Action Research A Methodology for Change and Development

ACTION RESEARCH FROM THE INSIDE: A TEACHER’S EXPERIENCE 81
roles at Parkside. The rewritten papers on the roles of the head of
upper school and the faculty heads became detailed examples of
the general theory that emerged about staff roles in the school as a
whole.
It was difficult to decide who should be consulted in order to give
validity to that part of the study concerned with staff roles in
general. Since it was largely a matter of management style it could
be said to affect the Head most nearly, but there was another sense
in which, because it was related to the staff as a whole, it should
have been validated by discussions with the staff as a whole.
Practicalities meant that time was running out and I needed clearance
of the study in order to meet my deadline. Even without this
pressure, however, I doubt whether it would have been possible to
set up ideal speech situations with every member of staff: the operation
would have taken time out of proportion to its value and,
further to that, it is doubtful whether ‘symmetrical distribution of
control’ could have been achieved even supposing all my colleagues
had been equally interested in discussing the issues.
Therefore, once the faculty heads and the head of upper school
had given permission for the collaborative sections to go to other
members of staff, the study as a whole was given to the Head
(newly returned from his period of secondment to British
Telecom). Final revisions were made in line with his comments and
the study was then made available to any member of staff interested
in reading it.
A SUMMARY OF HYPOTHESES AND ISSUES FROM SECTIONS
TWO, THREE AND FOUR
2 CREATING YOUR OWN JOB – AN ANALYSIS OF STAFF
ROLES AT PARKSIDE
This section looks at the issues of institutional change, motivation
and accountability and develops a theory to explain the way the
school functions. It presents evidence for that theory and examines
some of its implications.
Here is the theory:
(1) At Parkside nobody’s role is very precisely defined; instead,
a substantial portion of everybody’s job is what the
individual wishes to make it. Thus, the hierarchical
structure of organization bears little relation to the
actual power structures of the school.