Cultural Historical Activity Theory Research Articles

Change Laboratory Workshops as Tools for Improving Learner Leadership in Schools: A Researcher-Interventionist Approach

The purpose of this study was to engage learners and teachers with the aim of developing leadership potential and improving the leadership capacity and capabilities of the learner leaders through mainly Change Laboratory Workshops, which were conducted with the Learner Representative Council (LRC) members, at a public secondary school in the Oshana Region, Namibia. The study was guided by the following main question: How can learner leadership structure be improved in schools? The researchers used a researcher-interventionist approach to implement measures for improving learner leadership, guided by the ideals of the Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT), as a theoretical lens through which the researchers made interventions for improving learner leadership at school. Empirically, the study made use of a qualitative research methodology carried out through a case study design. The population consisted of teachers and learners of the case study school. The data was collected by questionnaires, interviews, document analysis, observation and journaling. The data was analysed thematically, interpreted and discussed inductively.

Is ‘co’ in coworking a short for contradictions?

PurposeBuilding on the existing literature and on a series of interviews conducted in very diverse coworking spaces, this article attempts at analyzing coworking by focusing on the historical evolution and heterogeneity of its interpretations, as well as the plurality of its realization in practice and prospective developments.Design/methodology/approachThe theoretical framework adopted is Cultural Historical Activity Theory – a dialectical approach which allows the study of human activities as historically evolving and complex systems which change under the impulse of their inner contradictions. The analysis presented here starts with an overview of the history of the theoretical elaborations and discussions of coworking. The authors then focus on the experiences and interpretations of this phenomenon as conveyed by coworkers and coworking managers in the north of Italy – one of the most active coworking areas in Europe.FindingsCoworking first emerged as a way of promoting forms of work and organization that require simultaneous, multidirectional, and reciprocal work, as understood in contrast to forms that incorporate an established division of labor, demarcated communities, and formal and informal sets of rules. However, with time, coworking has evolved toward novel directions, giving rise to heterogeneous interpretations of it. Inquiry constitutes a deeper investigation of the heterogeneity of coworking. The take-away message here is that the prefix co- in coworking can be interpreted, through a play of words, to evoke multiple positions and views conveying internal contradictions.Originality/valueThe historical overview of coworking shows a strong differentiation and multisided interpretation of this phenomenon along two dimensions of historical development, namely, social and business, and outward and inward. The qualitative analysis of the interviews traces the different lived interpretations and conceptions of coworking. The analysis confirms, on the one hand, the complexity and heterogeneity described in the literature, and on the other hand, it enriches the literature by depicting the contradictory nature of the phenomenon, including how the historical and inner tensions of coworking are dynamically evolving in the concrete experiences reported by the managers and users in the coworking spaces.

Insights provided into the decolonisation of the science curriculum, and teaching and learning of indigenous knowledge, using Cultural-Historical Activity Theory

This article explores the budding scholarship related to the decolonisation of the South African curriculum, by making use of third-generation Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) as a lens. In the article the authors advocate for the use of indigenous knowledge as a vehicle for curriculum transformation. The article has a binomial nature, in so far that the first section considers the decolonisation of the higher education curriculum through the infusion of indigenous knowledge, by making use of CHAT. The last section reflects on empirical findings of a teacher professional development (TPD) intervention related to epistemological border-crossing between indigenous knowledge and natural sciences. CHAT is especially valuable in indigenous knowledge (IK) research, due to its emphasis on both cultural and historical contexts. In-service natural sciences teachers were assisted in their professional development to better contextualise the school curriculum for culturally diverse learners, through the infusion of indigenous knowledge. The findings reveal that there are tensions between the intended and realised curriculum, and that teacher professional development does not necessarily lead to the transfer of knowledge and skills in the classroom. Using indigenous knowledge as a vehicle to decolonise the curriculum, holds affordances for the rediscovery and appreciation of people’s own history, culture, language and identity.

Inclusive knowledge production at an elementary school through family-school-university partnerships: A formative intervention study

Students from racially minoritized backgrounds have been disproportionately subject to exclusionary school discipline in the United States. Utilizing cultural-historical activity theory and the formative intervention methodology, we conducted a yearlong formative intervention, Learning Lab , in an elementary school with significant racial disproportionality in school discipline. Teachers, family members, administrators, support staff, and community members with diverse and often opposing histories and goals worked together to critically examine their existing behavioral support system and racial disparities in practices, assumptions, processes, and outcomes from multiple perspectives. We utilized the method of expansive learning actions to analyze qualitative data from ten subsequent sessions. Our findings showed that local stakeholders successfully formed and sustained a diverse working group that represented families, educators, researchers, and community members. Learning Lab members worked collaboratively to question their existing school practices and to examine the root causes of racial disproportionality through historical and empirical analyses. We discuss both possibilities and challenges regarding inclusive knowledge production and the systemic transformation process at local schools.

“You detain yourself if you detain children”: Educators’ perceptions of detention as an alternative to corporal punishment

Detention as a method of disciplining children in South African schools has been mandated by the post-apartheid legislative abolition of corporal punishment. Educators have traditionally used corporal punishment to discipline children since the inception of schooling in colonial times. In this article I report on a qualitative case study conducted in the Mpumalanga province, South Africa, where 26 educators participated in the study. Observations and key stakeholder interviews in line with the Cultural Historical Activity Theory were used to explore primary school educators’ transition from using corporal punishment to using alternative forms of punishment, with specific reference to detention. Findings suggest that educators view detention as contradictory to the objectives of schooling, cumbersome in application, contextually irrelevant, and ineffective.

Knowledge, competencies and dispositions of lecturers in Technical Engineering in the context of advancing 4IR technologies

The advent of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) affirms that the transformation and advancement of all industries and society are progressively driven by emergent and rapidly changing technologies. In order to help establish a technologically literate society, it is crucial for lecturers in Technical Engineering to stay abreast of the latest trends and technological advancements in their area of specialisation. This article reports on the findings of a sub-section of a nationwide survey that collected data from lecturers in Technical Engineering at 52 TVET college campuses across South Africa (n = 577) that offer TVET Engineering Study programmes. The purpose of the survey was to profile TVET Engineering Study lecturers’ knowledge and pedagogical practices in engineering programmes across South Africa. The sub-section of the survey specifically probed the participants’ awareness and understanding of discipline-specific technological advancements and digital educational enterprises, and also the potential impact of these on teaching technical subjects. The findings show that 52,3% (n = 302) of the participating lecturers in Technical Engineering are unaware of any technological advancements in their area of specialisation and that they do not know what the potential impact of this might be on future technical training. When Engeström’s Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT model) is applied to the activity systems that are involved, the underlying tension between these systems is revealed. This article examines the possible implications of these findings for the renewal of the Technical Engineering curriculum, considering that these lecturers demonstrate limited awareness of the technological advancements needed to participate effectively in the 4IR era.

CHAT framework to study affordances in CALL environments

This paper proposes to explore the theory of affordances in the light of cultural historical activity theory (CHAT) to study affordances in complex Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) environments. The term ‘affordance’ designates an action possibility that is offered by an environment or an object to an actor in the environment either “for good or ill” (Gibson, 1979). It depends not only on the inherent characteristics of the environment but also on the users’ perception and action capabilities. CALL affordances are said to be a unique combination of social, educational, linguistic, and technological affordances (Blin, 2016a). However, there is limited research to date that looks at affordances from an ecological perspective linking the micro moment-to-moment interaction levels with the macro level within which they are embedded in educational contexts (Blin, 2016a). This paper explores the analytical tools of CHAT (Leontyev, 1978; Engeström, 1987) as particularly suitable to investigate affordances at the macro, meso and micro levels of technology-mediated sociocultural educational contexts in CALL.

Cross-institutional teaching enhancement and distributed leadership: an empirical study informed by activity theory

ABSTRACT Implementing teaching enhancement is especially challenging when undertaken on a large-scale and with a range of participating institutions and stakeholders. This study sought to advance understanding of this under-researched area through cultural-historical activity theory, investigating four government-funded, cross-institutional teaching enhancement projects over a three-year period. Analysis of documentary, interview and survey data showed multiple contradictions within and between the activity systems representing the projects and the teaching practices in the involved academics’ home departments, which constrained their impact. Through expansive learning cycles, however, the project teams found a way forward through distributed leadership, creatively aligning the project outcomes with institutional or departmental priorities. The distributed leadership practices also nurtured the skills of these academics in leading in their localised departmental settings, bringing about discipline-grounded teaching enhancements.

Toward a Just Leadership Learning Ecology: A CHAT-IT Analysis of the Highlander Idea

Purpose: This paper conceptualizes a just leadership learning ecology through an analysis of one nontraditional site of leadership preparation: the Highlander Research and Education Center (originally founded as the Highlander Folk School). Methodology: Drawing on cultural historical activity theory (CHAT) and institutional theory (IT), we examine the core design and pedagogy of Highlander, which co-founder, Myles Horton, referred to as the “Highlander idea.” Findings: We illustrate how a residential learning and living environment, norms of epistemic humility and democratic decision making, and horizontal teaching and learning roles fostered social justice leadership. This just leadership learning ecology reflected institutions present at the time of Highlander's founding, including cultural scripts rooted in prophetic Christianity, class consciousness, and unfolding social movements in Appalachia and the South. Implications: Our analysis of Highlander extends recent efforts to re-envision the how and who of leadership preparation and addresses the observed lack of coherence within this subfield.

Understanding Agency in Shared Decision Making: A Qualitative Analysis of Clinical Encounters and Patient-Physician Interviews.

Purpose: Shared decision making is highly encouraged in patient-centered care but can be difficult to implement in practice. Although lack of training has been implicated as an obstacle to successful shared decision making, consensus has not been reached about the most effective educational interventions. 1–3 We propose that the coconstruction of clinical decisions is a complex activity, requiring patient and relational agency, and cultural historical activity theory (CHAT) can be used as a framework to help health professions researchers and educators understand and teach shared decision making. 4 The objective of this qualitative study was to use CHAT to explore, through analysis of clinical encounters and focused interviews, both patient and provider perspectives of the contraceptive decision-making process. A better understanding of shared decision making can inform more effective educational interventions for our learners and potentially improve patient outcomes. Approach/Methods : We recruited female patients between the ages of 17 and 45 who used a contraceptive decision aid mobile application (app) before a visit to a walk-in contraceptive clinic. Physicians providing care to these women in the clinic were also recruited. We audio-recorded the clinical encounter and, following the encounter, we conducted semistructured interviews with each patient and physician separately. We used template analysis to analyze the 63 transcripts (interviews and clinical recordings). For each patient, we considered the collection of their interview, the provider’s interview, and the clinical recording as a single case. Analysis was conducted within and across cases. The initial template was created to guide the identification of elements of CHAT, tensions within and between accounts of the patients, physicians and the clinical encounter, and evidence of patient and relational agency. The template was modified iteratively and new themes were defined and codes added into the template. Results/Outcomes: Twenty-one patients and 8 providers participated, creating 21 cases. Evidence of each CHAT element, including subject, object, tool, community, rules, and division of labor, were identified in at least 1 of the 3 transcripts for each patient–physician dyad. For example, “tools” that were used by patients to achieve the object of obtaining a contraceptive method included their knowledge, previous experience, and the app. We also observed the influence of a patient’s partner or occupation on decision making, which was represented by “community.” By comparing the findings of each element between different cases and by examining occurrences of codes across the transcripts, we identified recurring themes, such as how the app is used as a “tool” in facilitating agency or the impact of both the patient’s and the physician’s “community” on shared decision making. Discussion: By analyzing clinical encounters with CHAT, we identified factors and tensions influencing behavior of individual patients and physicians when engaged in a clinical encounter about contraception. Analysis of interactions of the patient and physician activity systems revealed tensions that were resolved over the course of the encounters and allowed for an exploration of the impact of agency in the process. For example, in several cases, it was the role of “tools” and the physician’s awareness of factors such as their own and the patient’s “communities” that promoted successful shared decision making. Educational interventions that address the complexity of co-constructing decisions may result in more effective shared decision making. Significance: By using CHAT to study shared decision making, we can identify important characteristics of educational interventions for health professionals that may lead to enhanced patient agency and successful shared decision making.

“To imagine I almost said ‘no’”: A Reluctant Student’s Transformation Using Challenging Texts

AbstractThis article investigates one undergraduate’s path towards critical literacy around racial inequalities as a result of engaging with, reading, and discussing a challenging children’s novel during a book study with peers. Using Cultural Historical Activity Theory, the author examines the personal and cultural resources the students brought to the experience, the stances she developed while engaging in the book, and the contextual resources that mediated her understanding of racial inequalities. This article further investigates how educators can leverage challenging texts in classrooms to support critical literacy development around societal issues.

Solidarity and Community: Collaborative Learning in Times of Crisis

In his writing on pedology from 1928 to 1931, Vygotsky (1998) discusses how the social environment provides the context and source for human development. During the almost century since, Vygotsky’s ideas have developed to inform our understanding of groups and institutions through Cultural Historical Activity Theory. In this paper we examine the evolution of social structures which have guided development for a community of Vygotskian scholars in the Asia Pacific region over the past two decades and how it has responded to the present crisis. In this time of crisis, where the movement has been from face-to-face to online interaction, our experience of moving between intermittent online to sustained face-to-face meeting, refracted through our understandings of Vygotsky, can inform not only present experience but also help us to think about what new structures and relationships can be created as we move beyond crisis.Electronic Supplementary MaterialThe online version of this article (10.1007/s42087-020-00152-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

The Covid-19 Learning Crisis as a Challenge and an Opportunity for Schools: An Evidence Review and Conceptual Synthesis of Research-Based Tools for Sustainable Change

This paper advances our understanding of how schools can become change agents capable of transforming local practice to address the challenges arising from the Covid-19 pandemic. It presents a novel application of cultural-historical activity theory to reinterpret evidence on widespread learning loss and increasing educational inequities resulting from the pandemic, and to identify scalable transformative learning opportunities through reframing the crisis as a double stimulation. By reviewing evidence of the emerging educational landscape, we first develop a picture of the new ‘problem space’ upon which schools must act. We develop a problem space map to serve as the first stimulus to articulate local challenges. Integrating this problem space with research on professional change, we identify conceptual tools to capture learning gaps and implement pedagogic interventions at scale, in order to enhance schools’ agency in directly addressing the crisis. These tools can act as the second stimulus, enabling educators to address local challenges. We conclude by discussing the Covid-19 educational crisis as a unique stimulus for professional learning and outline the potential for durable shifts in educational thinking and practice beyond the pandemic. We argue that this unprecedented historic disruption can be harnessed as a transformative professional learning opportunity. In particular, we consider how research on professional change offers local, scalable interventions and tools that can support educators in preventing the new insights from ‘slipping away’ post-pandemic. Utilising the notions of boundaries and tool-mediated professional change, we examine the ways in which this disruption generates opportunities to envision alternative futures for equitable learning in school.

Understanding coaching efficacy in education through activity systems: privileging the nuances of provision

PurposeThe research demonstrates the role of activity systems based in Cultural Historical Activity Theory as a means of analysing characteristics and efficacy of specific provisions of coaching in education.Design/methodology/approachThree examples of coaching in education were selected, involving 51 schools in England. The three examples were re-analysed using activity systems. This drew on existing evaluation evidence, gathered through interviews, questionnaires, focus groups and recordings of coaching.FindingsIn each example, the object of the coaching was to address a specific challenge to secure the desired quality of education. Using activity systems it is possible to demonstrate that coaching has a range of functions (both intended and consequential). The individual examples illustrate the potential of coaching to support change in complex and diverse education settings.Research limitations/implicationsThe use of existing data from evaluations means that direct comparisons between examples are not made. While data were collected throughout the duration of each coaching programme no follow-up data was available.Practical implicationsThe analysis of the examples of coaching using activity systems provides evidence of the efficacy of specific coaching provision in achieving individually defined objectives related to sustaining and improving specific educational practices.Originality/valueThe research offers insights into how coaching in education might be better tuned to the specific needs of contexts and the challenges experienced by the individuals working in them. In addition, it demonstrates the value of activity systems as an analytical tool to make sense of coaching efficacy.

Designing and evaluating a mobile peer tutoring application: a cultural historical activity theory approach

ABSTRACT This study focuses on university students’ experience of peer tutoring supported by a mobile application called MENTOR (Mobile Education Networked Tutoring On Request) that was developed by the research team. The development of the mobile application was underpinned by theories related to self-directed learning, self-regulated learning, students’ help-seeking behaviors, as well as Vygotsky’s social-cultural learning theory. Using cultural-historical activity theory (CHAT) as the framework, this study examines the affordances of the mobile application, the student’s perception of the application, the uptake of affordances, and the contradictions identified through CHAT. The participants identified tutor’s factors (e.g. tutoring skills) and technological factors (e.g. annotatable canvas) that facilitated the process, and appreciated the affordances of convenience, flexibility, physical safety, and psychological safety of the mobile peer tutoring, especially during the COVID 19 situation. A few contradictions were identified through CHAT, which served as the impetus for improvement. Among these are the novelty of mobile peer tutoring and the lack of cues about turn-taking. Some participants did not understand the requirement to indicate the level of cognitive processing. This study contributes to the design and implementation of mobile technology in supporting peer tutoring, an under-researched topic.

Changing teaching practice: The evolving purpose of the teacher in higher education

In this Editorial, we take the opportunity to expand on the second Journal of University Teaching and Learning theme, Developing Teaching Practice. Building on Editorial 18(4), which articulated changes to higher education in the period roughly between 1980 and 2021, we believe it is pertinent to explore the changing conceptions of academic as ‘teacher’. We use Engeström’s cultural-historical activity theory as a lens to consider how higher education teachers are situated in the current context of rapid changes arising from the COVID-19 pandemic. We explore possible future purposes of higher education to consider flow-on impacts on the purpose of its teachers and how their roles might change to accommodate future expectations. We assert the need to challenge the notion of the academic as a person who is recruited into higher education largely because of their subject matter expertise and maintains strong commitment to teaching expertise that is grounded in scholarship, critical self-reflection, and agency. In our various teaching and leadership roles, and consistent with the literature, we have observed paradoxical outcomes from the nexus between risk, innovation and development, driving risk aversity and risk management, with significant (contradictory) impacts on teaching, teachers and student learning. The barriers to implementing innovative curricula include questions of do students get a standardised and ‘safe’ educational experience or are they challenged and afforded the opportunity to transform and grow? Are they allowed to fail? Related, do teachers have genuine agency, as an educator, or are they positioned as agents of a higher education system? We explore these questions and invite our readers to engage in serious reflexivity and identify strategies that help them question their attitudes, thought processes, and assumptions about teaching and student learning. We welcome papers that contribute values-based conversations seeking to continue exploring ways of dealing with and adapting to change in our teaching practices, case studies of learning through failure, change and adaptation and the development of the field.

The role of qualitative research in Change Laboratory interventions

PurposeThis contribution investigates methodological questions concerning Change Laboratory interventions. It contemplates the research questions: To what extent the Change Laboratory can be situated within the panorama of qualitative inquiry? If so, to what extent can the methods and strategies of inquiry help improve a Change Laboratory intervention?Design/methodology/approachTo answer the first question, this paper makes an overview on key terms of qualitative research; subsequently, it presents the characterising features of the Change Laboratory. Then, it takes a historical perspective and compares the Change Laboratory firstly against action research, and secondly with design experiments. To answer the second section, it examines a case study of Change Laboratory with teachers that the first author facilitated. Next, it displays how trustworthiness was ensured through a thick description and member checks.FindingsThe paper argues that the Change Laboratory is a strategy of inquiry; it aligns with the characteristics of qualitative research, and it follows the agenda of a participative paradigm. Furthermore, the methods and strategies of inquiry such as thick descriptions and member checks, not only can improve rigour and validity of the intervention but also strengthen the outcomes of the Change Laboratory itself.Originality/valueThe Change Laboratory is well defined as a formative method, but not fully understood as an investigative method. Although scholars discussed methodological issues of Cultural Historical Activity Theory in diverse articles, the relationship between the Change Laboratory and qualitative inquiry has remained unclear.

Contradictions and Critical Praxis in Foreign Language Teachers’ Implementation of Reading to Learn

Interest in systemic functional linguistics (SFL) pedagogies has been increasing in language teacher-education research. Few studies, however, have investigated teachers’ resistance when learning SFL pedagogies such as Reading to Learn (R2L).Following cultural-historical activity theory, we conceptualize teachers' resistance as contradictions and describe how resolving those contradictions engages teachers in critical praxis. This praxis helps teachers appropriate R2L in context-sensitive ways, adopting new roles and privileging meaning before form. Implications for SFL-based professional development include acknowledging the cultural, historical, social, and institutional nature of teacher learning and the need for collaborative work that promotes teachers’ motives for action.

Cultural-Historical Activity Theory as a lens in mixed methods research on self-directed learning

Self-directed learning (SDL) has become a sine qua non in a complex twenty-first century, especially in a transformed world during and after the Covid-19 pandemic. In this article, the authors argue that the use of quantitative instruments alone to measure students' SDL is not rigorous enough to draw conclusions on the effectiveness of an intervention in an educational setting over a short period of less than a year. We suggest supplementing the quantitative data with qualitative data, and then utilizing cultural-historical activity theory (CHAT) as a research lens to provide a more nuanced understanding of the intervention and the effect thereof on students' SDL. We propose a model using third-generation CHAT to provide a thick description of the research findings.

The Role of Tolerance Education in Diversity Management: A Cultural Historical Activity Theory Perspective

Tolerance education aims to promote the culture of peace and acceptance of others for well-being and diversity management. Therefore, it is important to create learning environments, content, and facilities for tolerance education in line with the universal values in education. However, little is known about how the literature investigated and summarized the findings related to tolerance education. Therefore, this study conducts a systematic review about this topic, where 75 reviewed studies were analyzed according to the Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) components. Findings highlighted that: (1) from the subject component, future research should involve more stakeholders, like parents and policymakers, when discussing tolerance education; (2) from the object component, tolerance education should not only focus on the physical environment, but also on the virtual environment; (3) from the tools component, limited digital tools and technology have been used to promote tolerance education; (4) from the community component, more investigation of tolerance education should be outside of school contexts; (5) from the rules component, more ICT training should be provided. The use of big data and learning analytics could be one of the potential methods to assess students in tolerance education; (6) from the labor division component, school family interaction role is very important to manage risks and diversities through tolerance education; and (7) from the outcomes component, tolerance education studies should go beyond simply investigating the awareness and attitudes of learners, and investigate, for instance, the behavioral changes of learners. Finally, recommendations were made under each CHAT component.