Action Research A Methodology for Change and Development

94 ACTION RESEARCH
co-researcher, rather than a facilitator, relationship was a key part of PALM’s
work in year two. We came to see collaborative research between teachers
and a university-based team in terms of ‘inhabiting each other’s castles’ –
an inherently energizing and liberating process, which is at the same time
problematic, in which individuals move between the ‘constructed realities’
of the school and the university and learn to understand and respect each
other’s values and criteria for truth testing. Like all other aspects of PALM,
this was to be confronted most clearly when we came to the stage of writing
up the project’s work, because we were working in an education system in
which both school and university cultures harboured hostility for each
other’s writing and this necessarily had an impact on how individual
members of the extended PALM team viewed the purpose and form of their
writing (Somekh 1994).
Getting teachers involved
The most important first step was to build a research team by seeking
volunteer teachers and establishing relationships. All were uncertain when
first approached: the project was complex and we had to explain its purposes
clearly and what would be expected of participants. At its most basic
we said: ‘You’ve got a computer in your classroom for at least some of the
time. Is it making any positive impact on pupils’ learning? Would you like
to join us to carry out research to find out? If you end up thinking that it
is not having any positive impact we would expect you to want to get rid
of it. But we don’t think it’s a professional response for you to reject it
without exploring its possibilities.’ Towards the end of PALM we asked
teachers why they had decided to join and several reasons emerged. The
professional relationship with the project officer and opportunity for dialogue
was an important factor; linked to this, the opportunity to engage
more deeply with their practice as teachers was another; the opportunity to
get some help with using computers which most would have to use anyway,
sooner or later, was a third; the encouragement of senior managers was a
fourth, especially in schools where there was strong leadership that encouraged
exploration and risk taking; finally there were some who said they had
been coerced into participating by the head teacher but, unsurprisingly, few
of these became fully involved. Later many teachers took up the opportunity
to present their action research reports for accreditation with the
Cambridge Institute of Education and this was undoubtedly an important
factor in extending and deepening their research activities.