Dear Elenor, Jack, friends.
Good to hear from you, I would like to tease out, if I may, a clearer 
understanding of how relational is being used by you I respectfully 
suggest that there is not enough evidence to make the claim that there 
is enough evidence by accounts offered so far. I am anxious in the 
sense that the lens, of vision or focus is not as open to others as 
perhaps it could be.  I believe it is premature to make such a claim, 
to offer cases of “best practice” or exemplars as we have seen is fine. 
  Such values appear to have a currency outside that of the Eurocentric 
paradigm. I say appears to have because all the practitioners cited 
have been influenced by the living action research approached, seeded 
by Jack, to which I also ascribe. This list is dominated by Bath 
influenced researchers all articulating with great authority the 
correctness of being world leaders. What I feel is needed is accounts 
from practitioners outside the living action research paradigm. One of 
the tests of research is to have your values tested by or confirmed by 
a different research approach.  If living action research is making the 
claim as Jack is suggesting then only the members of that particular 
approach would be able to validate or challenge their own practice and 
support or not the claim that they were world leaders. I for one do not 
feel or see myself as a world leader. I also struggle to see what 
others tell me to see in video clips. Does this mean I am any less of a 
scholar? Or my ability to appreciate the value of my own practice and 
its results in the classroom?  I think not,  I do accept that 
multimedia is a way forward to presenting practitioner research but I 
feel we have not yet offered enough proof of process and the stories of 
what went wrong which can be just as learning as what went right. Sue’s 
picture made me laugh outright; I suspect that many parents would 
identify with their own images of such a situation. It was easy to 
place oneself into that very context, easy to understand the situation. 
I was moved by the trust and mischief in the eyes of the children. Such 
reflections showed me the difficulty I had in relating the posting of 
my Buddhist practice and how it was received. Few people would be able 
to enter the “relational” as it was unknown.  This I understand and it 
is this that brings up my concerns about world leaders. To those 
immersed in living-action approach methodology, theory and practice 
such as I am, perhaps we should come up for air to see the situation 
from another perspective?
I am passionate about the practice of Living-action-research, yet even 
I struggle with the language of the list.  While I appreciate the drive 
and the perceived need to be moving forward. I also understand and 
practice the Buddhist teachings of observing the journey as being 
important to the process. I felt that a very important point has been 
left in the silence, one which Eleanor so bravely shared and that was 
the feelings over the process of her PhD. If I am wrong in my 
understanding, I apologise but it is my understanding. I felt that a 
violation of the individual process has occurred, in a sense may be an 
unavoidable one. I read the first draft of the thesis, it was alive and 
vibrant with relational meaning. Filled with the exploration of a faith 
that was being explored and lived in love in its emergence in and 
through practice. I am using emergence in the sense of the many 
different strands of love Eleanor expressed. The second thesis was very 
different in feeling but acceptable to the academy.  I ask my self the 
question as to which one is being referred to? The one Eleanor wrote 
with her heart or the one “sanctioned “by the academy and the one that 
left such a vibrant scholar feeling so disconnected from her thesis?  I 
felt the sense of loss and sadness in Eleanor’s words that she was 
unable to form a relationship with her examiners.  In that very 
sentence my fears were triggered for I am soon facing my own thesis 
defence, how would I cope with such a situation? Not as well as Eleanor 
has, for if the examiners were such that no relationship was possible, 
how then would they be able to share the  insights and meanings of my 
work. I suggest that if that was the case. The living world leading 
values we are talking about come down to individual interpretation, 
grounded in how the examiners engage with the work backed with the 
invested pedagogy of power. Is this not the very process we are engaged 
in now? Could it not be that the very voice we as living action 
researchers claim to be representing is silencing other members by the 
very scholastic power and authority of communications?

Could it not be that many on the list are feeling as Eleanor is 
feeling: that they can not make a relationship with us? Have we become 
exclusional in our language, we talk about making space for the other 
but do we? So once again I respectfully suggest that we are not ready 
or mature in the sense of inclusional practice for such a claim. There 
is a lot of wisdom in the saying:  “a few trees do not a forest make” 
especially when there are so many ready with the chainsaw..smile.


Now eleanor, I wonder who's skin this will get under smile??

Deepest love to all
Je Kan



Quoting E LOHR <[log in to unmask]>:

> Dear everyone,
>
>   I learn by responding to others, their ideas, our joint action, 
> their responses to me.  I learn and express myself through building 
> relation within my particular frame.  I hope to influence because we 
> all live in this socially constructed world.  Whether or not I 
> notice, and can be influenced, will depend on how much our relation 
> makes sense, grabs my attention.
>
>   My learning is relational, and thus my (e)pistemology is relational 
> (sorry Yaacub) and I discern the truth relationally.  I point to the 
> experience of my PhD vivas.
>
>   At the first examination I assumed that it was possible to have a 
> relation with my examiners and in the session I put a lot into it, 
> hoping to create common ground.  At the second re-examination (having 
> worked hard at understanding what they were asking for in the 
> rewrite, and knowing that I had succeeded in making myself understood 
> in their terms, rather than in my own)  I knew there was no relation. 
>  A comparison of the 2 video'd sessions shows this.  Having been 
> awarded my doctorate I felt like shit.  Couldn't understand why, 
> after all I had demonstrated - to myself at least - that I could 
> write my thesis from at least two differeing perspectives - so I must 
> be really clever!
>
>   Then later that year, I presented some of my findings at a 
> workshop.  The response was positive, life affirming, wonderful. I 
> found it so, not because participants agreed with what I had to say, 
> but because by their reponses they showed that they had understood my 
> meaning. In this way six years of study were validated.  In contrast, 
> my examiners had refused to make a relation, and although they 
> 'passed' me, I knew that the process of reading and examining had had 
> no impact, had made no contribution to the sum of either their 
> knowledge or mine.
>
>   JeKan - if you want to teach well, surely you've gotta let people 
> get under your skin!
>
>   With love,
>   Eleanor
>
> Marie Huxtable <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>           I dont know whether this helps but I find the reconnection 
> of theory with practice in some of the accounts on 
> http://people.bath.ac.uk/edsajw/mastermod.shtml
> and
> http://people.bath.ac.uk/edsajw/moira.shtml
>
> When I disappear up my own logic at times I have a little dip into 
> these pools and find the flow between theorising and practice 
> revitalised. I hope these three extracts might give you a sense of 
> why and might entice you to have a little dip and see whether it 
> works for you. I am aware that the extracts I give dont actually 
> convey the beauty and humanity of these practitioners working with 
> their students as they create their accounts through engaging in 
> Living Educational Research. I hope you will read at least a couple 
> of the accounts to see how they communicate to you.
>
>   How can I attract my students' attention educationally? by Ma Li Juan
>
>   CECEARFLT, Ningxia Teachers University, Guyuan 756000 Draft, May 
> 2006. http://www.jackwhitehead.com/china/malijuanar3.htm
>
>
>   I read Ma Li Juan's question a year ago and it has come back to me 
> over and over. I hope this will encourage you to want to read her 
> journey.
>
>
>   It is a truth that no two English classes are ever the same. The 
> process of educating requires teachers to use their own intuitive 
> awareness that there is not one fixed methodology, which will work 
> with all students, and that there is not one set of materials which 
> will guarantee successful learning for all. As teachers we should 
> never stop learning as we teach. We should be creative and 
> imaginative. We should seek various way of teaching in order to make 
> the class more interesting and effective.
>
>   During the process of doing the research, I have established a good 
> relationship with my students. What a teacher also should be is 
> considerate. The basis of the progress I have made can be summed up 
> by the phrase 'an educative relationship between teachers and 
> students'. This happens when you know more about your students. I 
> have some findings about it, and this really interests me because I 
> believe it's crucial to the development of my living educational 
> theory, so my next AR will begin with the question: How can I 
> establish a more educational relationship with my students?
>
>
>   How can I carry out Masters level educational research without 
> abandoning my own educational values? - Ed Harker 
> http://www.jackwhitehead.com/tuesdayma/ehee06.htm To give you a taste 
> this is the introduction:
>
>   This is a piece of "educational research" in the sense used by 
> Whitty (2005), as it is "consciously geared towards improving policy 
> and practise" and carried out by someone directly involved in current 
> teaching.
>
>   I am defining myself as a "practitioner researcher" (Dadds & Hart, 
> 2001), and hope to show that through my engagement in "methodological 
> inventiveness", or the exploration of new ways to research my 
> practise, I have been motivated to write this account.
>   The account is also a record of my attempt to produce evidence for 
> the educational values that I believe I embody "whose validity can be 
> tested against publicly communicable standards of judgement" (McNiff 
> & Whitehead, 2006). I will provide this evidence through the close 
> analysis of short video clips and photographs taken in the Nursery 
> Class in which I teach.
>
>   How can I live my personal theory of education in the classroom to 
> promote self reflection as a learner? -  Joy Mounter   
> http://www.jackwhitehead.com/tuesdayma/joymounteree.htm Again to give 
> you the flavour, and hopefully it might invite you to read her 
> account:
>
>   Through this account of my enquiry I want to explore my educational 
> theories, how they influence my teaching and how I can share this and 
> inspire the children in my class to be self reflective learners.
>
>   Joy in her conclusion writes:
>   …shouldn't equally the children have a voice?
>   Shouldn't there be an expectation that to have a clear picture all 
> need to understand the process of reflection through action research 
> and have a platform to share ideas and be listened to!
>   Joy’s present account that she is working on shows how she has 
> listened to the children (they are 6 year olds) and the consequences 
> – they are co-creating their own learning theories with her which in 
> the creation is influencing their learning and that of others. By you 
> reading Joy’s account you are enabling the children to do what they 
> are wanting to do; to get their voice heard as respected co-creators 
> of valued knowledge.
>
>
>
>   ----- Original Message ----
> From: Rev Je Kan Adler-Collins <[log in to unmask]>
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Sent: Saturday, 27 January, 2007 10:34:36 AM
> Subject: Re: Is Truth Relational?
>
>   I have a sense of frustration about me, I know it’s my own issue but I
> want to share it with members on this forum. Reading the postings is a
> joy for me being a foreign educator in Japan.  I crave conversations
> that feed my desire to question my practice, share my thoughts, and
> have a shoulder to cry on when I am up to my butt in alligators.  My
> sense of frustration stems from the complete lack of practitioner
> accounts that are being shared. I love the deep philosophical debates
> that are shared and the values they hold even the tension the words
> create. But is no one teaching? Does every one have perfect class
> rooms, perfect students, nurturing colleagues, , understanding
> management , enough resources and time, simple easily delivered non
> challenging curriculum?  If so I guess I had better give up my day job
> and head back to the mountains and contemplate the meaning of truth.
> How does truth relate to praxis? What are the real life issues of being
> on the coal face of practice?  Palmer(1998)talks about the courage to
> teach and directly relates his narrative to his practice in the
> classroom. Tilly (2006) in his book “Why” identifies  reasons  and list
> four of them: convention, narratives, technical cause and effect
> accounts, codes or work place jargon. Analysis of posting to this forum
> would indicate that many reasons are being give and good ones, lots of
> deep moving earth shattering questions have been asked that I no clue
> how to answer and engaged with.  How can we talk about truths when we
> have no accounts of practice in which to ground the trustworthiness of
> the word?.
>
> When I have a bad day in the classroom and the student from hell has
> reincarnated into my space. I try so hard to be understanding,
> compassionate, caring, holding the space and thanking the individual
> for showing me how much I have still to learn. Yet I struggle as I have
> visions of the Billy Liar nature and some times I wish to really speak
> the truth.  99% of my students  present their own challenges but I
> fixate on trying to reach the one disinterested student? Why do I do
> that?  This one student I have in mind if he was any more laid back he
> would be horizontal under his desk. Why is it that I see his impending
> failure and also my failure? I see his anger, his rage, his I don’t
> give a F*** attitude.  When I was a soldier we used to be given reality
> checks by our instructors, the reality of a bad attitude, poor
> motivation and its consequences were pointed out between carefully
> placed blows. While I am not advocating such a course of action how
> ever attractive! I have this sense of sadness at the loss of the
> opportunity this student is throwing away. Any ideas?
>
> Je Kan
>
>
>
>
> Quoting Brian wakeman <[log in to unmask]>:
>
>> Thank you for taking the time to respond in this way
>> Jack,
>>
>> I was interested in reading about the three
>> epistemologies you have made explicit.
>>
>> You have helped me understand where you are coming
>> from in some of your publications and postings.
>>
>> I agreed with your first paragraph about "having lots
>> more to do".
>>
>> Kind regards
>>
>>
>> Brian
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --- Jack Whitehead <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>
>>> On 24 Jan 2007, at 20:22, Brian wakeman wrote:
>>>
>>> I wonder whether we have explored fully enough the
>>> idea of truth
>>> being relational and more personal: ie. that truth
>>> is not necessarily
>>> an abstract conceptor in research a set of
>>> categories or a check
>>> listwehave to subscribe to for verifying
>>> truthclaims......but more
>>> "being true", same root as troth'.
>>> 'Trustworthiness', 'faithfulness'
>>> in relational ethical terms to the people involved
>>> in the research,
>>> or to our potential audience?
>>>
>>> Recently I've been reading about 'truth' in Hebrew
>>> thought that has
>>> this relational and ethical dimension according to
>>> Brian Walsh and
>>> Sylvia Keesmaat(Colossians re: Mixed. Subverting The
>>> Empire.
>>> Paternoster Press 2005)
>>>
>>> Similarly 'love': "Chesed", 'peace': 'Shalom',
>>> 'respect','fairness'
>>> and 'justice' : 'Sedeq'......are all activities,
>>> actions, something
>>> we do, rather than concepts we talk about.....
>>> according to the
>>> ancient Prophets. Apparently the O.T. idea of
>>> 'covenant' is similarly
>>> rich and meaningful.
>>>
>>> On 25 Jan 2007, at 17:27, Brian wakeman wrote:
>>> >
>>> > but what do people feel about the questions I
>>> expressed about the
>>> > truth of our practitioner research?
>>>
>>> Dear Brian and All,  I think we've lots more to do
>>> in developing our
>>> understandings of the nature of the
>>> standards/discernments that are
>>> appropriate for evaluating/assessing/judging the
>>> truth in
>>> contributions to knowledge of
>>> practitioner-researchers.  I've been
>>> influenced by three different epistemologies. In
>>> propositional claims
>>> to knowledge, truth is usually assessed in terms of
>>> the relationships
>>> between concepts. Contradictions between statements
>>> are not permitted
>>> under the Aristotelean Law of contradiction.
>>> Dialecticians hold a
>>> different view of truth where living contradictions
>>> are the nucleus
>>> of dialectics. Truth is a practical matter. I like
>>> the way Feyerabend
>>> writes in his Against Method that the meaning of
>>> truth can be
>>> understood in the course of its emergence in
>>> practice. Followers of
>>> Merleau-Ponty and his Phenemenology/Primacy of
>>> Perception stress the
>>> importance of embodied knowledge. Polanyi in his
>>> 1958 Personal
>>> Knowledge, stressed the importance of a logic of
>>> affirmation and the
>>> need to strip away the crippling mutilations of
>>> centuries of
>>> objectivist thought. Barbara Thayer-Bacon in her
>>> book on Relational
>>> (e)pistemologies writes:
>>>
>>> "I offer a self-conscious and reflective
>>> (e)pistemological theory,
>>> one that attempts to be adjustable and adaptable as
>>> people gain
>>> further in understanding. This (e)pistemology must
>>> be inclusive and
>>> open to others, because of its assumption of
>>> fallible knowers. And
>>> this (e)pistemology must be capable of being
>>> corrected because of its
>>> assumption that our criteria and standards are of
>>> this world, ones
>>> we, as fallible knowers, socially construct."
>>> (Thayer-Bacon, 2003, p.7).
>>>
>>> What I like about what you are saying Brian, is that
>>> love, respect,
>>> fairness and other ethical values are all
>>> activities, something we
>>> do. Eleanor's doctoral thesis on Love at Work shows
>>> how love can be
>>> expressed as a living standard of judgment in the
>>> academy. Eleanor
>>> clarifies her meanings of love in the course of
>>> love's emergence in
>>> the practice of her enquiry. Marian has shown how a
>>> living meaning of
>>> passion for compassion can emerge from her
>>> inclusional and responsive
>>> practice. I'm suggesting that you your focus on the
>>> idea of truth
>>> being relational and more personal is crucial in
>>> developing world
>>> leading standards of judgment from
>>> practitioner-research. I'm also
>>> agreeing about the importance of a relational and
>>> ethical dimension
>>> and that our ethical values are expressed in our
>>> activities and actions.
>>>
>>> What I also feel about your questions is that unless
>>> as a matter of
>>> urgency we answer them with practitioner-researcher
>>> accounts that are
>>> original, significant and rigorous, we are unlikely
>>> to influence the
>>> research assessment exercise in a direction that
>>> will support
>>> practitioner-research. To answer your questions with
>>> the potential
>>> for this kind of influence I'm feeling that we will
>>> have to direct
>>> each others' attention to the
>>> practitioner-researcher accounts that
>>> respond to your questions in a way that demonstrates
>>> their
>>> originality, significance and rigor in terms of
>>> their world leading,
>>> internationally excellent, internationally
>>> recognised and/or
>>> nationally recognised standards of judgment. In
>>> response to your
>>> questions I'm also wondering if you (or anyone on
>>> the list) would be
>>> willing to identify practitioner-researcher that
>>> answers your
>>> questions in ways that you/we would recognise as
>>> world leading in
>>> terms of originality, significance and rigor.
>>>
>>> Love Jack.
>>>
>>
>>
>> Brian E. Wakeman
>> Education adviser
>> Dunstable
>> Beds
>>
>>
>
>
>
> Rev Je Kan Adler-Collins
> Assistant Professor of Nursing
> Fukuoka Prefectural University Faculty of Nursing
> Tagawa City
> Fukuoka Prefecture
> Japan
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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Rev Je Kan Adler-Collins
Assistant Professor of Nursing
Fukuoka Prefectural University Faculty of Nursing
Tagawa City
Fukuoka Prefecture
Japan