Hello, Francis,
There is a really nice PhD study on my website at
http://www.jeanmcniff.com/SeamusLillis.htm entitled 'An inquiry into
the effectiveness of my practice as a learning practitioner-researcher
in rural community development'. In it, Séamus Lillis, who is a
consultant in rural community development in Ireland, tells his story
of how he moved from a position where he perceived himself as offering
advice and guidance to communities about how they should develop, to a
position where he saw that communities were perfectly capable of
deciding their own futures, and his job was to support them in the
process. It's a lovely story. Hope you like it!
Best wishes,
Jean
On 4 Jul 2005, at 15:42, Francis Stanbridge wrote:
> Yaqub
>
> thank you for your reply - I do not feel roughshod at all - as an ict
> practitioner I have a strong affinity with the open source development
> model - exposing work to many eyes reveals the 'bugs' (defects) - it
> results in better work.
>
> your offer of help with the research question is most welcome, i find
> that lately i am being very reflective about how my values affect
> future teachers and those around me. It is also about the
> 'collective memory' and tacit knowledge / practice embodied in my
> practice.
>
> in reply to your thoughts I would provide some further background about
> what is driving my values and inquiry. These are only my initial
> thoughts
> and serve to illuminate the complexity (and muddiness at present) of my
> thinking.
>
> In an ideal world I would carry on teaching for much longer, however
> the demands placed on me by my role and those of the institution
> leave me feeling that age 50 ish will be a timely point too look at a
> second career. There is a considerable analysis to be done over the
> effects of institutionalised oppression of rural communities and
> particularly the denial of educational opportunity through policy. (My
> school is in a very rural area and has suffered immensely due to
> political
> policies. The suffering is personal, collegiate, humanitarian,
> educational and institutional.)
>
> There is also an analysis of the conflict between my values about
> time for my family, my personal time and my values about my school.
> In essence there is a tendency (institutionalised I would suggest) to
> have a work balance, not a work - life balance.
>
> These forces are shaping my values and causing contradiction at the
> same time. This brings it back round to what are my values, how are
> they (are they?) of value to current and future educators?
>
> As you will see my thoughts are still in the early stages of
> development. Your thoughts are most valuable, they help illuminate the
> questions that I am trying to bring about.
>
> regards
>
> francis
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