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icultural <strong>curriculum</strong>). Strong, responsible leadership <strong>in</strong> this study enabled teams<br />

to own their actions <strong>in</strong> Tiriti-<strong>based</strong> <strong>curriculum</strong>.<br />

A further contribution of this thesis is methodological. In this study action<br />

research proved to be slow process. It, therefore, re<strong>in</strong>forced the potential for Tiriti-<br />

<strong>based</strong> pedagogy to be problematic. The use of action research by teachers, which<br />

has been endorsed by the M<strong>in</strong>istry of Education, (Carr et al., 2000) could be more<br />

properly considered as a mechanism for review<strong>in</strong>g professional development <strong>in</strong> an<br />

ongo<strong>in</strong>g manner rather than an approach for undertak<strong>in</strong>g situational problem-<strong>based</strong><br />

research. The research methodology used towards the end of this project was<br />

action development. This is what I created by blend<strong>in</strong>g selective concepts from<br />

appreciative <strong>in</strong>quiry workshop and action research procedures. This was discussed<br />

<strong>in</strong> chapter 3 and chapter 5.<br />

This study highlighted my issues with action research – namely that it<br />

draws upon a problem-oriented view of the world (Cooperrider & Srivastva, 1987).<br />

This means that <strong>in</strong> Case Study One and Case Study Two, problems were to the<br />

forefront which caused participants to feel guilty when they felt they had fallen<br />

short of their ideals. This is not surpris<strong>in</strong>g because the focus was often on what did<br />

not work. In contrast <strong>in</strong> Case Study Three where the methodology framework<br />

<strong>in</strong>volved appreciative <strong>in</strong>quiry and the focus was on what worked about<br />

implement<strong>in</strong>g Tiriti-<strong>based</strong> <strong>curriculum</strong>, the action development model emerged.<br />

Not surpris<strong>in</strong>gly, aga<strong>in</strong> <strong>in</strong> Case Study Three, participants were proud of, and<br />

thrilled by their achievements. They were keen to share their knowledge beyond<br />

their own team. This positive focus produced positive results and led to the<br />

formulation of my action development model.<br />

Indeed, when I reflected upon action research as a methodology, I<br />

concluded that when an academic is <strong>in</strong>volved this can be problematic. Despite the<br />

rhetoric of shared, collaborative <strong>in</strong>quiry, action research may be noth<strong>in</strong>g more than<br />

complicated professional development. However, <strong>in</strong> retrospect this was a<br />

realisation that grew as the action research stage came to a conclusion. Both these<br />

considerations (action research as a deficit model <strong>in</strong> this project and action research<br />

as professional development) led to a change of methodology and to the emergence<br />

of action development as a model.<br />

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