Generating
Educational Theories That Can Explain Educational Influences In Learning:
living logics, units of appraisal, standards of judgment
/watch?v=7Ck_ECxcaEc
The methodological contribution to educational knowledge includes the
use of action research cycles to clarify the meanings of educational values in
the course of their emergence in practice. The research programmes in Appendix
Two have influenced my understandings of the expression of the meanings of
values such as love, compassion, justice, ubuntu and knowledge and gift
creation (,
). They have influenced my understandings of how the unique
constellation of an individual's values can be formed into living and
communicable, epistemological standards of judgment. It has been a privilege to
supervise many of these research programmes and I do hope that you will find
the time to read the abstracts and that these will entice you into the
The methodological contribution also includes the use of visual
narratives with web-based e-media to represent the complex relational dynamics
of educational influences in learning. Some of these educational influences are
related to sociohistorical and sociocultural influences using insights from
critical social theories in the generation of living educational theories that
engage with issues of power and privilege in society (Noffke, 1997). Such
issues of power and privilege can be related back to a BERA symposium of 1985
on Action Research, Educational Theory and The Politics of Educational
in which Eames (1996) Larter (1987) and myself (Whitehead, 1999)
presented our self-study research into improving our educational practices. The
work of these researchers, together with the researchers of Holley (1997) and
D'Arcy (1998) Austin (2001) Finnegan (2000) and Cunningham (1999) (See Appendix
Two) have been most significant in the creation of the professional
knowledge-base of educational knowledge flowing from
http://people.bath.ac.uk/edsajw/living.shtml
More recently Sullivan (2006) and McDonogh (2007) have made the gifts of
their doctoral theses freely available through web-space. These gifts include
similar methodology contribution to those described above and focus on:
living theory of a practice of social justice: Realising the right of Traveller
Children to educational equality.
Bernie Sullivan's PhD
thesis, 2006, graduated from Limerick University.
My living theory of
&learning to teach for social justice: How do I enable primary school
children with specific learning disability (dyslexia) and myself as their
teacher to realise our learning potentials? , graduated from Limerick University.
Conclusion
In seeking to explain, inclusional educational influences in
learning with love, anger, pleasure and life-affirming energy, in
receptively-responsive educational enquiries, I am generating and sharing my
living educational theory. I believe that the relationally dynamic logics and
living standards of judgement of inclusionality are establishing the new
epistemology for educational knowledge which Schon (1995) called for but died
before he could develop. What I like about Alan Rayner's idea of feeding life
with death, rather than death with life, in his poem about
Moss is that we can affirm the life-affirming energy and understandings of
others who have passed on, like Schon, in the expression of our own.
In affirming the value of living educational theories I am
aware of my explicit acceptance of the validity of each theory. I hold the
living theories to be valid in terms of Habermas' (1976, pp.2-3) four criteria
of social validity in that their validities have been strengthened through
being subjected to, and responsive to:
i)questions of the
ii)the evidence used t
iii)the explicitness of the values that constitute the normative
iv)the evidence that shows that over time and through interaction
the researcher has established his or her authenticity in showing a commitment
to living as fully as possible the values they explicitly espouse.
In the integration of insights from critical theories such
as that of Habermas into my living educational theory, I am still moved by the
insights of Erich Fromm that I understood whilst a student on my initial
teacher education programme at Newcastle University (see
/jack/jwnewcastle220607.pdf
). It was Habermas' insights in his work on the Legitimation Crisis that helped
to focus my attention on the significance of transforming standards of judgment
in the Academy:
'It is my conjecture that the
fundamental mechanism for social evolution in general is to be found in an
automatic inability not to learn. Not learning, but not-learning is the
phenomenon that calls for explanation at the socio-cultural stage of
development. Therein lies, if you will, the rationality of man. Only against
this background does the over-powering irrationality of the history of the
species become visible.' (Habermas, 1975, p. 15)
&The following
insight from Habermas, about the need to focus on learning, continues to inform
my work as I support the move advocated by Biesta (2006) in moving beyond a
language of learning into a language of education:
"... I have attempted to free historical materialism from
its philosophical ballast. Two abstractions are required for this: I)
abstracting the development of the cognitive structures from the historical
dynamic of events, and ii) abstracting the evolution of society from the
historical concretion of forms of life. Both help in getting beyond the
confusion of basic categories to which the philosophy of history owes its
existence.
A theory developed in this way can no longer start by
examining concrete ideals immanent in traditional forms of life. It must orient
itself to the range of learning processes that is opened up at a given time by
a historically attained level of learning. It must refrain from critically
evaluating and normatively ordering totalities, forms of life and cultures, and
life-contexts and epochs as a whole. And yet it can take up some of the
intentions for which the interdisciplinary research program of earlier critical
theory remains instructive.
Coming at the end of a complicated study of the main
features of a theory of communicative action, this suggestion cannot count even
as a "promissory note." It is less a promise than a conjecture." (Habermas, 1987, p. 383)
While space prevents a detailed analysis of the evidence
from the living theories, they can also meet the five criteria of validity
described by Herr and Anderson and the criterion of transformational validity
described by James (2007) and which I referred to earlier.
validity centers on whether and to what
extent actions taken during the study proved efficacious in improving educational
practices for students.
validity is softer and more difficult to
prove, as it asks the question of whether and to what extent the project
resulted in an increase in knowledge and systems that improve the overall
educational environment that was studied.&
Democratic
validity is proved through data and
analysis of increased participation of the underserved in decision-making
positions.
validity demonstrated when the project
results in greater than could be expected involvement from outside parties in
the issue being studied.
validity is the extent to which the PAR
practitioner can demonstrate that a diverse group of stakeholders were involved
in reviewing data, results, and conclusions and provided input into the final
analysis (Herr & Anderson, 2005, pp. 55–57).&
Looking at the video-clips above, and seeing them together,
I am aware of flows of relational values and understandings that are connecting
through the boundaries of the clips and commentaries. I feel privileged and
revitalised in experiencing the life-affirming energies, the love for what we
are doing and the pleasure of sharing our ways of being, enquiring and knowing
as we learn to express these values and understandings more fully within the
hostspace of the universe we inhabit.
The access to streamed servers over the past year has
transformed my capacity to share ideas using visual narratives because of the
speed of downloading the video-clips. The theses referred to in this paragraph were
produced before the access to the streamed servers and under the old
regulations of the University of Bath that did not permit the submission of
e-media. In my enthusiasm for multi-media accounts I do not want to forget the
continuing historical, cultural and educational influences of the living theory
theses of Larter (1987), Eames (1996), Holley (1997), D'Arcy (1998), Austin
(2001), Finnegan (2000) and Cunningham (1999) in their flow through web-space
. For those wanting to see how propositional theories can be integrated into a
living theory I recommend Part Three of Finnegan's thesis at
http://people.bath.ac.uk/edsajw/fin.shtml
where he engages with the ideas of Rawls and Sen in relation to justice. In her
study of her educational relationships with an individual pupil, with a class
of pupils and with a school-wide staff appraisal system, Holley (1997) shows
her engagement and educational influence in her own learning with her pupil,
class and colleagues, as she answers her question
How do I as a
teacher-researcher contribute to the development of a living educational theory
through an exploration of my values in my professional practice?
Holley engages with the institutional and national
power relations that are seeking to impose a hierarchical form of appraisal as
she demonstrates how this imposition can be resisted and transcended with a
participatory form of appraisal with colleagues.
(1987) breaks the mould of propositional presentations in research degrees with
a dialogical presentation of
An action research approach
to classroom discussion in the examination years :
dissertation is presented in a dialogical form as part of an exploration of a
logic of question and answer and generates the possibility of a different
definition of generalisation. This is also an attempt to reflect the nature of
the research itself - that is, discussions between students, colleagues and
myself as well as internal dialogues. 
I have also been concerned with
issues of validity which have been raised in this form of enquiry. Because of
the dialogical nature of the research, the dissertation contains extracts from
conversations between colleagues and myself who discussed video films, sound
recordings, students' writing as well as my own writing about what I observed.
Within this dialogue and reflection, I have attempted to integrate literature
from the field of educational research. This integration takes the form of
dialogues with the texts as well as with my own reflections.
(Abstract, Larter, 1987).
Erica Holley who suggested the theme of Accounting for Ourselves for the Third
World Congress on Action Learning, Action Research and Process Management in
Bath in 1994 and her insights into the quality of educational relationships
make her affirmations of my own all the more valuable:
& You offer acceptance of me for what I am and push
at the boundaries of what I could become. You accept ideas, puzzlement and
confusion from me as part of a process of me coming to understand but the
understanding reached seems always a new understanding for us both. I think
I've seen our work as collaborative parallelism – (e-mail 23 January,
It was Pat
D'Arcy who convinced me of the need to transform my tendency to give an
immediate Yes-But response to the narratives of others, by focusing on the significance
of giving an aesthetically appreciative and engaged response to the narratives.
This was part of Pat's educational influence in my learning during the process
of supervising .
The work of
Kevin Eames is particularly significant for showing the educational influences
in learning of relationally dynamic communications through boundaries and
across national contexts. In
Chapter Six of
his thesis Eames writes
about 'Growing Your Own' a reference to a school-based research group at
Wootton School in Wiltshire, UK, in 1990. Linda Grant, an Officer working on
Continuing Professional Development Programmes for the Ontario College of
Teachers, visited the UK and Wootton Bassett School in the early 1990s. Linda
liked what she saw Kevin doing together with his ideas and communicated these to
Jacqueline Delong, a Superintendent of Schools in the Grand Erie Board in
Ontario. Jacqueline liked the ideas being generated with my support from the
University of Bath and registered for her doctorate in 1996. Jacqueline
integrated and extended Kevin's ideas in her research programme into the
creation of a culture of inquiry to support teacher research in the Grand Erie
District School Board and now Jacqueline's living educational theory is flowing
through web-space, alongside Kevin's and the other living theories flowing from
http://people.bath.ac.uk/edsajw/living.shtml
. The accounts of the teacher-researchers supported by Jacqueline in the GEDSB
in Ontario can be accessed from
http://schools.gedsb.net/ar/passion/index.html
I hope that
this last example, of the spread of the influence of the living theories of
individuals, serves to emphasise their potential significance in enhancing the
flow of values and understandings that can make the world a better place to be.
I have explained that a living logic is required to comprehend the relationally
dynamic nature of the explanations that constitute an individual's living
educational theory. One of the tests of validity of the above ideas could draw
on Herr and Anderson's (2005) idea of catalytic validity. I mean this in the
sense of whether or not the ideas captivate your imaginations in a way that
helps to motivate the generation and sharing of your living educational
theories alongside the other living theories flowing freely through web-space.
As I look back on the past 40 years of my professional life in education I
continue with the conviction that the generation and sharing of the living
educational theory of one individual can make a significant contribution to
enhancing the quality of the loving and productive lives of all. If you believe
my conviction to be mistaken I do hope that you will accept the educational
responsibility of explaining my mistake as a way of helping me to enhance the
quality of my productive life in education. My final points relate to the
meanings of talents and gifts in education and present government policy on
gifted and talented education. The policy is supporting the identification of
10% of pupils in each school on a register. An inclusional approach to gifts
and talents in education holds that everyone has talents that can be developed
and used in the creation of gifts that can be freely offered to others. Barry
Hymer (2007) has explored the implications of this view in his own doctoral
thesis and it was a pleasure to celebrate Barry's graduation on the 13 July
2007 with a presentation in the Department of Education of Newcastle University
some 40 years after I left the Department after my initial teacher education
programme (Whitehead, 2007b).
practitioner-researcher described above has expressed and developed their
talents, many in the production of a research thesis that has been offered freely
as a gift for others in the hope that the other will find something of use in
the insights of the gift. In my thinking about the gifts we offer freely, I
understand the economic imperative to earn money through selling our labour. I
also know that I have been fortunate to spend the last 40 years earning a
living from doing what I believe to be worthwhile in education. This includes
making freely available the gifts of living educational theories in their flow
through web-space.& The
accessibility of these gifts for those with the technology to access them,
seems likely to increase with the spread of cheap and easy access to the
internet. The latest gift to be made available is that of Swaroop Rawal (2006)
on the role of drama in enhancing life skills in children with specific
learning difficulties in a Mumbai school: My reflective account. In her
acknowledgements Swaroop thanked Tony Ghaye for introducing her to reflective
practice and action research. A question Tony Ghaye asked in 1999 has remained
with me as one of the most moral and courageous of action research
questions,& 'How can I help the
most disadvantaged children in Bombay (Mumbai)?' This kind of question brings
me back to the relationships between sociocultural and sociohistorical theories
and the generation of living educational theories.
In a paper to be presented at a seminar at the
University of Bath, Kam-cheung Wong (2007) draws on
the work of Hofstede, Geertz and Zehou, to show how current educational
situations in mainland China are the results of culture and history. The value
to our understandings of such analyses that draw on propositional theories is
that they can explain how existing social formations came into existence and
are being reproduced. However it is a central assumption in this paper that to
understand the transformatory processes in the education of social formations,
it is necessary for the creativity and uniqueness of individuals to be
recognized. It is necessary to go further than this recognition and to
integrate, within the understandings of the education of social formations, the
genesis and sharing of each individual's living educational theory. Hence my
emphasis in this presentation on the educational responsibility of each
individual for generating and sharing their own living educational theory in
their educational enquiries into living a loving and productive life for
themselves and with others. I am hoping that this presentation serves to
stimulate your pleasurable and life-affirming expression of your responsibility
towards the other in sharing your own explanation of your educational influence
in your own learning, in the learning of others and in the learning of the
social formations in which we are working and living together.
References
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creative art of inquiry. Ph.D. Thesis, University of Bath. Retrieved 16 August
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Networks. An interdisciplinary study of network organization in biological and
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Appendix One
Explanation For My Focus On Educational Theory In My Vocation Of Education
I felt a sense of vocation for education in 1966 when
reflecting on what might be worthwhile to do with my life. Looking back on my
experiences of education in school and university I felt pleased that the
qualifications of 'O' 'A' levels and a science degree opened up a range of
choices for employment. Yet I felt something was missing. I felt that the
specialisms in my 6th form education and my science degree had only
given me a narrow understanding of the range of possible understandings that a
wider curriculum could have provided. I also felt the something vital had been
missing in the relationships with almost all my teachers in school and
university. What had been missing was a recognition, from my teachers, that I
accepted an educational responsibility with pleasure and life-affirming energy
for my own learning. I experienced this recognition in conversation with my
parents so I knew what I was missing in the relationships with my teachers in
school and university.
In responding to this experience I felt that I might do
something to enhance the quality of educational relationships through my work
in education. Hence my decision to become a teacher and to join the initial
teacher education programme in the Department of Education of the University of
Newcastle in 1966. In July 2007 I presented a paper in the Department to
celebrate my 40 years of professional engagement in education and to recognise
the value of the freedom provided by the Department to study the ideas of John
Dewey, Erich Fromm, Richard Peters and Anna Freud (Whitehead, 2007 -
/jack/jwnewcastle220607.pdf
). The paper acknowledges how much this freedom and these ideas have meant to
me in the growth of my educational knowledge. The paper explains that my sense
of vocation in education changed in 1971. It changed after five years teaching
in London Comprehensive Schools and four years of part-time study for my
academic diploma in the philosophy and psychology of education and my masters
degree in the psychology of education at the Institute of Education of the
University of London.
The change occurred because of a conflict I experienced
between the dominant view of educational theory and my explanations for my
educational influence in my own learning and in the learning of my pupils. The
dominant view, known as the disciplines approach, was that educational theory
was constituted by the disciplines of the history, philosophy, sociology and
psychology of education. Having initially accepted this view of educational
theory I came to see it as mistaken in 1971 because of its assumption that educational
theory required that the principles I used to explain my educational practices
must be replaced (Hirst, 1983, p. 18) by principles with more fundamental
justification drawn from the disciplines of education and not from my
educational practice. The recognition of this mistake and colonising influence
of the dominant view of educational theory in the professional knowledge-base
of education led to a change in my sense of vocation. It was a colonising
influence because it rejected the validity of the embodied knowledge of
professional educators. Because I felt that a valid educational theory was
vital in enhancing professionalism in education I decided to see if I could
contribute to such a theory. Hence I applied to join the School of Education of
the University of Bath in 1973 and I have spent the last 34 years as an
educator in Higher Education and as an educational researcher to contribute to
this development.
Appendix Two
Programmes That Have Influenced Ideas In The Presentation
Eames, K. (1995) How do I, as
a teacher and educational action-researcher, describe and explain the nature of
my professional knowledge? Ph.D. Thesis,
University of Bath. Retrieved 19 February 2004 from
http://www.actionresearch.net/kevin.shtml
Evans, M. (1995) An action
research enquiry into reflection in action as part of my role as a deputy
headteacher. Ph.D. Thesis, Kingston University. Retrieved 19 February 2004 from
http://www.actionresearch.net/moyra.shtml
Laidlaw, M. (1996) How can I create my own living
educational theory as I offer you an account of my educational development? Ph.D. thesis, University of Bath. Retrieved 19
February 2004 from http://www.actionresearch.net/moira2.shmtl
Holley, E. (1997) How do I as
a teacher-researcher contribute to the development of a living educational
theory through an exploration of my values in my professional practice? M.Phil., University of Bath. Retrieved 19 February
2004 from http://www.actionresearch.net/erica.shtml
&D'Arcy, P. (1998) The Whole Story..... Ph.D. Thesis, University of Bath. Retrieved 19
February 2004 from http://www.actionresearch.net/pat.shtml
&Loftus, J. (1999)
action enquiry into the marketing of an established first school in its
transition to full primary status. Ph.D.
thesis, Kingston University. Retrieved 19 February 2004 from
http://www.actionresearch.net/loftus.shmtl
Whitehead, J. (1999) How do I
improve my practice?& Creating a discipline of education
through educational enquiry. Ph.D. University of Bath. Retrieved 19 February
Cunningham, B. (1999) How do
I come to know my spirituality as I create my own living educational theory? Ph.D. Thesis, University of Bath. Retrieved 19
February 2004 from http://www.actionresearch.net/ben.shtml
Adler-Collins, J. (2000) A
Scholarship of Enquiry, M.A. dissertation,
University of Bath. Retrieved 19 February 2004 from
http://www.actionresearch.net/jekan.shtml
Finnegan, (2000) How do I
create my own educational theory in my educative relations as an action
researcher and as a teacher? Ph.D.
submission, University of Bath. Retrieved 19 February 2004 from
http://www.actionresearch.net/fin.shtml
Austin, T. (2001) Treasures in
the Snow: What do I know and how do I know it through my educational inquiry
into my practice of community? Ph.D.
Thesis, University of Bath. Retrieved 19 February 2004 from
http://www.actionresearch.net/austin.shtml
Mead, G. (2001) Unlatching
the Gate: Realising the Scholarship of my Living Inquiry.
Ph.D. University of Bath. Retrieved 19 February 2004
from http://www.actionresearch.net/mead.shtml
Bosher, M. (2001) How can I
as an educator and Professional Development Manager working with teachers,
support and enhance the learning and achievement of pupils in a whole school
improvement process? Ph.D. University of
Bath. Retrieved 19 February 2004 from
http://www.actionresearch.net/bosher.shtml
Delong, J. (2002) How
Can I Improve My Practice As A Superintendent of Schools and Create My Own
Living Educational Theory? Ph.D.
University of Bath. Retrieved 19 February 2004 from
http://www.actionresearch.net/delong.shtml
Scholes-Rhodes, J. (2002) From
the Inside Out: Learning to presence my aesthetic and spiritual being through
the emergent form of a creative art of inquiry. Ph.D. University of Bath. Retrieved 19 February 2004 from
http://www.bath.ac.uk/~edsajw/rhodes.shtml
Roberts, P. (2003) Emerging Selves
in Practice: How do I and others create my practice and how does my practice
shape me and influence others? Ph.D. University of Bath. Retrieved
19 August 2004 from
Punia, R. (2004) My CV is My Curriculum: The Making of an International
Educator with Spiritual Values. Ed.D.
University of Bath. Retrieved 19 August 2004 from
Hartog, M. (2004)
A Self Study Of A Higher Education Tutor: How Can I
Improve My Practice? Ph.D. University of
Bath. Retrieved 19 August 2004 from
http://www.bath.ac.uk/~edsajw/hartog.shtml
Church, M. (2004) Creating an uncompromised place to
belong: Why do I find myself in networks? Retrieved
24 May 2005 from&
http://www.bath.ac.uk/~edsajw/church.shtml
Naidoo, M. (2005) I am Because We
Are. (My never-ending story) The emergence of a living theory of inclusional
and responsive practice. Ph.D. University of Bath. Retrieved 2 April 2006 from
http://www.bath.ac.uk/~edsajw/naidoo.shtml
Farren, M. (2005) How can I create
a pedagogy of the unique through a web of betweenness? Ph.D. University of
Bath. Retrieved 2 April 2006 from
Sullivan, B. (2006) A living theory of a practice of social
justice: Realising the right of traveller children for educational equality.
Ph.D. University of Limerick. Supervised by Jean McNiff. Retrieved 6 July 2006
Rawal, S. (2006) The Role of Drama in enhancing life skills
in children with specific learning difficulties in a Mumbai School. My
Reflective Account. Retrieved 15 August 2007 from
http://people.bath.ac.uk/edsajw/rawal.shtml
Charles, E. (2007) How can I bring Ubuntu as a living
standards of judgment into the Academy? Moving Beyond Decolonisiation Through
Societal Reidentification And Guiltless Recognition. Ph.D. University of Bath.
Retrieved 15 August 2007 from
http://people.bath.ac.uk/edsajw/edenphd.shtml
Hymer, B. (2007) How do I understand and communicate my
values and beliefs in my work as an educator in the field of giftedness? Ph.D.
University of Newcastle. Retrieved 15 August 2007 from
http://people.bath.ac.uk/edsajw/hymer.shtml&
This document was added to the Education-Line database on 07 November 2007