Abstract
Participatory action research (PAR) is a useful methodological framework that empowers social actors to investigate their community context. The PAR framework helps to build the capacity for social change through taking action based on evidence. Evidence-based action is central to the vision of ASER Centre, a non government organization that facilitates the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER), one of the largest surveys on educational outcomes in India. This chapter describes and reports on how the ASER tools are utilized by educators and teacher candidates to translate India’s education policy into practice. The chapter examines how the ASER toolkit is used as an instrument for PAR. To do so, the chapter investigates a case study of the uses and perceptions of 62 teacher candidates on the ASER toolkit. The study’s findings reveal how the ASER toolkit helps contextualize teacher preparation through the facilitation of data gathering about and for the communities where teacher candidates are situated.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
We’re sorry, something doesn't seem to be working properly.
Please try refreshing the page. If that doesn't work, please contact support so we can address the problem.
References
Annual Status of Education Report 2013 (ASER). (2014). New Delhi: Pratham Resource Center.
Annual Status of Education Report 2014 (ASER). (2015). New Delhi: Pratham Resource Center.
ASER Centre. (2014). History of ASER—1996–2005: Foundations. Retrieved from http://www.asercentre.org/p/158.html
Bhattacharjea, S., Wadhwa, W., & Banerji, R. (2011). Inside primary schools: A study of teaching and learning in rural India. New Delhi: ASER Centre.
Burgess, J. (2006). Participatory action research. Action Research, 4(4), 419–437.
Byker, E. J. (2014a). ICT in India’s elementary schools: The vision and realities. International Education Journal, 13(2), 27–40.
Byker, E. J. (2014b). ICT oriented toward nyaya: Community computing in India’s slums. International Journal of Education and Development using ICT, 10(2), 19–28.
Byker, E. J. (2015). Teaching for ‘global telephony’: A case study of a community school for India’s 21st century. Policy Futures in Education, 13(2), 234–246.
Byker, E. J. (2016). Developing global citizenship consciousness: Case studies of critical cosmopolitan theory. Journal of Research in Curriculum & Instruction, 20(3), 264–275.
Byker, E. J., & Banerjee, A. (2016). Evidence for action: Translating field research into a large scale assessment. Journal of Current Issues in Comparative Education, 18(1), 1–13.
Cooke, B., & Kothari, U. (2001). The case for participation as tyranny. In B. Cooke & U. Kotari (Eds.), Participation: The new tyranny? (pp. 1–15). New York: Zed Books.
Creswell, J. W. (2014). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (4th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Press.
French, R., & Kingdon, G. (2010). The relative effectiveness of private and government schools in Rural India: Evidence from ASER data. London: Institute of Education.
Glaser, B., & Strauss, A. (1967). The discovery of grounded theory: Strategies for Qualitative Research. Chicago: Aldine Publishing Co.
Hickey, S., & Mohan, G. (2004). Towards participation as transformation: Critical themes and challenges. In S. Hickey & G. Mohan (Eds.), Participation: From tyranny to transformation? Exploring new approaches to participation in development (pp. 3–24). New York: Zed Books.
Iyengar, R., Witenstein, M. A., & Byker, E. J. (2014). Comparative perspectives on teacher education in South Asia. In A. W. Wiseman & E. Anderson (Eds.), Annual Review of Comparative and International Education 2014 (pp. 99–106). doi:10.1108/S1479–3679_2014_0000025010.
Kemmis, S., McTaggart, R., & Retallick, J. (2004). The action research planner: Doing critical participatory action research. Singapore: Springer Publishing.
Koshy, V. (2009). Action research for improving educational practice: A step-by-step guide. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publishing.
Kumar, K. (2004). Perspectives on learning in elementary schools. Plenary address. National Conference on Leadership in India’s Elementary Schools. Retrieved from http://www.azimpremjifoundation.org/downloads/Plenary%20Address.pdf
McTaggart, R. (1991). Principles for participatory action research. Adult Education Quarterly, 41(3), 168–187.
Miles, M. B., & Huberman, A. M. (1994). Qualitative data analysis: An expanded sourcebook. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.
National Council of Educational Research and Training [NCERT]. (2005). National curriculum for elementary and secondary education: The 2005 framework. New Delhi: NCERT.
Small, S. (1995). Action-oriented research: Models and methods. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 57(4), 941–952.
UNESCO. (2014). Teaching and learning: Achieving quality for all. EFA Global Monitoring Report 2013/14. Paris: UNESCO.
Yin, R. (2008). Case study research: Design and methods (4th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publishing.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2017 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Bhattacharjea, S., Byker, E.J. (2017). Chapter 3 The ASER “Translating Policy into Practice” Toolkit: From Participatory Action Research to Evidence-Based Action. In: Kidwai, H., Iyengar, R., Witenstein, M., Byker, E., Setty, R. (eds) Participatory Action Research and Educational Development. South Asian Education Policy, Research, and Practice. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-48905-6_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-48905-6_4
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-48904-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-48905-6
eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)