. F., Sanchez, J. G., & Baker, M. (2018). Reclaiming accountability in teacher education. Teachers College Press.
Grek, S. (2013). Expert moves: International comparative testing and the rise of expertocracy. Journal of Education Policy, 28(5), 695-709.
Hattam, R. (2024). Toward the knowledge-producing school. In R. Hattam, R. Garrett, & A. Wrench (Eds.), Reimagining just pedagogy.
Hayes, D., Mills, M., Christie, P., & Lingard, R. (2006). Teachers and schooling making a difference: Productive pedagogies, assessment and productive performance. Allen & Unwin.
Kemmis, S., McTaggart, R., & Nixon, R. (2014). The action research planner: Doing critical participatory action research. Springer Science & Business Media.
Morrison, A., Rigney, L.-I., Hattam, R., & Diplock, A. (2023). Advancing culturally responsive pedagogy in an Australian context. In L.-I. Rigney (Ed.), Global perspectives and new challenges in culturally responsive pedagogies: Super-diversity and teaching practice (pp. 211-221).
Routledge.Rigney, L.-I. (2023). On the need for new culturally responsive pedagogies. In L.-I. Rigney (Ed.), Global perspectives and new challenges in culturally responsive pedagogies: Super-diversity and teaching practice (pp. 3-10). Routledge.
Rigney, L.-I. (2023). Teachers cultivating Aboriginal child as knowledge producer: Advancing Australian culturally responsive pedagogies. In L.-I. Rigney (Ed.), Global perspectives and new challenges in culturally responsive pedagogies: Super-diversity and teaching practice (pp. 10- 20). Routledge.
Sisson, J., Rigney, L., Hattam, R., & Morrison, A. (2024). Co-constructed engagement with Australian Aboriginal families in early childhood education. Teachers and Teaching, 1-15.