Jack -

You say: " ... working with Foucault's idea of Power/Knowledge I don't 
believe that I can break free from  the pressures of constraining 
influences in our cultures - in the sense of becoming independent  from 
them -  but that I can be aware of these influences in seeking to transcend 
them."

Looking at my BERA Review (2000) I see a way ahead through Robert Donmoyer 
(1996)who speaks about the need to "... figure out how to play the 
gatekeeper role at a time when there is little consensus in the field about 
what research is and what scholarly discourse should look like."  He 
describes the two approaches to gate keeping that have worked against the 
encouragement of a humane and open-minded approach to educational research: 
the Traditional Response (we talk sense; 'they' talk rubbish) and the 
Balkanization Response (leave 'them' to get on with their business while we 
get on with ours).

I identify two extreme forms of educational researcher. At the one extreme, 
there are those who look to cognitive psychologists and neuroscientists to 
"soon produce something finer" (Hargreaves 1996) and who express their 
ideas propositionally and in terms of concepts that have a direct 
connection to demonstrable phenomena and concrete particulars. At the other 
extreme, there are those who try to express the dialectical and relational 
art of their lives as literary works that are allusively couched in terms 
of story telling and metaphor.  I suspect that the 'objectivising-thinkers' 
adopt the Traditional Response (we talk sense; 'they' talk rubbish) to the 
'subjectivising-feelers'; the reverse view is based on the Balkanization 
Response (leave 'them' to get on with their business while we get on with 
ours). There is no dialogue and no understanding, particularly from those 
who make the Traditional Response from their current position of political 
power within the educational establishment.

Donmoyer then describes a third way, quoting from the conclusions Richard 
Bernstein (1993) suggests should be drawn from the debates about 
incommensurability:

" ... to listen carefully, to use ... linguistic, emotional, and cognitive 
imagination to grasp what is being expressed and said in 'alien' traditions 
... [without] either facilely assimilating what others are saying to our 
own categories and language ... or dismissing ... [it] as incoherent 
nonsense."

The words of this 'ethical imperative' turn me back to revisit Pam Lomax's 
(1999)contention that respect is the cornerstone of evidence-based 
professionalism - respect as understood by Jean Rudduck (1995) to inform 
the general principles that  underpin good research i.e. respect for 
democratic values, respect for persons, respect for the integrity  of our 
acts at every level of the professional enterprise, and respect for 
evidence.

So how do we open a dialogue of respect?

- Pete

-----------------------------


--On 15 April 2008 10:01 +0100 Jack Whitehead <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> I'm wondering if it might be possible to engage in some co-research
> stimulated by Louise's  question:
>
> How do I break free from the traditional scholarship model as a PhD
> student?
>
> If Louise thinks that it is OK I'd like to research alongside her as she
> develops her research  programme.
>
> Because I work with Foucault's idea of Power/Knowledge I don't believe
> that I can break free from  the pressures of constraining influences in
> our cultures - in the sense of becoming independent  from them -  but
> that I can be aware of these influences in seeking to transcend them. It
> might  seem paradoxical but I also value insights from traditional
> scholarship at the same time as  seeking to transcend its limitations. So
> I'd like to research my question, 'How do I work to  transcend the
> constraints of traditional scholarship while benefitting from some of its
> insights in  the creation of my living educational theory?'
>
> I'd also like to research alongside Louise and others who like the idea
> of seeing if we could engage  in some co-research, with an action
> research project that uses the practice of transformative  storytelling
> to inspire our own active citizenship and to contribute to the active
> citizenship of  others.
>
> This focus emerged from Louise's focus on the practice of transformative
> storytelling to inspire  active citizenship paper:
>
> "This paper describes an action research project that used the practice
> of transformative  storytelling to inspire active citizenship with one
> preparatory class (5-6 year olds) in an Australian  public school."
>
> I've checked with Louise to see if it is OK to start a new thread with
> her question: How do I break  free from the traditional scholarship model
> as a PhD student?  and it is.  I'll start a new thread (4)  with Louise's
> question to see if there is any interest in researching alongside each
> other around  issues stimulated by Louise's question and paper.
>
> Love Jack
>
>
>
>