Educators
as action researchers
Schön
(1987) talks about professionals being researchers
in the practice context. As Bogdan and Biklen (1992:
223) put it, research is a frame of mind a
perspective people take towards objects and activities.
For them, and for us here, it is something that we can all
undertake. It isnt confined to people with long and
specialist training. It involves (Stringer
1999: 5):
A problem to be investigated.
A process of enquiry
Explanations that enable people to understand
the nature of the problem
Within
the action
research tradition there have been two basic orientations.
The British tradition - especially that linked to
education - tends to view action research as research oriented
toward the enhancement of direct practice. For example,
Carr and Kemmis provide a classic definition:
Action
research is simply a form of self-reflective enquiry undertaken
by participants in social situations in order to improve
the rationality and justice of their own practices, their
understanding of these practices, and the situations in
which the practices are carried out (Carr and Kemmis 1986:
162).
The
second tradition, perhaps more widely approached within
the social welfare field - and most certainly the broader
understanding in the USA - is of action research as 'the
systematic collection of information that is designed to
bring about social change' (Bogdan and Biklen 1992: 223).
Bogdan and Biklen continue by saying that its practitioners
marshal evidence or data to expose unjust practices or environmental
dangers and recommend actions for change. It has been linked
into traditions of citizens action and community organizing,
but in more recent years has been adopted by workers in
very different fields.
In
many respects, this distinction mirrors one we have already
been using between programme evaluation and practice
evaluation. In the latter, we may well set out to explore
a particular piece of work. We may think of it as a case
study a detailed examination of one setting, or a
single subject, a single depository of documents, or one
particular event (Merriam 1988). We can explore what we
did as educators: what were our aims and concerns; how did
we act; what were we thinking and feeling and so on? We
can look at what may have been going on for other participants;
the conversations and interactions that took place; and
what people may have learnt and how this may have affected
their behaviour. Through doing this we can develop our abilities
as connoisseurs and critics. We can enhance what we are
able to take into future encounters.
When
evaluating a programme or project we may ask other participants
to join with us to explore and judge the processes they
have been involved in (especially if we are concerned with
a more dialogical approach to evaluation). Our concern is
to collect information, to reflect upon it, and to make
some judgements as to the worth of the project or programme,
and how it may be improved. This takes us into the realm
of what a number of writers have called community-based
action research. We have set out one example of this below.
Stringer
on community-based action research
A
fundamental premise of community-based action research
is that it commences with an interest in the problems
of a group, a community, or an organization. Its
purpose is to assist people in extending their understanding
of their situation and thus resolving problems that
confront them
.
Community-based
action research is always enacted through an explicit
set of social values. In modern, democratic social
contexts, it is seen as a process of inquiry that
has the following characteristics:
It is democratic, enabling the participation
of all people.
It is equitable, acknowledging peoples
equality of worth.
It is liberating, providing freedom from
oppressive, debilitating conditions.
It is life enhancing, enabling the expression
of peoples full human potential.
(Stringer
1999: 9-10)
The
action research process
Action
research works through three basic phases:
Look
- building a picture and gathering information.
When evaluating we define and describe the problem
to be investigated and the context in which it is
set. We also describe what all the participants
(educators, group members, managers etc.) have been
doing.
Think
interpreting and explaining. When evaluating
we analyse and interpret the situation. We reflect
on what participants have been doing. We look at
areas of success and any deficiencies, issues or
problems.
Act
resolving issues and problems. In evaluation
we judge the worth, effectiveness, appropriateness,
and outcomes of those activities. We act to formulate
solutions to any problems.
(Stringer
1999: 18; 43-44;160)
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We
could contrast with a more traditional, banking, style of
research in which an outsider (or just the educators working
on their own) collect information, organize it, and come
to some conclusions as to the success or otherwise of the
work.
Some issues when evaluating
informal education
In
recent years informal educators have been put under great
pressure to provide output indicators, qualitative
criteria, objective success measures and
adequate assessment criteria. Those working
with young people have been encouraged to show how young
people have developed personally and socially through
participation. We face a number of problems when asked
to approach our work in such ways. As we have already seen,
our way of working as informal educators places us within
a more dialogical framework. Evaluating our work in a more
bureaucratic and less inclusive fashion may well compromise
or cut across our work.
There
are also some basic practical problems. Here we explore
four particular issues identified by Jeffs and Smith (1999:
75-6) with respect to programme or project evaluations.
The
problem of multiple influences. The different things
that influence the way people behave cant be easily
broken down. For example, an informal educator working with
a project to reduce teen crime on two estates might notice
that the one with a youth club open every weekday evening
has less crime than the estate without such provision. But
what will this variation, if it even exists, prove? It could
be explained, as research has shown, by differences in the
ethos of local schools, policing practices, housing, unemployment
rates, and the willingness of people to report offences.
The
problem of indirect impact. Those who may
have been affected by the work of informal educators are
often not easily identified. It may be possible to list
those who have been worked with directly over a period of
time. However, much contact is sporadic and may even take
the form of a single encounter. The indirect impact is just
about impossible to quantify. Our efforts may result in
significant changes in the lives of people we do not work
with. This can happen as those we work with directly develop.
Consider, for example, how we reflect on conversations that
others recount to us, or ideas that we acquire second- or
third-hand. Good informal education aims to achieve a ripple
effect. We hope to encourage learning through conversation
and example and can only have a limited idea of what the
true impact might be.
The
problem of evidence. Change can rarely be monitored
even on an individual basis. For example, informal educators
who focus on alcohol abuse within a particular group can
face an insurmountable problem if challenged to provide
evidence of success. They will not be able to measure use
levels prior to intervention, during contact or subsequent
to the completion of their work. In the end all the educator
will be able to offer, at best, is vague evidence relating
to contact or anecdotal material.
The
problem of timescale. Change of the sort with which
informal educators are concerned does not happen overnight.
Changes in values, and the ways that people come to appreciate
themselves and others, are notoriously hard to identify
- especially as they are happening. What may seem ordinary
at the time can, with hindsight, be recognized as special.
There
are two classic routes around such practical problems. We
can use both as informal educators.
The
first is to undertake the sort of participatory action research
we have been discussing here. When setting up and running programmes
and projects we can build in participatory research and
evaluation from the start. We make it part of our way of
working. Participants are routinely invited and involved
in evaluation. We encourage them to think about the processes
they have been participating in, the way in which they have
changed and so on. This can be done in ways that fit in
with the general run of things that we do as informal educators.
The
second route is to make linkages between our own activities
as informal educators and the general research literature.
An example here is group or club membership. We may find
it very hard to identify the concrete benefits for individuals
from being member of a particular group such as a football
team or social club. What we can do, however, is to look
to the general research on such matters. We know, for example,
that involvement in such groups builds social capital.
We have evidence that:
In
those countries where the state invested most in cultural
and sporting facilities young people responded by investing
more of their own time in such activities (Gauthier and
Furstenberg 2001).
The
more involved people are in structured leisure activities,
good social contacts with friends, and participation in
the arts, cultural activities and sport, the more likely
they are to do well educationally, and the less likely
they are to be involved even in low-level delinquency
(Larson and Verma 1999).
There appears to be a strong relationship
between the possession of social capital
and better health. As a rough rule of thumb, if
you belong to no groups but decide to join one, you cut
your risk of dying over the next year in half.
If you smoke and belong to no groups, its a toss-up
statistically whether you should stop smoking or start
joining (ibid.: 331). Regular club attendance, volunteering,
entertaining, or church attendance is the happiness equivalent
of getting a college degree or more than doubling your
income. Civic connections rival marriage and affluence
as predictors of life happiness (Putnam 2000: 333).
This approach can work where there is some
freedom in the way that you can respond to funders and others
with regard to evaluation. Where you are forced to fill
in forms that require the answers to certain set questions
we can still use the evaluations that we have undertaken
in a participatory manner and there may even be room
to bring in some references to the broader literature. The
key here is to remember that we are educators and
that we have a responsibility foster learning, not only
among those we work with in a project or programme,
but also among funders, managers and policymakers. We need
to view their requests for information as opportunities
to work at deepening their appreciation and understanding
of informal education and the issues and questions with
which we work.
A model for evaluative practice
We
can now turn to the sorts of questions that we could be
asking about our practice and the pieces of work we undertake.
Here we can look at some the key questions identified by
Jeffs and Smith (1999).
Jeffs
and Smith on evaluating informal education
By
considering the following dimensions - and how they
relate to each other - we can begin to judge or
value events and experiences. We do this by looking
to our understanding of what makes for human flourishing
and our role. We then have some basis upon which
to make decisions about our next step or to plan
strategies.
Interactions. What are the
characteristics of these? What purposes did they
serve? What initiated them? To what extent were
they educative? Are they sustained? Do they reflect
the sort of values we are seeking to encourage?
Focus. What issues and topics
form the focus for conversation? Which of these
are initiated by us, and which by others? What are
the most common subjects or concerns?
Setting. Where is the work
undertaken? What physical settings best stimulate
conversation? What is the impact of the setting
upon subject matter, the nature of those worked
with, and the quality of interaction?
Aims. What were we as educators
aiming to achieve? What were the aims of others?
Were there conflicts between the two?
Strategies. How did we, as
educators, plan to achieve our aims? Who set these?
What moves did we make? How, if at all, were they
altered and who influenced this? What strategies
did others have? How did they change?
Outcomes. Were outcomes set,
and if so by whom? What appeared to be the outcome
for different participants? What did we learn from
our engagement? Are there issues and questions we
need to address? Who needs to know about this?
(Jeffs
and Smith 1999: 77 )
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When
exploring these questions we need to be mindful of our values
and commitments as informal educators. In particular, we
need to invite those we are working with to explore such
questions.
Conclusion
The
purpose of evaluation, as Everitt et al (1992: 129) is to
reflect critically on the effectiveness of personal and
professional practice. It is to contribute to the development
of good rather than correct practice.
Missing
from the instrumental and technicist ways of evaluating
teaching are the kinds of educative relationships that permit
the asking of moral, ethical and political questions about
the rightness of actions. When based upon educative
(as distinct from managerial) relations, evaluative practices
become concerned with breaking down structured silences
and narrow prejudices. (Gitlin and Smyth 1989: 161)
Evaluation
is not primarily about the counting and measuring of things.
It entails valuing and to do this we have to develop
as connoisseurs and critics. We have also to ensure that
this process of looking, thinking and acting
is participative.
Further
reading and references
For
the moment I have listed some guides to evaluation. At a
later date I will be adding in some more contextual material
concerning evaluation in informal education.
Berk,
R. A. and Rossi, P. H. (1990) Thinking About Program Evaluation,
Newbury Park: Sage. 128 pages. Clear introduction with chapters
on key concepts in evaluation research; designing programmes;
examining programmes (using a chronological perspective).
Useful US annotated bibliography.
Eisner,
E. W. (1985) The Art of Educational Evaluation. A personal
view, Barcombe: Falmer. 272 + viii pages. Wonderful collection
of material around scientific curriculum making and its
alternatives. Good chapters on Eisner's championship of
educational connoisseurship and criticism. Not a cookbook,
rather a way of orienting oneself.
Eisner,
E. W. (1998) The Enlightened Eye. Qualitative inquiry and
the enhancement of educational practice, Upper Saddle River,
NJ: Prentice Hall. 264 + viii pages. Re-issue of a 1990
classic in which Eisner plays with the ideas of educational
connoisseurship and educational criticism. Chapters explore
these ideas, questions of validity, method and evaluation.
An introductory chapter explores qualitative thought and
human understanding and final chapters turn to ethical tensions,
controversies and dilemmas; and the preparation of qualitative
researchers.
Everitt,
A. and Hardiker, P. (1996) Evaluating for Good Practice,
London: Macmillan. 223 + x pages. Excellent introduction
that takes care to avoid technicist solutions and approaches.
Chapters examine purposes; facts, truth and values; measuring
performance; a critical approach to evaluation; designing
critical evaluation; generating evidence; and making judgements
and effecting change.
Patton,
M. Q. (1997) Utilization-Focused Evaluation. The new century
text 3e, Thousand Oaks, Ca.: Sage. 452 pages. Claimed to
be the most comprehensive review and integration of the
literature on evaluation. Sections focus on evaluation use;
focusing evaluations; appropriate methods; and the realities
and practicalities of utilization-focused evaluation.
Rossi,
P. H. and Freeman, H. (1993) Evaluation. A systematic approach
5e, Newbury Park, Ca.: Sage. 488 pages. Practical guidance
from diagnosing problems through to measuring and analysing
programmes. Includes material on formative evaluation procedures,
practical ethics, and cost-benefits.
Stringer,
E. T. (1999) Action Research 2e, Thousand Oaks, CA.:
Sage. 229 + xxv pages. Useful discussion of community-based
action research directed at practitioners.
References
Bogden,
R. and Biklen, S. K. (1992) Qualitative Research For Education,
Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Carr,
W. and Kemmis, S. (1986) Becoming Critical. Education, knowledge
and action research, Lewes: Falmer.
Freire, P. (1972) Pedagogy of the Oppressed,
London: Penguin.
Gauthier,
A. H. and Furstenberg, F. F. (2001) Inequalities in
the use of time by teenagers and young adults in K.
Vleminckx and T. M. Smeeding (eds.) Child Well-being, Child
Poverty and Child Policy in Modern Nations Bristol: Policy
Press.
Gitlin, A. and Smyth, J. (1989) Teacher
Evaluation. Critical education and transformative alternatives,
Lewes: Falmer Press.
Jeffs,
T. and Smith, M. (eds.) (1990) Using
Informal Education, Buckingham: Open University Press.
Jeffs
and Smith, M. K. (1999) Informal Education. Conversation,
democracy and learning, Ticknall: Education Now Books.
Larson,
R. W. and Vera, A. (1999) How children and adolescents
spend time across the world: work, play and developmental
opportunities Psychological Bulletin 125(6).
Merriam, S. B. (1988) Case Study Research
in Education, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Putman,
R. D. (2000) Bowling Alone: The collapse and revival of
American community, New York: Simon and Schuster.
Rubin, F. (1995) A Basic Guide to Evaluation
for Development Workers, Oxford: Oxfam.
Schön, D. A. (1983) The Reflective Practitioner.
How professionals think in action, London: Temple Smith.
Mark
K. Smith
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