Skip to main content
Log in

W(h)ither practitioner research?

  • Published:
The Australian Educational Researcher Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to understand better the possibilities for practitioner research as a mode of educational inquiry that is yet to be legitimated within the academy. The paper maps the current state of play, and then moves on to consider what might yet be done to optimise its potential to contribute to rigorous new thinking about educational practice. Its exploration is in three parts: first, it seeks to account for the ambivalent status of practitioner research in the larger context of the modern university; second, it moves on from this account to argue both the value and the limitations of practitioner research as a contemporary mode of knowledge production in education; and finally, it suggests ways that practitioner research might be less delimited in terms of its capacities to produce knowledge that is useful to a wider range of stakeholders.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Althusser L. (1971) Lenin and Philosophy, and Other Essays, B. Brewster, trans., Monthly Review Press, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Anderson G.L. & Herr K. (1999) The new paradigm wars: Is there room for rigorous practitioner knowledge in schools and universities? Educational Researcher, 28 (5), pp.12–21+40.

    Google Scholar 

  • Apple M. (1984) The political economy of text publishing, Educational Theory, vol. 43, no. 2, pp. 307–19.

    Google Scholar 

  • Avison D., R. Baskerville and M. Myers (2001) Controlling action research projects, Information Technology and People, vol. 14, no. 1, p. 28.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bowles S. and H. Gintis (1976) Schooling in Capitalist America, Basic Books, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bruck D., R. Hallett, B. Hood, I. MacDonald and S. Moore (2001) Enhancing student satisfaction in higher education: the creation of staff teaching communities, Australian Educational Researcher, vol. 28, no. 2, pp. 79–97.

    Google Scholar 

  • Buckingham B. (1926) Research for Teachers. New York: Silver, Burdett.

    Google Scholar 

  • Burchell G. (1993) Liberal government and techniques of the self, Economy and Society, 22 (3), 267–282.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Burke K. (1997) Designing Professional Portfolios for Change, Hawker Brownlow, Australia.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carr W. and S. Kemmis (1986) Becoming Critical: Education, Knowledge and Action Research, Falmer Press, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Conway J. and P. Little (2001) Problem-based learning: a strategy or entrapment, enslavement or empowerment? In P. Little, T. O. Seng, P. Kandlbinder, A. Williams, K. Clearly and J. Conway, eds., Proceedings of the 3rd Asia-Pacific Conference on Problem-Based Learning: Experience, Empowerment and Evidence, Australian Problem-Based Network, Callaghan, NSW.

    Google Scholar 

  • Corey S. (1953) Action Research to Improve School Practices, Teachers College Press, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Corey S. (1982) Action research, fundamental research and educational practices, in Action Research in Curriculum Course Team (S. Kemmis, chair), The Action Research Reader, 2nd ed., Deakin University Press, Geelong.

    Google Scholar 

  • Elliot J. (1988) Educational research and outsider-insider relations, International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 54–62.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Filmer P. (1997) Disinterestedness and the modern university, in A. Smith and F. Webster, eds., The Postmodern University: Contested Visions of Higher Education, Open University Press, Philadelphia.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gadamer H. (1975) Truth and Method. Translated and edited by G. Bardena and J. Cumming. New York: Seabury Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hamilton D. and E. McWilliam (2002) Ex-centric voices that frame research on teaching, in V. Richardson, ed., Handbook for Research on Teaching, 4th ed., American Educational Research Association, Washington.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hitchcock G. and D. Hughes (1995) Research and the Classroom Teacher, Routledge, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hobart M. (1993) (Ed.) An Anthropological Critique of Development: The growth of ignorance. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hodgkinson J. (1957) Action research: a critique, Journal of Educational Sociology, vol. 31, no. 4, pp. 137–53.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kemmis S. and R. McTaggart (1988) The Action Research Planner, 3rd ed., Deakin University Press, Geelong.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lather P. (1986) Research as praxis, Harvard Educational Review, vol. 56, no. 3, pp. 257–77.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lather P. (1991) Feminist Research in Education: Within/Against, Deakin University Press, Geelong.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lewin K. (1946) Action research and minority problems, Journal of Social Issues, vol. 2, pp. 34–46.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McAllister M. and L. Stockhausen (2001) Using action research within a school of nursing: exposing tensions in ideologies, Australian Journal of Advanced Nursing, vol. 18, no. 4, pp. 15–22.

    Google Scholar 

  • McConnell D. (2002) Action research and distributed problem-based learning in continuing professional education, Distance Education, vol. 23, no. 1, pp. 59–83.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McNamee M. (2001) The guilt of whistle-blowing: conflicts in action research and educational ethnography, Journal of Philosophy of Education, vol. 35, no. 3, pp. 423–42.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McTaggart R. (1991) Action Research: A Short Modern History, Deakin University Press, Geelong.

    Google Scholar 

  • McWilliam E. (1994) In Broken Images: Feminist Tales for a Different Teacher Education, Teachers College Press, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • McWilliam E. (1999) Pedagogical Pleasures, Peter Lang Publishing, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • McWilliam E. (2000) The perfect corporate fit: new knowledge for new times, International Journal of Leadership in Education: Theory and Practice, vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 75–83.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McWilliam E. (2002) Against professional development, Educational Philosophy and Theory, vol. 34, no. 3, pp. 289–300.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meadmore D., Hatcher C. and McWilliam E. (2000) Getting Tense about Genealogy, International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 13 (5), 463–476.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meredyth D. and Tyler D. (1993) Child and Citizen: Genealogies of Schooling and Subjectivity, Brisbane: Griffith University.

    Google Scholar 

  • Popkewitz T. (1997) Educational sciences and the normalisations of the teacher and the child: some historical notes on current USA pedagogical reforms, in I. Nilsson and L. Lundahl, eds., Teachers, Curriculum and Policy, Umea University, Sweden.

    Google Scholar 

  • Potter G. (2001) The power of collaborative research in teachers’ professional development, Australian Journal of Early Childhood, vol. 26, no. 2, pp. 8–13.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sankaran S., B. Dick, R. Passfield, P. Swepson, eds., (2001) Effective Change Management using Action Learning and Action Research: Concepts, Frameworks, Processes, Applications, Southern Cross University Press, Lismore, Australia.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smyth J. (2001) Critical Politics of Teachers’ Work: An Australian Perspective, Peter Lang Publishing, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tickle L. (2001) Opening windows, closing doors: ethical dilemmas in educational action research, Journal of Philosophy of Education, vol. 35, no. 3, pp. 345–60.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Untersteiner M. (1954) The Sophists, K. Freeman, trans., Basil Blackwell, Oxford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wallace M. (1987) A historical review of action research: some implications for the education of teachers in their managerial role, Journal of Education for Teaching, vol. 13, no. 2, pp. 97–115.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Willis P. E. (1977) Learning to Labour: How Working-Class Kids get Working-Class Jobs, Saxon House, Westmead, Farnborough, Hants.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zeichner K. M. and S. E. Noffke (2001) Practitioner research, in V. Richardson, ed., The Handbook for Research on Teaching, 4th ed., American Educational Research Association, Washington.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

McWilliam, E. W(h)ither practitioner research?. Aust. Educ. Res. 31, 113–126 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03249522

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03249522

Keywords

Navigation