Participation In Educational Research Research Articles

Critical pedagogy and disability in participatory research: a review

Purpose The literature review explores how multidisciplinary approaches based on critical pedagogy and participatory research can provide frameworks for equitable partnerships and genuine participation in educational design and research practices. Additionally, the essay aims to expand understandings of equitable engagement within educational research and design based on principles from critical pedagogy. Design/methodology/approach The essay draws from diverse literature in the learning sciences, health informatics, industrial design, disability studies, ethnic studies, rehabilitation science, and to a lesser extent HCI research to understand how critical pedagogy and participatory research methods can provide useful frameworks for disabled peoples' equitable engagement and genuine participation in educational research and design. The literature reviewed in the paper concern topics such as participatory approaches to community development with disabled adults, the implementation of university-initiated community partnerships, participatory research with students and disabled people, and the importance of culturally-responsive research practices. The design literature in this review explores various arenas such as the co-design of assistive technologies with disabled children and adults and the design of curricula for students with and without disabilities. This review focuses on research practices that engender disabled peoples' participation in educational research and design, with focus on developing multidisciplinary frameworks for such research. Findings The literature review concludes that participatory research methods and critical pedagogy provide useful frameworks for disabled peoples’ participation in educational design and research practices. Critical pedagogy and participatory design allow for the genuine participation of disabled people in the research process. Social implications Emphases on collaboration and collective knowledge-building in social transformation are present in scholarship concerning critical pedagogy, participatory research, and disability studies. However, these connections have been routinely underexplored in the literature. This paper aims to underscore these integral connections as a means to build solidarity between disabled and other marginalized people. Originality/value The connections between participatory research methods, critical pedagogy, and disability studies have been previously underexplored. The literature review proposes a combined approach, which has the potential to radically transform multiple realms of research beyond the learning and information sciences.

Interest of non-university teachers in educational research projects

INTRODUCTION. Educational research is a source of proven information and evidence for improving classroom teaching. The theoretical framework for this study is based on the concept of teacher motivation to engage in educational research. METHOD. This study examined the levels of interest and participation in educational research of a sample of 429 teachers. RESULTS. The results showed that there is a high correlation between all variables (participation, research competencies, motivation, and research knowledge) and three distinct teacher clusters/groups were determined. The first cluster was characterized by a high level of interest in research and active participation in research activities. The second cluster had a moderate level of interest and believed that research was positive and necessary but did not participate in research. Finally, the third cluster had no interest in research and did not participate in research activities. DISCUSSION. These results have important implications for promoting research in the education field and suggest that efforts are needed to specifically engage the teachers who are currently not interested in research or are not involved in research activities.

The Effect of School Organizational Support on Job Satisfaction of Primary and Secondary School Teachers: The Mediating Role of Teachers’ Engagement in Educational Research

The topic of teacher work satisfaction has long been a focus of educational study. This study examined the impact of school organizational support on teacher job satisfaction as mediated by teachers’ engagement in educational research, utilizing the findings of a survey on the academic quality of basic education students in Jiangsu Province in 2020 and analyzing the data of 21,154 primary and 16,585 secondary school teachers. In this work, the structural equation model is utilized. Significant favorable relationships are shown between school organization support, teachers’ participation in educational research, and teachers’ work happiness. The engagement of teachers in educational research somewhat mediates the relationship between school organization support and teacher job happiness. School organization support positively predicts teacher job satisfaction. The impact of school organization support on teachers’ participation in educational research and job satisfaction is greater at the primary level than at the junior secondary level.

Residents as Research Subjects: Balancing Resident Education and Contribution to Advancing Educational Innovations.

Research in education advances knowledge and improves learning, but the literature does not define how to protect residents' rights as subjects in studies or how to limit the impact of their participation on their clinical training. We aimed to develop a consensual framework on how to include residents as participants in education research, with the dual goal of protecting their rights and promoting their contributions to research. A nominal group technique approach was used to structure 3 iterative meetings held with the pre-existing residency training program committee and 7 invited experts between September 2018 and April 2019. Thematic text analysis was conducted to prepare a final report, including recommendations. Five themes, each with recommendations, were identified: (1) Freedom of participation: participation, non-participation, or withdrawal from a study should not interfere with teacher-learner relationship (recommendation: improve recruitment and consent forms); (2) Avoidance of over-solicitation (recommendation: limit the number of ongoing studies); (3) Management of time dedicated to participation in research (recommendations: schedule and proportion of time for study participation); (4) Emotional safety (recommendation: requirement for debriefing and confidential counseling); and (5) Educational safety: data collected during a study should not influence clinical assessment of the resident (recommendation: principal investigator should not be involved in the evaluation process of learners in clinical rotation). Our nominal group technique approach resulted in raising 5 specific issues about freedom of participation of residents in research in medical education, over-solicitation, time dedicated to research, emotional safety, and educational safety.

Educational Research Training in Teacher Training Programs: The Views of Future Teachers

The objectives of this study were to explore teacher student’s views on the research training they receive and know their suggestions for improving it. This was a qualitative study conducted on students in the teacher training programs of a Chilean public university who were distributed into nine focus groups. The findings showed that the students have a rather critical view about the training they receive, particularly due to the lack of continuity of research-related courses and their limited participation in research activities. Regarding how to improve their training, the students suggest providing one research-related course each year, having researchers as teachers, and giving greater visibility to the educational research produced within their university. The study concludes that it is important to promote participation in educational research and that university teacher educators and the entire university community must adopt a broad-ranging view on this subject.

Involvement in and Perception of Atmospheric Science Education Research

AbstractIncreasing participation in education research and encouraging the use of evidence-based practices in the classroom has been identified as a Grand Challenge in the Geosciences. As a first step in addressing this Grand Challenge, a survey was developed and disseminated to a broad range of atmospheric science professionals to collect data about 1) the number of community members involved in atmospheric science education research (ASER); 2) whether ASER is valued within the community, and if so, to what extent; 3) potential barriers to involvement in ASER; and 4) the resources necessary to encourage involvement in ASER. Survey results revealed that while many in the atmospheric science community highly value education research, barriers to greater involvement include a perceived lack of value and a lack of visibility of ASER. Recommendations are made for addressing these barriers.

Praxis, Pedagogy and Teachers’ Professionalism in England

The article considers current teachers’ participation in educational research in England and whether Stenhouse’s perception that such involvement was necessary to stall the political undermining of democratic teacher professionalism has been addressed. Stenhouse instigated the emergence of the teacher-as-researcher movement, whereby teachers engaged with a process that created knowledge and practice. From 1979, when the Conservative Margret Thatcher became Prime Minister, the increasing dominance of globalised knowledge economies turned knowledge away from being a process into a product. Teacher and student education became controlled and consumed by increasingly competitive educational institutions. Learning became aimed at assuring the attainment of higher grades to increase the country’s economic growth and profit, leading to democratic teacher professionalism being undermined. However, contemporary research by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development has indicated that teacher professionalism should involve teachers in conducting classroom-based individual or collaborative research. In addition, a recent academic inquiry by the British Education Research Association has concluded that teachers as researchers, in both literate and practical terms, will have a positive impact on learner outcomes by developing an education system that has the internal capacity to direct its own progress. At the same time, the Department for Education in England commissioned a two-year study to assess progress towards an evidence-informed teaching system. Taking a systematic literature approach, the present article considers the extent to which current teacher education and practice encourage teacher research as a form of developing pedagogical practice, in other words, praxis, in order to re-establish democratic teacher professionalism in England. It also explores whether there are alternative practices to create the same, or a similar, outcome.

Ethical reflections on children’s participation in educational research during humanitarian crises

This paper aims to reflect upon ethical dilemmas arising from educational research in humanitarian contexts, particularly when involving children. In recognition of the paucity of knowledge on how to define ethics in humanitarian research, we review the existing body of literature that explores ethical responsibilities towards children involved in educational research at school and their communities. The paper argues that research ethics should be at the forefront of every study that is conducted in crisis contexts and more rigorous review and vetting processes are necessary to protect children, researchers and wider communities who live in crisis settings. We hope to promote an informed debate on research ethics in humanitarian contexts, while encouraging the development of rigorous guidelines, notes and minimum standards.

Towards emancipatory research methodologies with children in the African context: Practical possibilities and overcoming challenges

Despite having international and national legislative frameworks and policies that guarantee children’s rights and encourage their participation in matters affecting them, consulting children has received scant scholarly attention in the African context. Notwithstanding this state of affairs, it is important to ask whether, in keeping with growing progressive practices, having children as active researchers is a feasible goal to achieve and, if so, how might this be possible. Drawing on Swartz and Nyamnjoh’s framework of research existing along an emancipatory continuum, we argue for practical, methodological interventions to bridge the researcher–researched divide. We show, using four case studies, how giving children a voice – a key feature of emancipatory research – as participants in educational research has the potential to afford them space to co-enact the research and develop their sense of agency. The four case studies were drawn from investigations of (1) lived experiences of orphaned children and conceptions of education quality in South Africa; (2) consulting children about sex and HIV/AIDS education in South Africa, Tanzania and Kenya; (3) a study of a community-based peer education programme in South Africa and (4) language and mathematics skills assessments in a large-scale study. Within each case, we (1) evaluate the extent to which the research methods used aims for and achieves children’s participation and emancipation and (2) offer ways to overcome challenges for adopting emancipatory approaches in the schooling sector from ethical, policy and political perspectives. The article concludes with recommendations for implementing emancipatory methodologies in educational research involving children.

Ethical research in the secondary school classroom


 
 
 Two key ethical principles of research in the secondary school classroom are voluntary participation and informed consent. Voluntary participation is the principle that participants should be able to freely choose whether or not they participate in the research, in any way, big or small (Mutch, 2005). Informed consent is the principle that the participants should be thoroughly and accurately informed of the purpose, processes and dissemination of the findings of the research, and give their consent accordingly (Mutch, 2005). Ethical principles have been established by research institutions, such as universities, to ensure that participants in educational research are not treated as passive objects by the researcher (Snook, 2003), and so that no personal harm results from the research process. This article will discuss these two ethical principles, and examine two research scenarios in secondary schools where ethical dilemmas arise. Potential ways to address these ethical concerns and minimise risk are explored, with a view to encouraging teacher reflection and consideration of research situations that may require the voluntary participation and informed consent of secondary school students in classrooms. 
 
 

Action Research and Systematic, Intentional Change in Teaching Practice

Action research shifts the paradigm of contemporary educational reform by emphasizing inquiry and placing teachers at the center of research-into-practice. By situating teachers as learners, action research offers a systematic and intentional approach to changing teaching. When working as part of a community of practice, action researchers engage in sustained professional learning activities. They explore issues of everyday practice and work to bring about change. This review highlights action research studies from across four subject areas—English language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies—and is premised on the notion that changing teaching practice is connected to understanding how teachers learn. Specifically, it focuses on understanding changes in teacher pedagogical content knowledge, disciplinary inquiry, and critical pedagogy through action research. Findings suggest that we must go beyond current conceptualizations of teacher learning as process-product, cognitive, and situative to view teaching as inquiry. Successful efforts to change practice through action research have demonstrated the value of engaging teachers as active participants in education research. At the same time, the field must overcome barriers including the marginalization of action research, logistical issues associated with conducting action research, and the dissemination of findings.

Children as research participants in educational research using video-stimulated accounts

While children may be positioned as active participants in early years research, few studies have detailed how this is accomplished from a child's perspective. Ethnomethodology and conversation analysis methodologies examine the recorded interactions of children (aged 5–9 years) in video-stimulated accounts. Sequential analyses highlight four interactional strategies the children used to steer the talk including 1) interrupting the researcher’s flow of questioning 2) employing physical actions such as proximity and gaze; 3) diverting the topic; and 4) using the video-stimulated accounts as openings to enact their own interactional agendas. Detailing the unfolding turns of talk make it possible to show how children are competent when considered as research participants and the opportunities provided through video-stimulated accounts.

Aportes a la formación del profesorado constructivista: resultados en dos países

La investigación aborda la influencia que tiene la participación en la investigación educativa en la calidad de la enseñanza de docentes de ciencias experimentales de Argentina y España. Se han utilizado tres vías de acceso a la actividad educativa de dichos docentes: un cuestionario, una entrevista semiestructurada y la observación de clases, con seis apartados y 34 ítems. La investigación, llevada a cabo con 55 docentes de ciencias españoles y 23 argentinos, pone de manifiesto cómo, a pesar de la diferencia de trayectoria formativa de los docentes y de contexto educativo en ambos países, la formación didáctica intensiva y la puesta en práctica de la misma mediante investigaciones (ya sea en tesis doctorales, trabajos finales de maestría u otras investigaciones), favorece una práctica docente del profesorado con una orientación más constructivista.

The Role of Qualitative Methods in Early Childhood Education: A Review of J. Amos Hatch’s Early Childhood Qualitative Research

Early Childhood Qualitative Research is an edited book that captures the importance of conducting educational research and the significance of such research being scholarly and rigorous. In addition, this book does a phenomenal job of stressing the importance of giving participants in educational research a voice to describe their experiences is stressed, including the experiences of classroom teachers. The aim to provide professionals in the early childhood arena an opportunity to see different perspectives than they make typically be exposed to and to provide them with opportunities to critique current practices, in order to enhance qualitative research practices in the field of early childhood education.

Cutting out Their Tongues: Mujeres' Testimonios and the Malintzin Researcher

This article presents the issues I encountered as I collected data and translated life herstories/ testimonios of six Latina mothers living in a city in the U. S. Mountain West. After over five years of living, being, working, collaborating, and developing relationships with six Latina mother activists (five Mexicanas and one Guatemalan), I delved into critical reflexivity. The experience of researching and writing the critical ethnography and the depth of relational connections I developed with each of the six mothers moved me to write this critique so that I might continue to learn from the use of testimonio methodology and the countering act of translating their stories from Spanish to English. I search the possibility and explore the contradictions of being a researcher and how such researchers may be replicating oppressive acts when we translate and edit the voices of participants in educational research. At the same time, as Malintzin educational researchers in our communities, as Mexica...

Exploring informed consent and dissent through children's participation in educational research

Involving children and young people in educational research has been foundational in developing and understanding theories of learning, and understanding child development. Attempts to identify children's perspectives on policies and practices that directly affect them in educational settings have resulted in an increase in the involvement of children to inform research. This means children are interviewed by researchers about matters of interest to their research agenda, and raise questions around the children's experiences and benefits from such participation. This article explores the involvement of children in educational research with a specific focus on the two-sided images of consent: the dilemmas of negotiating and maintaining children's informed consent and the related nature of informed dissent during the research process. The introduction of a Children's Research Advisory Group to explore these issues provides a tier of analysis closer to the young people.

Resisting the Impositional Potential of Student Voice Work: Lessons for liberatory educational research from poststructuralist feminist critiques of critical pedagogy

Early 21st-century cautions regarding student voice work in educational research echo in striking ways some poststructuralist feminist critiques of critical pedagogies that proliferated in the early 1990s. Both warn against totalizing, undifferentiated notions of and responses to oppressed, marginalized, and/or disempowered individuals or groups while sharing a commitment to the encouragement of critical analyses of existing social conditions (within and beyond classrooms) and the advocacy of changing dominant arrangements of power and participation. In this article, I explore how conceptions of and cautions regarding two key foci of liberatory efforts—identity and voice—throw into relief the impositional potential of those efforts. I offer the conceptual framework provided by “translation” to support a rethinking of students’ and researchers’ identities, roles, and participation in educational research as one of many necessarily ongoing efforts to resist the impositional potential of student voice work.

Partnership with parents of disabled children in research?

Parent/professional partnership is a key theme in government policy and service delivery for parents of disabled children, yet there is little evidence of such partnerships in research. Drawing on the literature concerning parents’ experiences of caring for and raising a child with additional needs; parental involvement and partnerships and the social analysis of disability, this article sets out the rationale for parents’ participation in educational research. It proposes a parents’ participatory research approach adapted from a disability or emancipatory research paradigm, which the author used when conducting her doctoral research. She describes how there was evidence of parental participation in the study on three levels, through, firstly, the parent/researcher who initiated and co‐ordinated the study; secondly, the parents’ advisory group, who advised the researcher, completed some analysis and discussed the findings and, thirdly, the parents in the sample, who were offered opportunities to participate, for example, in decisions concerning the content of the data and development of the research methods that were used. Finally, the article discusses to what extent the parents participating in this study were given a voice to express their views, some control over the research process and so were treated as partners in the research process. It concludes that this research study has extended the notion of working in partnership with parents to the field of research and demonstrated that a parents’ participatory research approach is possible. It now needs to be developed and replicated in other studies with parents of disabled children.

Beginning Teachers as Teacher-Researchers

ABSTRACT There has been a growing recognition in the international education community over the last decade of the need to begin the development of teacher-researchers in preservice courses. This paper explores the perceptions of professional empowerment of beginning teachers and their development as active teacher-researchers, drawing on data from surveys conducted in Western Australia of the 1999 and 2000 preservice teacher cohort. Consistent with issues emerging from current literature, the survey data confirmed the over-riding survival mindset of beginning teachers. However, responses also provided evidence of a research mindset open to opportunities later in their teaching career and the professional confidence and skills to become members of a school community of inquiry. A process model is proposed for development of teacher-researchers through preservice course experiences. Introduction There has been a growing recognition in the international education community over the last decade of the powerful role of teachers as researchers (Darling-Hammond, 1999; Gore & Morrison, 2000; Kemmis, 2001; Rogers, 2002). The potential for understanding the complexity of the school community as an effective learning environment is increased when teachers have the skills and opportunities to take the role of researching within their own school community. The growing recognition amongst teacher-educators of the need to provide teachers with the ol ab rtiv ef mw k nd s chskills for anchoring research within their classroom practice is articulated by Bauman (1996, p.29): Teachers must be participants in educational research and development from their first education courses, through their professional development, and on to their service as mentors to new teachers…We need research that helps the institutions and the people who work in them raise questions about their own goals and practice as part of their everyday work. (Bauman, 1996, p29) The aim of this paper is to use the unit experience of two cohorts of preservice teachers to explore the ability of beginning teachers to draw on skills and understandings developed in a research focused unit in their final year of a Bachelor of Education. This paper explores the perceptions of empowerment of new teacher-researchers and their opportunities to become involved in school-based research, drawing on data from surveys conducted within Western Australia of the 1999 and 2000 preservice teacher cohort. The surveys questioned the opportunities and context within which the 200 new Edith Cowan University graduates were able to use these research skills in their first workplace.

Shared Hypermedia: Communication and Interaction in Web-Based Learning Environments

Internet-based information and communication technologies are changing how training is being conducted in colleges, universities, and private companies. However, to create successful learning environments the designers and developers have to understand how communication and interaction, two key features of the learning process, are changed by computers. Moreover, they have to explore the possibilities of successfully instructing via networks while proving the learning and cost effectiveness of these innovative systems. To support this process the article presents a framework for the development of Web-based learning environments. These environments can be considered a particular form of hypermedia: computer-stored information, which is connected and retrieved via links. A particular focus is given to the analysis of shared hypermedia, new Internet tools in which different users, who are simultaneously browsing the same Web site, can communicate with each other. To be successful, shared hypermedia have to develop communities of practice, an approach that involves collaborative peer relationships and teachers/students' participation in educational research and practice.