Abstract
This article explores the outcomes of an action research project focusing in particular on how taking joint actions with the teachers in their own local school context helped transform them into reflective practitioners. Specifically, action research was devised as a means to respond to the challenges of professionalism and integrity of teachers in Uganda. It also shows how pertinent it is to empower teachers, especially those working in difficult, constrained environments to design interventions for addressing some of the challenging situations. It is based on a research project where I worked collectively with 21 teachers to break communication barriers by creating a forum for dialogue. We borrowed the theories of reflection, discretionary practice, and normative professionalism, to guide the innovation. Framed around the concept of Professional Institutional Engagement (PIE), our understanding was that professionals should engage with both their profession and the institution for which they work, given that every institution has unique challenges for which teachers are not specifically trained to address. We found opening communicative space for free deliberation on contextual issues to be very important in collective learning. I show that participants had to come to terms with their roles and responsibilities through dialogue and reflection on their day today work practices. Thus, I suggest going beyond generally acceptable rules of procedures and engaging with both the profession and the institutions as being paramount for professional reforms.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Angucia M (2010) Broken citizenship. Formerly Abducted Children and Their Social Reintegration in Northern Uganda Rozenberg Publishers, Amsterdam
Armstrong M (2010) Armstrong’s essential human resource management practice: a guide to people management. Kogan Page Publishers
Banks S (2009) From professional ethics to ethics in professional life: implications for learning, teaching and study. Ethics and Social Welfare 3(1):55–63
Banks, Sarah. (2004). Ethics, accountability, and the social professions
Banks S (2010) From professional ethics to ethics in professional life: reflections on learning and teaching in social work. Faculty of Social Work, University of Ljubljana
Bodorkós B, Pataki G (2009) Local communities empowered to plan? Applying PAR to establish democratic communicative spaces for sustainable rural development. Action Res 7(3):313–334
Boog B (2007) Quality of action research: reciprocal understanding of (scientific) researchers and participating researchers. The Quality of Practitioner Research: Reflections on the Position of the Researcher and the Researched, pp 65–76
Campbell, E. (2003). The ethical teacher. McGraw-hill education (UK)
Creswell JW (2002) Educational research: planning, conducting, and evaluating quantitative. Prentice Hall Upper, Saddle River, NJ
Dworkin AG (1987) Teacher burnout in the public schools: structural causes and consequences for children. Suny Press
Freidson E (1994) Professionalism reborn: theory, prophecy, and policy. University of Chicago Press
Friedman VJ, Sykes I, Strauch M (2014) Expanding the realm of the possible: enclaves and the transformation of fields. Acad Manag Proc 2014(1):1–30
Fullan M (2009) Motion leadership: the skinny on becoming change savvy. Corwin Press
Griffin R (2012) Teacher education in sub-Sahara Africa: closer perspectives: annual report of Centre for Global Development. Symposium Books, Oxford
Hennink M, Hutter I, Bailey A (2010) Qualitative research methods, Sage
Hyland NE (2009) Opening and closing communicative space with teachers investigating race and racism in their own practice. Action Res 7(3):335–354
Jansen JD (2004) Autonomy and accountability in the regulation of the teaching profession: a south African case study. Res Pap Educ 19(1):51–66
Jarvis, P. (1997). Ethics and education for adults in a late modern society
Jarvis P (2007) Globalization, lifelong learning and the learning society: sociological perspectives. Routledge
Kaahwa, M. (2005). Teacher education in the changing society: strategies to meet the new demands for teachers
Kasente D (2010) Enhancing the quality of primary education in Uganda: a case for improved literacy and improving the quality of teaching. Fountain Publ
Kemmis S (2006) Participatory action research and the public sphere. Educational Action Research 14(4):459–476
Kibwika P (2006) Learning to make change: developing innovation competence for recreating the African university of the 21st century. Wageningen Academic Pub
Koehn D (2006) The ground of professional ethics. Routledge
Krueger RA (1997) Analyzing and reporting focus group results, vol 6. Sage publications
Kunneman, H. (2012). Good work: the ethics of craftsmanship
Kunneman H (2005) Social work as laboratory for normative professionalisation. Social Work & Society 3(2):191–200
Lohman MC (2000) Environmental inhibitors to informal learning in the workplace: a case study of public school teachers. Adult Educ Q 50(2):83–101
McNiff J (2009) You and your action research project. Routledge
Ministry of Education and Sports (MoES). (2012). The Education Service Commission Regulations 2012 (GoU, Statutory Instruments 2012 No. No. 51). Kampala, Uganda
Munene, J. C. (2009). The management of universal primary education in Uganda. Organisation for social science research in eastern and southern Africa (OSSREA)
Nakabugo MG, Bisaso R, Masembe CS (2011) The continuum of teacher professional development: towards a coherent approach to the development of secondary school teachers in Uganda. Makerere University Retrieved April 10:2015
Nengwekhulu R (2008) Reflections on improving teacher performance. Africa Education Review 5(2):338–350
Newton J, Goodman H (2009) Only to connect: systems psychodynamics and communicative space. Action Res 7(3):291–312
Pimenta SG (2007) Critical-collaborative action research: constructing its meaning through experiences in teacher education and practice. In: The quality of practitioner research. Brill Sense, pp 77–95
Razer M, Friedman VJ (2017) From exclusion to excellence: building restorative relationships to create inclusive schools. Springer
Sahlberg P (2011) Finnish lessons. Teachers College Press
Schön DA (1987) Educating the reflective practitioner. Jossey-Bass San Francisco
Singer P (1995) How are we to live?: ethics in an age of self-interest. Prometheus Books
Snoeren MM, Niessen TJ, Abma TA (2012) Engagement enacted: essentials of initiating an action research project. Action Res 10(2):189–204
Song L, Kenton JM (2010) Action research in schools: the PRACTITIONERS’PERSPECTIVES. Ontario Action Researcher 10(3)
Tao S (2013) Why are teachers absent? Utilising the capability approach and critical realism to explain teacher performance in Tanzania. Int J Educ Dev 33(1):2–14
UNESCO (2009) Policy Guidelines on Inclusion in Education. Retrieved from http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0017/001778/177849e.pdf. Accessed 8 June 2015
UWEZO, Uganda (2013) Are our children learning? Literacy and Numeracy Across East Africa 2013. Retrieved from http://www.uwezo.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/2013-Annual-Report-Final-Web-version.pdf. Accessed 7 Sept 2015
Van Strien PJ (1997) Towards a methodology of psychological practice: the regulative cycle. Theory Psychol 7(5):683–700
Wabule A (2016) Continuous professional development: what role and who benefits? Reflections on teacher development in Uganda. Africa Education Review 13(3–4):141–156
Wabule, A. (2017). Professional integrity of teachers in Uganda: practical action strategies
Wicks, P. G., & Reason, P. (2009). Initiating action research: Challenges and paradoxes of opening communicative space
Zeichner KM (1993) Action research: personal renewal and social reconstruction. Educational Action Research 1(2):199–219
Acknowledgements
This research was made possible through funding by the Netherlands Fellowship Program (NFP).
Grant number: NFP-PhD.11/787.
I am grateful to the Wits Centre for Diversity Studies, University of Witwatersrand, for the Post-doctoral Fellowship award that facilitated the writing of this article.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Publisher’s Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Wabule, A. Beyond Rules of Procedures: Utilising Participatory Action Research (PAR) to Enhance Reflective Practice and Normative Professionalism. Syst Pract Action Res 33, 393–408 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11213-019-09494-9
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11213-019-09494-9