Participatory Action Learning And Action Research Research Articles

From “participation” to “transformative participation”: My living-educationaltheory of Facilitating Transformative Continuing Professional Development

Driven by a strong desire for change and personal values, I began to embrace a participation-orientated approach to my own Continuing Professional Development (CPD), rather than the expert-driven one I had previously employed. In an effort to address past instances in which my actions did not align with my values, I developed my living-educational-theory. I collaborated with various stakeholders, including ten primary school teachers working in low-resource South African schools. I actively refined my evolving educational beliefs by seeking feedback from several of my expert critical friends. Through rigorous reflection, I formulated my research question: "How do I interpret participation as a CPD facilitator in fields such as Physical Education (PE), and how can this understanding be effectively conveyed to others?” Drawing upon insights gleaned from my doctoral research, embedded in Participatory Action Learning and Action Research (PALAR), and my annotated reflections, I identified transformative participation as a core value driving my practice. Consequently, by putting this value into action, I discovered the importance of how to dismantle established norms, recognising and respecting the boundary between personal-professional development, and cultivating leadership for lasting impact. This knowledge informs my decision to share practical insights and standards of judgment to assess how I have adopted transformative participation. My hope is that these insights may assist colleagues seeking to facilitate transformative CPD.

Enhancing pedagogy for teaching visual arts in the South African Foundation Phase classroom: A collaborative endeavor

In this article, we report on the pedagogy of a cohort of South African Foundation Phase teachers in the praxis of visual arts. We used participatory action learning and action research (PALAR) as paradigm and methodology and data was generated collaboratively through arts-based strategies such as photovoice, visual journaling, and reflexive group conversations. We analysed the data using an inductive analysis approach. The data indicated a set of extrinsic and intrinsic barriers experienced by the participants in the praxis and pedagogy of visual arts in a South African context. We provide recommendations for Foundation Phase teachers, school management teams, and governmental Departments of Education. This study contributes to the field of arts education by highlighting the plight of generalist teachers having to teach visual arts without sufficient training or support. We create opportunities for arts educators to contribute to the experiences of these teachers.

SoTL in Human Movement Sciences: Moving Forward in South Africa

The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) is an emerging focus within South Africa (SA). In Human Movement Sciences (HMS) in SA, research is primarily discipline-specific, and many researchers are unfamiliar with SoTL. To explore how we (as HMS lecturers) could integrate SoTL into our research, we formed a community of practice (CoP). The SoTL unicycle depiction of Swart et al. (2016) suited our visual analogy since the focus of HMS is on the human body that is in motion. For us, the unicycle represented HMS SoTL in motion. Swart et al. (2016) viewed the SoTL movement as an academic’s individual journey, whereas we saw SoTL from a CoP perspective. Therefore, we adapted the unicycle into a tandem bicycle, representing our collaborative engagements. Participatory action learning and action research (PALAR) formed our theoretical framework. Through our dialogue, each tandem wheel’s focus emerged. The back wheel was about deciding to SoTL (or not). This became a linchpin of our critical dialogue during the relationship-building phase of our CoP. Once we committed, we needed to learn how to keep our CoP moving forward. This became the middle wheel of our tandem bicycle. Next, the front wheel and handlebar became our guide into what the future of SoTL would be for us. The tandem bicycle, therefore, represents our collective cycles of learning as we became SoTL researchers. We believe our learning can support others transitioning from discipline-specific research to engaging in SoTL. *Please note that this poster is best viewed in Adobe on a computer/laptop for interactivity. Click here to read the corresponding ISSOTL blog post.

Advocating Community Economic Resilience Framework in Kemadang Food Barn, Gunungkidul, Yogyakarta: Accentuating the Social Capital Perspective

Agriculture is claimed as Indonesia’s strategic pillar sector. The existence of a community-based enterprise with a traditional business model is often seen as a weakness, while social capital is a strength to thrive. However, a well-managed conventional business model can become one of the foundations of a sustainable livelihood. This community service program wass carried out with the Artha Mandiri Group, which is domiciled in Kemadang Village, Gunungkidul, Special Region of Yogyakarta. This program aimed to increase the economic resilience of group members by empowering and growing business capabilities with their social capital as their fundamental strength. The empowerment method used in this program was Participatory Action Learning and Action Research (PALAR), which is considered an effective tool for strategically transforming paradigms. This method focused on a balance between progressive, collaborative practice accompanied by an action research foundation. The 6-month program has resulted in collaborative business competency learning practice for group members, emphasizing different processing methods to produce business line diversification. This group made flour from land-owned rice paddy harvests with the same quality as commercially produced. This achievement can also have an impact on business cost efficiency.

Parent-Practitioner Collaboration to Support Sustainable Development in Early Years Education

This article stems from a research project in five early childhood development (ECD) centres in South Africa, and focuses on parent-practitioner collaboration for sustainable development in early years education. Using a qualitative approach, we followed a participatory action learning and action research (PALAR) design to answer the main research question: "How can parent-practitioner collaboration support education for sustainable development in the early years?" Participants formed an action learning set (ALS) in which they acted as co-researchers and equal partners to construct their own meanings in order to advocate for social change. Data were collected in the ALS during Cycle 3 of the PALAR process. We relied on transcribed, recorded ALS discussions and photovoice activities to generate data, and used thematic content analysis to collaboratively analyse the data. Our findings disclose that education for sustainable development is possible when parents and practitioners collaborate.

Understanding inclusion in early childhood care and education: A participatory action learning and action research study

Background: Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) refers to the care and education of children from birth to age four. There is a scarcity of research on inclusion in this marginalised sector in many developing countries, including South Africa.Aim: This article reports on a virtual learning participatory workshop on understanding inclusion with six ECCE teachers and two ECD practitioner trainers.Setting: Due to the social distancing necessitated by the Corona Virus pandemic, all interactions were facilitated through the WhatsApp platform.Methods: The study employed a participatory action learning and action research (PALAR) design that focuses on collaborative and contextually relevant learning and research. Data were generated in two iterative cycles using a baseline questionnaire, photovoice, reflective journals and purposeful conversations.Results: Cycle one found that some of the participants’ understanding of inclusion needed to be challenged. Their understandings of inclusion centred on discourses of disability with a narrow view of inclusion. This action learning set (ALS) mainly regarded inclusion to be a product rather than a process and claimed that segregation had some advantages. Some of the members of the ALS also misconstrued inclusion for micro-exclusive practices of assimilation and integration. Cycle two was planned to address these misunderstandings. Cycle two revealed that becoming inclusive means revisiting dominant ideologies about inclusion and a critical awareness of micro-exclusive practices.Conclusion: This research serves to challenge dominant beliefs of what inclusion is. The knowledge presented here could be cascaded to other ECCE centres in the South African context. With a scarcity of research on inclusion in ECCE, this study may provide a point of departure for future research.

Play-based pedagogy: An approach to advance young children’s holistic development

Background: Children's holistic development includes physical, cognitive, socio-emotional, moral and affective development and lies in early childhood development education (ECDE). According to research, children learn through different age-appropriate teaching and learning pedagogies. Therefore, the importance of implementing a play-based methodology in the early years. This study was underpinned by the theory of play as a spiral of learning.Aim: This study aimed to demonstrate how a play-based pedagogy could be utilised to enhance holistic development in young children.Setting: Three ECD centres in Gauteng, South Africa participated in the Thutopapadi (play-based learning) research. The action learning set (ALS) consisted of one Grade R teacher and two practitioners; the Grade R facilitator and three North-West University researchers.Methods: We employed a qualitative approach within the participatory action learning and action research (PALAR) design to interrogate the extent to which a play-based pedagogy could be useful in enhancing the holistic development of young children. Transcriptions of meetings held by the ALS and photovoice were used to generate data. The participants reflected on and communicated about themes discussed during the ALS. We used the principles of thematic content analysis to analyse the generated data.Results: The results of this study proposed that to support holistic development in young children, practitioners and parents should maximise the use of a play-based methodology in both social and learning environments.Conclusion: Follow-ups should be made to ensure that the pedagogy that is being used in early childhood development education centres corresponds with the needs for the development of young children.

Challenging Gender Certainties in Early Childhood Care and Education: A Participatory Action Learning and Action Research Study

For deep-rooted gender equity and social transformation, we need to challenge so-called certainties or dominant ideologies about gender. Many dominant ideologies centred on gender abound in society, and these need to be addressed at the earliest opportunity. Early childhood care and education (ECCE) refers to the care and education of children from birth to 4 years old, and this is an opportune period for teachers to examine and challenge certainties regarding gender. This article reports on a segment of a larger study on inclusion involving a virtual learning participatory workshop with six ECCE teachers and two ECCE teacher trainers that aimed to address a knowledge gap; ECCE research into gender is scarce in developing countries like South Africa. Due to the social distancing necessitated by the coronavirus pandemic, all interactions were facilitated through the WhatsApp platform. The study employed a participatory action learning and action research (PALAR) design that focused on collaborative and contextually relevant learning and research. Data were generated in two iterative cycles using a baseline questionnaire, photovoice, reflective journals, and purposeful conversations. Data generated in Cycle 1 revealed that participants required greater awareness regarding their current views on gender and sexuality. Data revealed that members of the action learning set (ALS) required clarity on gender binary, heterosexuality as a dominant ideology, and on gender stereotyping. The ALS transformed their learning environments by addressing those concerns in Cycle 2. The findings in Cycle 2 pinpoint how the respective learning environments were transformed by challenging gender binary, heterosexuality, and gender stereotyping. This research serves to challenge certainties regarding gender. Knowledge presented here could lead to more equitable gender practice at the participants' respective centres, which may impact positively on wider societal transformation.

Addressing a theory-practice gap in teacher education by using a participatory action learning and action research (PALAR) approach

In this article we combine Boyer’s 4 domains of scholarship with Hutchings’ 4 types of questions and Ghaye, Melander-Wikman, Kisare, Chambers, Bergmark, Kostenius and Lillyman’s (2008) reflective learning framework using a Participatory Action Learning and Action Research (PALAR) method to explore the perceived gap in in-service teachers’ experience in classroom contexts. Qualitative data were collected in an action learning set (ALS) consisting of distance learning in-service teachers enrolled in a learning support programme through purposeful discussions, reflective diaries, observations, and open-ended reflective learning questionnaires. In the research reported on here we found that collaborative partnerships initiated scholarly thoughts and actions when sharing and evaluating insights during the research process, which resulted in building on learning that has been gained together. The findings point to the need for collaboration between lecturers and students to develop an awareness to not only take knowledge from one another to create theories about how they should deal with problems but rather to jointly become reflective collaborative scholars to address the theory-practice gap.

Learning To Facilitate Community-Based Research: Guidelines From a Novice Researcher

The diversity of South Africa's population calls for authentic and contextually relevant participation in research that is community based. For novice researchers and researchers transitioning to participative methods, it can be challenging to facilitate a community-based research (CBR) project if they lack the necessary facilitation skills or experience. These skills are crucial to enable collaborative and participative learning. In this paper, I explain how I learnt to facilitate a participatory action learning and action research (PALAR) project through critical reflection on self and process. I generated data from my personal reflective journal entries and transcripts of our action learning group sessions, and I validated my claims to knowledge by recoding the data with two critical friends, my coauthors of this paper. The claims to knowledge I share in this paper are twofold. Firstly, I have come to know how to improve my facilitation skills and, secondly, I have learnt to use continuous critical self-reflection to guide my actions in conducting more ethical CBR, underpinned by the principles of PALAR. I believe that my account of learning may help other researchers improve their facilitation of community-based participatory research groups to become more confident, critically reflective, and ethical researchers.

The impact of COVID-19 on the holistic development of young South African at-risk children in three early childhood care and education centres in a rural area

Early childhood care and education (ECCE) has gained recognition as an important means of promoting the holistic development of the inseparable social, emotional, cognitive and physical facets of education in the early childhood years. Since early childhood development poses challenges to many young children, the prolonged mandatory closure of ECCE centres during the national lockdown exposed many young children to the additional risk of being deprived of the continuity of learning, security, health and safety. This article draws from a research project in three Bafenyi ECCE centres in the rural area of Ikageng (Potchefstroom) in the North-West province of South Africa and focuses on how COVID-19 influences the holistic development of young children at risk. A qualitative approach was taken, following a participatory action-learning and action-research (PALAR) design where all participants collaborate as equal partners and construct their own meaning from experiences within the action-learning set (ALS) to advocate for change. Within a critical and transformative paradigm teacher-participants were encouraged to think critically about the holistic development of young children and to consider how collaboration could lead to social change. The data collection method was limited to the recorded group discussions of the ALS during Cycle 1 of the PALAR process. Given that positive environmental and contextual factors are able to lay the groundwork for holistic development in the early years, the African Ubuntu philosophy of compassion, respect and humanity was viewed as being suitable to serve as theoretical framework for the study. The findings highlight that, even during a lockdown, it vital that collaborative ways are found to harness the precious early years with a view not only to meeting these children’s needs but also to laying the foundation for a sustainable future. It is argued that if teachers were to apply the Ubuntu philosophy, they would learn how to make lifelong use of the acquired skills to improve the holistic well-being of young children on an ongoing basis.

Youth leading youth: a PALAR approach to enabling action for sustainable social change

ABSTRACT This article demonstrates how community-based action research can be conducted in democratic and democratizing ways to enable young people to take action to improve their own circumstances. By means of a case study, I show how Participatory Action Learning and Action Research (PALAR) can enable sustainable learning and development. Findings reveal that the youth participants benefitted from their participation in the PALAR research project in terms of increasedself-esteem and sense of purpose, enhanced self-awareness, and improved communication and technical skills, all of which developed their capacity for contributing to their communities and exercising leadership. However, the process of action learning was challenging for both the youth participants of the community and the university research partner. The findings corroborate that action learning takes time to learn, but unless it becomes an integral part of the action research process, the ability of community participants to sustain change is compromised. These findings are significant for enabling research that contributes to social justice through enhancing individual and community capacity to be critically reflective action learners and action leaders.

Transforming traditional views of school leadership for school-community collaboration: a PALAR approach

ABSTRACT Schools in poor working class communities in South Africa face a myriad of equity challenges that impact negatively on their ability to achieve basic school functionality. Yet, within such communities, there exists a wealth of valuable local knowledge and support that can be mobilised to assist school leaders, not only to bring about school improvement but also to reimagine effective schooling. However, the process of integrating such support into a school requires a reconsidering and repositioning of traditional views of school leadership. As a school leader, I embarked on a research journey, with 15 community volunteers, to understand how to integrate their work into the daily functioning of our school. I share my learning from the process of action learning with the community volunteers. I use the seven guiding principles of participatory action learning and action research (PALAR) to validate my claims to knowledge. The key findings indicate the value that PALAR holds for the development of a reflexive school leadership praxis that supports community agency towards school and community development. The conclusions drawn contribute to educational leadership theory by providing an evidence-based example of how an action learning process can facilitate collaboration between school leadership and community members.

The transformative potential of action learning in community-based research for social action

ABSTRACTAction learning within community-based research is a powerful capacitator of social action. Here, we consider three aspects of action learning that are vital to enable this: (i) developing self-directed and lifelong action learning; (ii) generating local and theoretical knowledge through action research and reflection on learning; and (iii) identifying the key principles and processes of action learning as an integrated concept within the participatory action learning and action research (PALAR) paradigm. We argue that action learning has to be developed in a systematic, educational way to enable people to take responsibility for improving their life circumstances. Examples from university partnerships with communities in South Africa and Australia demonstrate how action learning, within a PALAR process, can inspire and enable individuals and whole communities to learn and develop skills, attitudes, values, and understandings to engage in social action most effective for their particular needs and contexts. In this way, people become self-directed learners, creators of knowledge and activists able to challenge and disrupt dominant power relationships and traditional ways of conducting research. These case examples illustrate how action learning, as part of a PALAR process, enables the university to partner with community for social action towards a more just society.

Fostering teachers’ experiences of well-being: A participatory action learning and action research approach

Teachers, specifically those who work in under-resourced contexts, face many challenges within their workplace that negatively affect their experiences of well-being. Although research indicates that if teacher well-being improves, a more enabling climate for teaching and learning is created, little support is available for teachers in this regard. The aim of this study was to work collaboratively with teachers to help them find ways to improve their experiences of well-being. Following a participatory action learning and action research (PALAR) design, 6 teachers in a rural primary school met as an action learning set over a period of 6 weeks to reflect on their learning about how to improve their experiences of well-being. The findings indicate that frequent, informal social contact with colleagues, coupled with explicit action to focus on positive emotions, could improve teachers’ experiences of well-being. The PALAR design afforded the structure for this to happen. This study offers insight into how a collaborative action learning process could help to enhance teachers’ ability to improve and sustain their experiences of well-being. Keywords: action learning; flourishing; positive psychology; teacher well-being; wellness

A collaboratively constructed action leadership framework for sustainable learner support in contexts of adversity

ABSTRACTTeachers working in under-resourced contexts struggle to provide psychosocial support to learners. In this article, we focus on 10 teacher participants’ reflections of how a transformative action research process enhanced their collective capacity for initiating sustainable learner support. A linked participatory action learning and action research (PALAR)-life design (LD) process initiated at their school with an LD counsellor, assisted them to provide sustainable support at the school. LD enabled teacher participants to build on personal and professional narratives as a foundation for embarking on the PALAR process to attain positive change. LD deepened their psychological understanding of the link between their past and present, which remained a sustainable motivation throughout the PALAR process. Data generated from transcriptions of action learning group discussions and teacher reflections during the project were thematically analysed. Findings suggest that the PALAR-LD process is suitable to enable the sustained addressing of contextual challenges, through the development of action leadership in teachers. Although the LD process has to be initiated together with an LD counsellor, teachers can then sustain the PALAR process on their own, making it both cost-effective and feasible. The framework has value for enhancing learner support in contexts of social and economic adversity.

Mind-shifts for enhancing the engagement of educational psychologists in the promotion of holistic school wellbeing

AimThe study explores the mind-shifts that educational psychologist have to facilitate to engage in the promotion of holistic school wellbeing.RationaleEducational psychologists employed in the South African education system, due to limited human resources, work mainly with individual children who experience serious problems. The implication of the current situation is that educational psychologists are marginalised in interventions aimed at the transformation of schools into enabling, inclusive environments. The rational of this article is to address this marginalised position of educational psychologists in the South African context.MethodIn the research conducted to develop an integrated, multi-level process to facilitate holistic wellbeing in six South African schools, a Participatory Action Learning and Action Research (PALAR) methodology has been applied. The methodology integrates action learning and action research with participatory action research in a holistic way. The data for this specific article was obtained by reflecting on the data gathered during my involvement as an educational psychologist in the development of this process over a period of three years.FindingsFive mind-shifts that school communities have to make in order for educational psychologists to effectively engage in the promotion of holistic school wellbeing were identified. Firstly, the role of educational psychologists should not be perceived as experts who address problems prevailing in schools but as external agents of change who need to work in collaboration with all stakeholders. Secondly, educational psychologists should not be expected to focus only on individual interventions but also on universal, multi-level interventions aimed at supporting all members of school communities. Thirdly, the promotion of wellbeing should no longer be perceived as an additional function of schooling but as an integral part of function of school communities. Fourthly, the fragmented implementation of initiatives to promote wellbeing should be replaced by a holistic, integrative approach to the promotion of school wellbeing. Fifthly, instead of adopting a linear, causal approach to understanding human behaviour, the complex interactive dynamic nature of human behaviour should be embraced.ConclusionThe role of educational psychologist in the promotion of holistic school wellbeing is essential if they intend to become active agents of social change and transformation in the South African educational context. The optimisation of this role necessitates a broader public understanding of the role of educational psychologists as professionals who co-construct enabling environments with the members of school communities in a pro-active manner with insight into the complexity of human behaviour.

Reconsidering postgraduate ‘supervision’ from a participatory action learning and action research approach

Postgraduate supervision is most often perceived as a one-to-one relationship between an expert and a novice researcher. Even when working in groups, an instructional approach tends to dominate, where the supervisor(s) prescribe(s) the content and process, with a narrow focus on the outcome of degree completion, rather than a more holistic approach to the development of postgraduate scholars. At a time when curriculum transformation is high on the agenda of Higher Education, we problematise this traditional conceptualisation of postgraduate supervision and argue for a more participatory action learning and action research (PALAR) approach to postgraduate learning and development. PALAR creates a relational and reflective space for dialogical conversations, equalizing traditional power relations and democratising knowledge creation. This opens up the possibility for postgraduate candidates to perceive themselves as self-directed lifelong learners and collaborative action leaders, rather than just ‘students’. Using a case example of a postgraduate PALAR retreat, we thematically analyse the data generated from participant reflections, presented over three days in visual, oral and other creative forms. Findings reveal that this approach to postgraduate learning and development enhances critical thinking and promotes collaboration rather than competition. Participants are thus able to see themselves as developing scholars and action leaders within their specific fields of influence. Such outcomes are likely to provide a solid foundation for developing future academics or other professionals, able to model a holistic, participatory approach to knowledge creation in their own practice.

An educational framework for participatory action learning and action research (PALAR)

The purpose of this article is to provide an educational, theoretical, and methodological framework for using a special kind of action research, namely PALAR (participatory action learning and action research). This integrated methodology of lifelong action learning (AL) and participatory action research (PAR) has been developed over the past 25 years. It has been proven to be an effective approach to individual, professional, organizational, community (and generally practice) development. PALAR can be instrumental in pursuit of social justice and is well suited for both experienced and beginning researchers interested in researching and improving their own practice. The article illustrates with case examples how this framework has been put into practice for various programs in a variety of fields and countries. The PALAR framework is the basis for a generic program design, structure, and content, and for processes of learning, teaching, assessment, evaluation, and leadership development. It is a systemic and systematic program on how to design, justify, conduct, evaluate, write, and publish research that is particularly useful for community or work-based theses at master’s, professional doctorate, and PhD levels. An original feature of this article is its comprehensive overview and summary of the theory and practice of PALAR for the first time, with references to further readings.

Exploring Group Life Design with teachers in the context of poverty related psychosocial challenges

Working in challenging contexts can impact negatively on a teacher’s sense of purpose and efficacy. This article explores the potential of group Life Design (LD), a narrative constructivist career counselling process, for supporting ten South African school teachers working at an under-resourced school with understanding their career aspirations and their personal and professional identity. The group LD process formed part of a participatory action learning and action research (PALAR) project. This article focuses on teachers’ experience of the group LD process. Participating teachers reflected in writing and during group discussions on their experience of the LD process. Qualitative data generated from transcriptions of their discussions and written reflections were thematically coded. Findings suggest that the group LD process encouraged participants to reflect on themes from their life narratives to encourage agency for pursuing their future personal and professional goals. Through the LD process, the teachers acknowledged personal and professional assets, from past and present narratives which could motivate them during challenging times. The LD process ignited agency for action to achieve career and personal goals. Participants designed future life maps and also explored pathways for collectively improving their support to learners. Keywords : Group Life Design; poverty; psychosocial challenges; South Africa; teacher efficacy