Francis wrote, i would be interested in developing a phd inquiry into
(this is very
loosely phrased and covers far too many issues) "what can i offer to
my colleagues in the closing stages of my career" - " how does / can
my experience and my living educational theory (values?) help new and
emerging teachers and leaders" - "how do i resolve my unfulfilled
potential (wishes?) against my achievements as a teacher",

writing this makes me think of a much more blunt thesis:

teaching: 1985 - 200x - is  my living educational theory and
professional practice of value for the future?

so, the question: would this be of any interest, can it be developed,


Hi Francis

the value of my experience for the future - an inquiry? so, the question:
would this be of any interest, can it be developed,


And my response to your question is .....I reckon you have a wonderful PhD
enquiry in the grounds of your lived, subjective experience (after Paula
Saukko).

I would like to mention a book I have found rewarding. In  Doing Research
in Cultural Studies ( Sage, 2003, pages 19 to 35) Paula Saukko points to
the importance of new forms of 'validity' for cultural research enquiries.

She points to dialogic validity being drawn from lived experience, and
dialogue. This is characterised by truthfulness, self-reflexivity and
polyvocality.

The truthfulness in your act of writing self-reflexively resonated
powerfully for me. I enjoyed that so much. Saukko mentions that 'good'
knowledge has dialogic validity and contextual validity. Contextual
validity refers to the importance of locating your enquiry, the phenomenon
of your enquiry, within the wider, social, political and even global,
context.

You see, just an aside, although i am producing a living educational
theory thesis with Jack Whitehead's supervision, I am also trying to
reconcile what I see as the rich 'I' work of self study and first person
action research enquiry with my belief, framed from within my own living
encounters with social in justice, that whatever picture I paint for my
life it will not have the realism of a 'real life' unless it is related to
a more realist underpinning. This seems to contradict first and second
person work. But it is this contradiction that is proving methodologically
exciting and challenging for me, as it happens.

Bringing my focus back to your enquiry, Francis.

Your concise 'research tale' about mentoring,  being by-passed for
promotion, sharing concerns with seniors, imagining yourself in your mind
to be that young teacher seems to point to a rich polyvocality that you
could
garner for your research enquiry.

But what excites me about your posting is that there is an incredibly
important social, political and 'market' dimension to your situation too.
I'm thinking of the globalisation of education, and the commodification of
relationships, curricula and pedagogic practices in British schools.

My wife and son worked together in a failing school in Swindon for three
years and saw how 'managerialism' and the language of the market was
perceived to be the panacea. Education went out the window alongwith the
innovative head teacher. Teachers who favoured 'education' were actively
discouraged from staying on when the school was deemed to have 'failed'.
Those selected from outside were 'managers' and not teachers. At least
they espoused managerialism! The LEA certainly had some extreme solutions
for this school in 'extreme measures'.

Excuse my aside: but it feels connected and relevant i think, to your
posting.

I have the sense that you could tell us so much about the wider social
(cultural?) context in which schooling, and what Chomsky calls' mis-
education' is taking place, today, here and now as you address your three
putative research questions and others that you will generate as you go
along. Linking your personal experiences to the politics of contemporary
education seems so exciting. Usually there seems to be this 'paradigm war'
in education. I write about myself and eschew context and politics, the
cultural and social. Or educational theory can be disciplines based and/or
highly positivistic and propositional. This theory seems to be abstracted
from the ordinariness of my everyday life as a teacher.

I just sense that your questions are tremendously authentic in terms of
who you are and how you are in your educational practice just now. And I
think you could produce a series of interesting accounts that would enrich
our understanding of the complexity of contemporary school and education,
and what you are doing as a teacher  to create sustain meaning and purpose
as you craft educational responses to your immediate situation (micro
context) and the wider social context (macro context).  The political
value of your work could flow from its dissemination as your doctoral
research story contributes to the evolution of 'postcolonial' social
formations in schooling. That's my thrust ...it shouldn't have to be
yours, nor get in the way of yours.

But my excitement is to connect my life affirming energy with your own
insights about what you need/want to do right now in your life, Francis. I
hope this is okay.

What seems to me to be amazing is that one of my wife's colleagues, a
deputy head, took early retirement and is talking with me about the
catharsis and healing that could flow from writing a doctoral thesis about
her journey through that school, as she frames her life journey through
education. A kind of testimonio, a kind of celebration, and a kind of
productive framing of her rich teaching life.

Goodness, your research story is so important and so badly needed in the
academy.

Please don't imagine I'm riding roughshod over the value of your emergent
doctoral research enquiry for surfacing your own meanings and insights.
I'm not, I'm not.

It's my exuberance in the feeling that you have a significant doctoral
research enquiry here and so I'm wanting to respond with an uninhibited
but focused spontaneity.

My belief is that of course you can produce a 'live theorising' from your
questions. 'Live Theorising' is a form of Action Research account in which
first and second person enquiry is held, simultaneously, alongside third
person analysis. I'm trying to pull this of  with my doctoral thesis,
Francis.

Of course what is amazing about your research story are the multiple
framings leaping out of your text.

For my part I'd just like to encourage you as a fellow teacher. To affirm
your self-belief that you have an educational life that is valuable. You
most surely do.  And at 46/47 a mere stripling compared to my 53!

Do take a look at my web page for an idea about how I'm garnering bits and
bobs of my life into a choate sense of educational meaning and purpose.
Though the choate may not be the first impression you get.....no worries.

http://www.royagcol.ac.uk/~paul_murray/

I hope you find the story you have to tell, and tell it in ways that are
important for you. May your meanings flow! Thanks for sharing your
posting. And yes, you have a significant and multiple threads for a
doctoral research enquiry.

Best

Yaqub