Participatory Action Research as Change Strategy: A Case of Developing Inclusive Teaching and Learning Practices in an Adult Education Centre in Gauteng East District of South Africa

Interchange ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nthabiseng Ngwenya ◽  
Tsediso Michael Makoelle ◽  
Martyn van der Merwe
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Adult Education ◽  
Action Research ◽  
Participatory Action Research ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
Change Strategy ◽  
Learning Practices ◽  
Education Centre ◽  
Inclusive Teaching

A cross-university initiative to enhance SOTL through a students as partners approach

2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 218
Author(s):  
Colin Bryson
Keyword(s):  
International Students ◽  
Action Research ◽  
Participatory Action Research ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Research Projects ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
Western Washington ◽  
Traditional Structures ◽  
Washington University

This case study evaluates a new initiative to establish a cross-disciplinary forum focusing on enhancing learning, teaching and the student experience. All staff and students are welcome to participate and participants set the agenda themselves. The intention is to have open and informal dialogue and to work in partnership towards setting up collective participatory action-research projects. This is modelled on the Teaching and Learning Academy at Western Washington University (Werder and Otis, 2010). An important aim was to create a space to give voice for those - the so-called ‘hard to reach’- who do not get such opportunities in traditional structures. There have been many challenges to creating a sustainable and successful working model, not least such barriers as communications, creating time and opportunity and working against current dominant cultures. Nonetheless, staff and students, including many international students, have participated and found legitimacy to discuss their own priorities. 

The challenges of participation in doing community-based participatory action research: Lessons from the Kwithu Project

2016 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 198-213 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nathalis G Wamba
Keyword(s):  
Action Research ◽  
Participatory Action Research ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
English Language ◽  
English Language Teaching ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
Action Research Project ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Random Group ◽  
Running Water

The Kwithu project started when a volunteer who joined Kwithu, a community-based organization in Mzuzu, Malawi (Africa), to teach English gave a diagnostic test to a random group of forty 7th and 8th graders (20 boys and 20 girls) and discovered that most of them could hardly read or write in English. The test results prompted Maureen, the Kwithu director and co-founder, the teacher and myself to meet with the headteachers of the three schools mostly attended by Kwithu children. The headteachers appreciated our concerns about the English proficiency of the children, but they advised us to focus on more urgent matters if we truly wanted to help, e.g., lack of teaching and learning materials, lack of running water in schools, hunger, teacher qualifications, etc. This advice shifted our initial inquiry goal—from English language teaching—to a community-based participatory action research project designed to address the school conditions in Luwinga. In this paper, I describe the community-based participatory action research inquiry and I reflect on the process of participation.

scholarly journals Shifting Gears: Lessons Learnt From Critical, Collaborative, Self-Reflection on Community-Based Research

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lulza Olim de Sousa ◽  
Emerentia Antoinette Hay ◽  
Schalk Petrus Raath ◽  
Aubrey Albertino Fransman ◽  
Barend Wilhelm Richter
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Action Research ◽  
Participatory Action Research ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
Action Research Project ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Community Based Research ◽  
Self Reflection

This article reflects the learning of five researchers in higher education in South Africa who took part in a participatory action research project to educate teachers how to integrate climate change issues into their teaching and learning. It was the first time any of the researchers had used participatory action research. We are all from natural science backgrounds and now involved in education for sustainable development. We had been trained in more traditional, objective, and researcher-driven methodologies grounded in a positivist paradigm. The purpose of this article is to share our learning about the changes we had to make in our thinking and practices to align with a participatory paradigm. We used reflective diaries to record our journey through the action research cycles. A thematic analysis of our diaries was supplemented by recorded discussions between the researchers. The analysis revealed that, while it was challenging to begin thinking in a different paradigm, we came to appreciate the value of the action research process that enabled teachers to integrate climate change issues into their teaching in a participatory way. We also concluded that we require more development to be able to conduct participatory research in a manner true to its values and principles. The conclusions we came to through our collaborative reflections may be of value to other researchers from similar scientific backgrounds who wish to learn what shifts in paradigm, methods, and processes are needed to be able to conduct community-based research in a participatory way.

Participatory Action Research as/in Adult Education

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 21-33
Author(s):  
Meagan Call-Cummings ◽  
Melissa Hauber-Özer
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Adult Education ◽  
Action Research ◽  
Participatory Action Research ◽  
Critical Approach ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
Participatory Inquiry ◽  
Learner Needs

Participatory action research (PAR) is an embodied form of inquiry that engages those most affected by an issue or problem in creating knowledge and developing solutions. PAR epistemology intersects with the critical approach to adult education, particularly the belief that programs, methods, and content must be relevant to learner needs and challenges and ought to lead to greater social justice. The purpose of this paper is to offer a review of three critical, participatory inquiry methods that are anchored in three concepts foundational to PAR and to present readers with a useful description of how to implement these methods in diverse contexts.

Participatory Action Research in Adult Education

2021 ◽  
pp. 180-199
Author(s):  
Meagan Call-Cummings ◽  
Melissa Hauber-Özer
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Social Change ◽  
Adult Education ◽  
Action Research ◽  
Participatory Action Research ◽  
Critical Approach ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
Participatory Inquiry ◽  
Positive Social Change ◽  
Learner Needs

Participatory action research (PAR) is an embodied form of inquiry that engages those most affected by an issue or problem in creating knowledge and developing solutions. PAR epistemology intersects with a critical approach to adult education in its belief that programs, methods, and content must be relevant to learner needs and challenges and ought to lead to greater social justice. The purpose of this chapter is to offer a review of three critical, participatory inquiry methods that are connected to the ontological and epistemological anchors of PAR. The authors present readers with a useful description of how to enact these onto-epistemological anchors through these methods in diverse contexts. They conclude that these methods have great potential for critical educators to live out their own onto-epistemological commitments, better understand and meet learner needs, and facilitate positive social change.

scholarly journals Participatory Action Research in University Chemistry Teacher Training

2018 ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Yannik Tolsdorf ◽  
Silvija Markic
Keyword(s):  
Action Research ◽  
Teacher Training ◽  
Participatory Action Research ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Chemistry Education ◽  
Chemistry Teacher ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
The University ◽  
Advanced Model

The Participatory Action Research (PAR) model developed by Eilks and Ralle is very well known in science education. Over the years, many teaching and learning materials have been developed and implemented in German secondary schools using this method. The success of the model encouraged us to adapt it to the university level in order to develop university chemistry education courses. However, to do this, we encountered and conquered some challenges. The present paper is based on an advanced model of Participatory Action Research for developing university chemistry teacher training. For an advanced model, the focus is strongly on the extended development team, which contains people who were not part of the original team. The role of the students also changes. The ideas we used to further develop the model and implement it in practice will be described and discussed below.

scholarly journals Improving School Work in Challenging Context: Practitioners’ Views following a Participatory Action Research Project from Eritrea

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 72-90 ◽  
Author(s):  
Khalid Mohammed Idris ◽  
Yonas Mesfun Asfaha
Keyword(s):  
Action Research ◽  
Participatory Action Research ◽  
School Leadership ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Structured Interview ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
Action Research Project ◽  
School Work ◽  
Professional Perspectives ◽  
Knowledge Of Learners

This article is based on 18-month participatory action research (PAR) project conducted with teachers and school leadership personnel with strong backing of the regional education office in one of the remote and most culturally diverse regions in Eritrea. It argues for a comprehensive understanding of managing a learning process in challenging circumstances of schooling. Qualitative analysis was used to interpret 14 semi-structured interview transcripts of project participants from two study schools. A framework for understanding teaching as the intersection of knowledge of learners, processes of teaching and learning and subject matter is used. The analysis based on the interview data, longer term engagements with participants and review of relevant documents enabled authors to synthesize views of participants into five main professional perspectives:  need to overcome transitory nature of teachers, knowledge of learners, proactive guidance, professional commitment, collaborative practices. Those issues arguably constitute quality education in the study schools and beyond.  

scholarly journals THE ROLE OF ENGINEERING TEACHING AND LEARNING FELLOWS IN THE TRANSFORMATION PROCESS OF ECE COURSES

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Deena Salem ◽  
Brian Frank
Keyword(s):  
Action Research ◽  
Participatory Action Research ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Transformation Process ◽  
Computer Engineering ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
Action Research Project ◽  
Research Project ◽  
Work In Progress

Abstract –This paper presents work in progress of a participatory action research project of transforming some Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) courses with the help of Engineering Teaching and Learning Fellows (ETLF). The objective of this paper is to highlight the effectiveness of incorporating an ETLF, with expertise in both the engineering and education fields, in the process, and their accountability throughout the three phases: pre-transformation, transformation and post-transformation.  

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