Walking the popular education spiral - an account and analysis of participatory action research with teacher activists

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article features an account and analysis of a participatory action research (PAR) project that involved the author and five teacher activist co-researchers. This piece has two principal aims. The first is to contribute to practitioners’ knowledge and practice by offering an account of a PAR project, grounded in popular education, that provided a beneficial space for K-12 teacher activists. The second aim is to contribute to the teacher-activist literature by providing an analysis of the perceived benefits of popular education and PAR for participating teacher activists. Benefits included stronger relationships, developed knowledge and skills, emotional benefits, and the novel understanding that teacher activism includes forms of cultural activism. Implications include the notion that PAR may be useful for other teacher activists, and the conventional definition of teacher activism is likely too narrow.