I've just received this note congratulating Joan Walton on her doctorate from the Centre 
for Action Research in Professional Practice in Bath:

"The examiners wrote
 
In making these recommendations we should also like to congratulate the candidate on 
her persistence with this deeply personal study. It is very clear how much time and effort 
has been put into it and how intimately entwined the work presented is with the 
candidate's personal beliefs and action in the world. Working within the confines of a 
written text with a 'felt reality' that extends way beyond the scope of words - and in the 
format of a PhD thesis, which is specifically intended as a key marker of academic 
achievement and style - is an extremely difficult task. We commend the candidate on 
bringing it to a successful conclusion
 
Congratulations, Dr Walton!"

Here is Joan's Title and Abstract:

"Ways of Knowing: Can I find a way of knowing that satisfies my search for meaning?

Abstract

My enquiry starts when I experience the suffering of young people in care, and realise I 
do not have the knowledge to help them.  I find that traditional ways of knowing in 
western culture – Christian theistic religion and classical Newtonian science – do not 
provide me with the knowledge required to resolve this ignorance.  Intuitively, I feel 
there must be more effective ways of knowing.  This thesis records my search for a way 
of knowing that enables me to find meaning in a world where such suffering is possible.

This search has taken me to many places.  Intellectually, my sources of theory and 
information include the social sciences, philosophy, depth and transpersonal psychology, 
eastern and western religions, quantum physics, and a science of consciousness.  
Professionally, I have moved from social work, to education, and then to the development 
of my own business.  

In engaging with an ‘experiment in depth’, I develop a meditative and journaling practice 
which connects me to a sense of a loving dynamic energy with limitless creative 
potential.  I realise that over time, through being ‘true to myself’, my connection with this 
source provides me with a spiritual resilience which enables me to retain equanimity 
within life’s challenges.  

The hypothesis that feels meaningful and makes most sense of my experience is that I 
am involved in an evolution of consciousness, where the story of humanity is the story of 
‘self-disclosure of spirit’ (Ferrer 2002).  My experience of synchronicity provides evidence 
of a principle of interconnection and integration between psyche and matter, inner and 
outer, theory and action, science and spirituality. 

Through telling my personal story, I offer an emergent methodology that includes both 
narrative inquiry and action research.  I generate a living theory which offers ‘spiritual 
resilience gained through connection with a loving dynamic energy’ as an original 
standard of judgment. " 

I'm hoping to have Joan's thesis on the web in the first week of September.

Penny - sorry not to have got back to you sooner - I've been on holiday and at the 7th 
International Conference of the Self-Study of Teacher Education Practice (S-STEP) Special 
Interest Group of AERA.  You can get updates about BERA events from http://www.bera.ac.uk/ .

The proceedings from the S-STEP conference are accessible from http://tinyurl.com/5amky8 . It's a wonderful up-to-date record of the accounts of 
practitioner-researchers.

I think everyone might enjoy Jill Farrell's and Mark Rosenkrantz's contribution on Cultivating Collaborative Self-study Living Theory: Laying a Foundation for Teacher
Learning on pages 120-124.

Love Jack.