Dear Everyone (Dear Jack and Mohsen),
A very interesting and pertinent question has been raised by Jack with regard to Mohsen's paper. I
can certainly vouch for the fact that your writing, Mohsen, has influenced me and should you write
a further paper I'd be delighted to endorse a claim you'd make about your educational influence.
The point I would like to make is this. In practitioner research I think one can, and arguably it is
important to, consider the 'stage of generation' of any piece of research. When, for example, Jack,
I read your article CREATING A LIVING EDUCATIONAL THEORY FROM QUESTIONS OF THE KIND,
'HOW DO I IMPROVE MY PRACTICE?' published in the Cambridge Journal of Education, Vol. 19,
No.1,1989, pp. 41-52 I see you expressing your beliefs but although you claim to be working with
a group of practitioners there is little evidence (any evidence?) of the huge influence you will later
exert on practitioners. In your later writings, you do tend to list the roll call of students you have
assisted in their studies or rather usually those who have gained accreditation at MA or PhD level.
The early stage of 'generational research' is very often a statement of belief albeit backed up from
a number of literary sources. At a later generational stage, the influence of those same beliefs can
be validated, should one so wish, through the accounts of others on whom one has an influence.
Of course, there is perhaps another ethical issue here. How far would a student deny his or her
supervisor's educational influence if asked to do so, especially if accreditation is still uncertain?
I am thinking of my own educational influence here and some guilt I still feel at having asked my
students while I was at the University of Bath about whether I was having an educational influence
on their professional development. It's something I wouldn't do now - seek such pubic validation
- if it is offered well and good but even then it is important to understand why it might be given.
What a fascinating line of enquiry ... how far can and should the quality of practitioner research be
legitimised within a power/control relationship between a student and his or her supervisor in HE?
Warm regards to everyone,
Sarah
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