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----- Original Message ---- From: Rev Je Kan Adler-Collins <[log in to unmask]> To: [log in to unmask] Sent: Tuesday, 20 February, 2007 2:12:24 AM Subject: Re: Research based practice To extract concerns me as to do so can often distort, but it would make for an enormously long email to paste all the different postings in their entirety that I am trying to ‘hold’. Can I ask anyone who reads this to be aware that I am thinking in the context of all of the postings in this thread by Maggie, Jack, Jean, Je Kan, Bernie, Donal and Pip. I am also very aware that to extract pieces of text can significantly and inadvertently change or distort the orginal intention; my apologies to those I quote where I have done so, and I hope they feel I have honoured and not violated what they offered. As I read I am thinking very particularly of Jack Whitehead 18 February, 2007 1:07:39 PM …How does this sound - to be world leading as distinct from internationally recognised or internationally excellent, the practitioner knowledge-creator must explain their systemic influence in an organisation in a way that forms and sustains a culture of educational enquiry and that supports individual practitioners in generating and testing their own living theories? … my emerging understands of the idea of inclusionality as a relationally dynamic awareness of space and boundaries that is connective, reflective and co-creative (Alan Rayner) … and the thoughts that Je Kan has provoked by his posting about the nature of the spaces that world class educators create (intra and inter – thank you Pete for this plum) and his description (describing but not defining – thank you Alan) of the movement of spaces and boundaries as his living theory (thanks Jack) transforms and transmutes (thank you Jean) into a thesis of doctoral quality in his last posting in response to Bernie. These postings are helping me think and explore a little more the nature of different spaces and boundaries. I do not accept that everything is acceptable in all spaces and there are no boundaries. I see boundaries as Alan described; a picture encompasses the frame (apologies if I have misunderstood or mis quoted); while accepting the frame/boundary is not fixed, rigid and impermeable but living and its permeability changes in response to the spaces surrounding it, and of which it is a part. So for me in the space for thought I have created for myself between Je Kan’s postings (I have put the ‘extractions’ below) and Jack’s (above) I am finding thoughts of dynamic connections between spaces within myself, those that are local to me and variously ‘professional’ and ‘personal’, and those that move to progressively less local places of doctorates, institutional and organisational influence, world leading and internationally recognised work…The boundaries I am seeing are not fixed but they do exist and without which the space/s could not exist but I want to understand them as places of meeting not disconnection. There are different ways of behaving in those different spaces and at those boundaries that can be experienced as excluding but I find an expression of one person’s freedom can be experienced as an imposition by another. The commonality for me is where Je Kan says ‘…certain qualities that are beyond race, culture or creed. It is these qualities that offer hope for humanity.’ So for me there is a ‘sameness’ about the spaces and boundaries that embrace a child in the classroom, a doctorate being submitted and examined, world leading and internationally recognised work. But at the same time while not trying to define them and force them irreconcilably apart I do recognise there is a distinction between them. So to reconnect with Jack’s question (and I hope you have to scroll up to find it and down to connect with Je Kan’s thoughts) – Jack - it sounds very good to me and I am wondering if my meanderings help or confuse. I hope this adds a smile not a frown to your day Marie Quoting Rev Je Kan Adler-Collins <[log in to unmask]> Tuesday, 20 February, 2007 2:12:24 AM Bernie, a great question: you wrote: Among these values are honesty, inclusionality, tolerance, an ethic of care and consciousness of the other. Are these some of the core values informing the standards of discernment for the assessment of your thesis, Je Kan? …I can move into and out of the claims of others as they inform my ignorance by raising more questions. And so extend the boundaries of my consciousness. I am using the words fluid state of tension deliberately as I wish to convey the meaning that while I seek to live these values in their praxis, I also need them to be fluidly dynamic in the sense … … The work of my thesis is the emergence of these values over time expressed in a living narrative grounded in… … While my thesis is a heuristic living action research account, it is also a rigorous research account…. Rev Je Kan Adler-Collins 7 January, 2007 2:53:10 AM ... I feel that what seems to a universal attribute, perhaps a value, is that most of the “world class” educators I know share certain qualities that are beyond race, culture or creed. It is these qualities that offer hope for humanity. I believe that they are space creators and they set about doing three major things: Firstly, They create spaces for learning that are built on the firm conviction of compassion, love and tolerance. Great educators that I know… All go out of their way to avoid any violation of the other, not in the complexity of word webs woven with double meanings but the shining brilliance of lived values in praxis. This space creation is such a gift as it is the building block of a safe space. What do I mean by safe space? Well, tough question, as educational spaces are such complex things often being shaped by external conditions and power relationships. I feel that the inner space as it were, the classroom or learning space that the teacher holds in making contact with their students, has to be safe. Safe enough to embrace the learning needs and vulnerabilities of the students, strong enough and compassionate enough to hold fluid boundaries that stop the space from being a therapeutic space alone and keep it focused on the learning tasks at hand. This brings me to the second skill these educators show and that is of holding the space. In Buddhist thinking we create a space by making its form, this is because all space is connected, the form is the causal or mental construction of visualizing the object. We also teach that lighting a candle in the dark attracts the moths!. So holding a space is a discipline that prevents others moving in to take over the space already created. Alan talks of the vamparic, I also suggest the cuckoo and energy that it not what it seems, invades spaces and then ejects all that was original from the space and replaces it with its own image. Great educators hold their space in service to others by the lived expression of their values. The third thing they do is clean the space, by clean I mean they create a space that is positively neutral… ----- Original Message ---- From: Rev Je Kan Adler-Collins <[log in to unmask]> To: [log in to unmask] Sent: Tuesday, 20 February, 2007 2:12:24 AM Subject: Re: Research based practice Bernie, agreat question: you wrote: Among these values are honesty, inclusionality, tolerance, an ethic of care and consciousness of the other. Are these some of the core values informing the standards of discernment for the assessment of your thesis, Je Kan? The values I wrote about have emerged and are embedded in my knowing in a fluid state of tension as I use them as living epistemological standards in my contribution to knowledge through my knowing. I feel as a result of all my research the only claim that I can make with any authority concerning knowing is that I know that I do not know. That understanding has freed me from the confines of knowledge claims. I can move into and out of the claims of others as they inform my ignorance by raising more questions. And so extend the boundaries of my consciousness. I am using the words fluid state of tension deliberately as I wish to convey the meaning that while I seek to live these values in their praxis, I also need them to be fluidly dynamic in the sense that my consciousness is brought to bear in an active state of mindfulness. Nothing is solid or as given , all is evolving in a constant state of evolution as I live my understanding that the boundaries to my knowing is my ignorance, for in the reality of practice , my claims to know shift and changes as each new experience modifies my knowing in a vast web of connectedness. The work of my thesis is the emergence of these values over time expressed in a living narrative grounded in the introduction, teaching and assessment of a new curriculum for healing nurses. Where your question hit a point of worry is that I have to rely on the social establishment’s selection rules of the examiners having the openness to engage with my understandings. That criterion has been under discussion in the exchanges between Jean and Jack, both experienced examiners. Would I like to be assessed with honesty, inclusionality, tolerance, an ethic of care and consciousness of the other. Yes of course, but will I? That remains to be seen for I claim that my thesis is an educational space of invitation and if those whom are invited can not understand my knowing or process through my error of communication, then in many ways I have not fulfilled that claim. If the language of my thesis excludes my reader then I have also failed another claim. If the examiner or reader excludes themselves then that is another issue. smile. I also have to be able to apply these values to my thesis, have I been honest, inclusional…etc. In the living sense of my narrative there were times when I was dishonest with myself as I tried to hide from the shadow of myself instead of honouring it as just a part of me that can reflect back my inner light. I not only tried to live these values but I know them in an inner sense of being, I also know when I do not met the level of commitment to them that I demand of myself but I see that I was seeking perfection and worrying over every action and how it would impact others, I tried to live as inclusionally as possible in a very hostile situation, telling myself that, all will be well, I am both the problem and the solution While my thesis is a heuristic living action research account ,it is also a rigours research account of a curriculum in another culture and the voices of the students experience of that curriculum. Change what you can change and change it well, what you can not change leave alone. I believe I have lived this and my thesis evidence that process, warts and all!. Quoting Bernie Sullivan <[log in to unmask]>: > Hi Maggie and all, > > It was lovely to be able to access your presentation of your > practitioner research at CESI. I particularly liked your explanation > in your posting of how living standards are expressed as clearly > communicated meanings that emerge from enquiries of the kind 'How do > I improve what I do?' I think 'clearly communicated' are key words > here. It is not sufficient that the standards of judgement or the > underlying values are implicit in the research. They need to be > stated explicitly so that they are clearly understood and > intelligible to readers of the research report, including PhD > examiners. > > In a recent posting, Je Kan articulated his values quite explicitly > and explained how they give meaning to his life. Among these values > are honesty, inclusionality, tolerance, an ethic of care and > consciousness of the other. Are these some of the core values > informing the standards of discernment for the assessment of your > thesis, Je Kan? > > Regards, > Bernie. > > > > > ----------------------------------------------------------------- > Find the home of your dreams with eircom net property > Sign up for email alerts now http://www.eircom.net/propertyalerts > Rev Je Kan Adler-Collins Assistant Professor of Nursing Fukuoka Prefectural University Faculty of Nursing Tagawa City Fukuoka Prefecture Japan ___________________________________________________________ Inbox full of unwanted email? Get leading protection and 1GB storage with All New Yahoo! Mail. http://uk.docs.yahoo.com/nowyoucan.html