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# Existential Approaches to Action Research

- June 2002
- Educational Action Research 10(2)

- 10(2)

DOI: [10.1080/09650790200200183](http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09650790200200183)

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## Abstract

The existential approach to action research is derived from research that suggests that teachers' actions, intentions, and beliefs are manifestations of their ways of being teachers. A teacher's 'way of being' in an educational situation is defined and informed by what was and is for the teacher, and his or her intentions for what could be. It is essentially the way that that person is a teacher – where 'teacher' is one of the many ways that that person is and can be. The existential approach to action research extends the way of being perspective by examining three aspects of personhood – situation, existence precedes essence and freedom – and combines them with critical reflection and action. The result is that existential action research happens when people work together to research their own ways of being a teacher to increase their capacity to choose freely, and to act responsibly for themselves and those they care for.

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Educational Action Research, Volume 10, Number 2, 2002

233

Existential Approaches

to Action Research

ALLAN FELDMAN

University of Massachusetts, Amherst, USA

ABSTRACT The existential approach to action research is derived from research

that suggests that teachers’ actions, intentions, and beliefs are manifestations

of their ways of being teachers. A teacher’s ‘way of being’ in an educational

situation is defined and informed by what was and is for the teacher, and his or

her intentions for what could be. It is essentially the way that that person is a

teacher – where ‘teacher’ is one of the many ways that that person is and can

be. The existential approach to action research extends the way of being

perspective by examining three aspects of personhood – situation, existence

precedes essence and freedom – and combines them with critical reflection and

action. The result is that existential action research happens when people work

together to research their own ways of being a teacher to increase their capacity

to choose freely, and to act responsibly for themselves and those they care for.

Introduction

In this article I present an existential approach to action research. This

approach has arisen out of my research over the past 10 years that has

focused on the need to come to a better understanding of what it means to

be a teacher and to teach if we are going to be able to effect significant

changes in the practice of teachers. My research has uncovered increasing

amounts of data that suggest that teachers’ actions, intentions and beliefs

are manifestations of their ways of being teachers (Feldman, 1996a, 1997,

2000; Feldman & Rearick, 1998).

In order to understand what I mean by way of being it is first

necessary to acknowledge that it is an existential concept. What this means

is that it is not a teacher characteristic, such as teachers’ knowledge or

reasoning skills. It is the person being in the situation in a way that is

defined and informed by what was and is for the teacher, and his or her

intentions for what could be. The teacher’s way of being a teacher is

essentially the way that that person is a teacher – where ‘teacher’ is one of

the many ways that that person is and can be.

Allan Feldman

234

From this existential perspective, for teachers to change means for

them to change their ways of being teachers. Because others do not have

access to a person’s way of being, we, as teacher educators, attempt to have

an effect on it by affecting particular aspects of the teacher. Where this

becomes problematic is that the particular aspects of the teacher

(knowledge, skills, beliefs and so on) do not add up to the teacher, in the

same way that the blind men’s parts of the elephant (the trunk is like a

snake, the tail like a piece of rope, the legs like tree trunks ...) do not add to

the elephant (Feldman, 1997). To extend this metaphor, what if the blind

men wanted to teach the elephant a new trick? What could be done to the

different aspects of the elephant as defined by the blind men to get the

elephant to stand on its hind legs? People are not elephants, but our

understanding of what makes a person a teacher is as fragmented and

metaphorical as the blind men’s vision of the elephant. Fortunately, people

are not elephants and we are, instead, as Heidegger defined us, ‘the beings

who are aware of their own being’ (Heidegger, 1962).

My existential approach to action research has also arisen from my

work in the field of action research over the past 10 years. During that time I

have facilitated teachers’ action research as part of funded research and

evaluation projects (Feldman, 1995), as district-based professional

development, and as an activity independent of outsiders (Feldman,

1993a,b,c; 1996b; Feldman & Atkin, 1995). In addition, I have been teaching

the course Action Research in Schools, since 1994 (Feldman, 1998; Feldman

et al, 1998; Feldman et al, 2001). I have engaged in on-going action research

and self-study of my own practice as a facilitator and teacher of action

research, which has led me to the development and adoption of research,

and instructional methods that have an existential turn.

The remainder of this article is divided into two parts. The first is an

overview of existentialism using the work of Maxine Greene. I turn to action

research and what it means to have an existential approach to AR. I then

use a heuristic for understanding action research developed by Mary Rearick

and myself (Rearick & Feldman, 1999) to locate existential action research in

the field of action research.

Existentialism

David Denton began his 1971 essay on existentialism and teaching with the

following assertion:

I am suggesting this, for after fifty years or so of empirical and

experimental research in education, we are still bemoaning the

obvious fact that classroom teachers do not heed, make use of,

very much of the research conducted. (Denton, 1971, p. 163)

Nearly 30 years later I find myself asking a question that feels the

reverberation from Denton:

EXISTENTIAL APPROACHES TO ACTION RESEARCH

235

Why is it that although there has been an effort for the past 15

years to encourage teachers to be reflective practitioners and to

engage in action research, we see so little change in the way that

teachers teach?

My response to this question also echoes Denton. In his 1971 essay he

suggested that we acknowledge that there is validity in the collective wisdom

of teachers and that ‘perhaps we haven’t been studying the world of the

teacher at all’ (p. 163). Denton then went on to argue for the use of an

existential perspective to understand teachers and teaching. What I suggest

here is that although teachers are reflecting about their practice and are

engaged in inquiry into their teaching, the way that they attend to their

reflection and inquiry reinforces the status quo, rather than transforming it.

Two metaphors illustrate what I mean. We can imagine the reflective teacher

to be one of the people in Plato’s cave. Because all that she perceives is a

shadow of the world, all reflection or inquiry is of those shadows. The result

is that the teacher’s new knowledge, understanding or insight is flawed

because it is based on a distortion of the world. More simply, when one

reflects, how do we know that what we see in the mirror is accurate and not

the distorted view provided by a funhouse mirror? In this section I will use

the work of Maxine Greene (Greene, 1967, 1973, 1989) to argue that an

existential approach to teaching can help teachers to gain an authentic

image of themselves as practitioners. In addition, teaching and teachers can

be transformed by taking an existential approach to action research.

Basing her argument on the work of Arendt, Dewey, Sartre and others,

Greene has provided us with the characteristics of an existential approach to

teaching. This approach begins with the recognition that the teacher is a

person who is being a teacher. As a result, we can talk first about the

existential characteristics of personhood, and then apply them to being a

teacher. The existential characteristics are:

· The person is always situated. Everyone exists in a web of relationships

that spread through time and space (Feldman, 1997; Greene, 1973).

· The self emerges through experience (Greene, 1967, 1973, 1989; Dewey,

1916).

· People are free to choose, but freedom is finite (Greene, 1973, 1989;

Arendt, 1958).

I examine each of these, in turn, in relation to teachers and teaching.

People are Situated

It is important for me to make clear what Greene and other existentialists

mean by situation and being situated. It differs from the situated of situated

cognition, for example, which is equivalent to what most people mean by

context. Situation is more than the context within which people act. The

context is their setting – the backdrops in front of which they act. To speak

of context conjures up an image of people as separate entities, distinct from

Allan Feldman

236

their surroundings, and affected or acted upon by those other entities that

make up the context. Those entities include all the people with whom they

interact, and all the inanimate objects that surround them. Instead, people

find themselves thrown into a situation constituted by all that has occurred

in the past and from which they project themselves into the future

(Heidegger, 1962).

Dewey has also characterised situation in this way. To him, human

interactions with the world and its constituent parts grow in ways that

appear sequential with ‘one act growing out of another and leading

commutatively to a further act’, but resulting in a ‘consummatory fully

integrated activity ...’ (Dewey, 1938, p. 31). This occurs because of the

nature of situations:

What is designated by the word ‘situation’ is not a single object or

event or set of objects and events ... For we never experience nor

form judgments about objects and events in isolation, but only in

connection with a contextual whole ... In actual experience, there is

never any such isolated single object or event; an object or event is

always a special part, phase, or aspect, of an environing

experienced world – a situation. (1938, pp. 66-67)

And is related to the distinctly cultural nature of being human:

Of distinctly human behavior it may be said that the strictly

physical environment is so incorporated in a cultural environment

that our interactions with the former, the problems that arise with

reference to it, and our ways of dealing with these problems, are

profoundly affected by the incorporation of the physical

environment in the cultural ... what man does and how he acts, is

determined not only by organic structure and physical heredity

alone but by the influence of cultural heredity, embedded in

traditions, institutions, customs and the purposes and beliefs they

carry and inspire. (1938, p. 43)

The recognition that people exist as part of situations allows us to see that to

teach is more than knowing and reasoning (Feldman, 1997; Greene, 1973).

We become aware of what Greene calls the ‘existing being’ – the person being

in the situation with ‘all of its shifting moods, feelings, impulses, \[and\]

fantasies’ (Greene, 1967, p. 7). We also acknowledge that the teacher is more

than the rational knower and reasoner in the classroom, and that almost

everything that occurs in the teaching situation is affected by the teacher’s

past and present, presence, moods and gestures, expectations, intentions,

the students with whom she is continually engaged, and the milieu of

particular human ‘traditions, institutions, customs and the purposes and

beliefs’ (Greene, 1967, 1973; Dewey, 1938).

EXISTENTIAL APPROACHES TO ACTION RESEARCH

237

The Self Emerges through Experience

Jean-Paul Sartre has told us that existence precedes essence (Sartre, 1995).

Maxine Greene reminds us that Dewey also claimed that the self is not

something that is predetermined but is constructed through the choices we

make in our experiences (Dewey, 1916). This notion of the person’s self

being shaped not only by what we experience in a passive sense, but also by

what we choose to do, and therefore experience, is an integral part of

existential thought and important to us as we try to step out of Plato’s cave.

Greene put it this way:

And his existence comes first, his brute being-in-the-world. If he is

to become an identity, he must plunge into action and relate

himself reflectively to the situations making his life in time. Also,

he must choose. He must create values, and indeed create himself,

by choosing the kind of person he is moment by moment, year by

year. His essence, that which he ‘really’ is, turns out to be the

identity he defines for himself as he lives. (Greene, 1967, p. 8)

In order to actively choose, it is necessary to be conscious, interested and

committed, rather than mechanical and routine (Greene, 1978). If a teacher

does not attend to the situation then reflection on what is mechanical and

routine will remain so.

The teacher must attend to the situation. When this occurs we see

teaching as an intentional activity. I use intentional in two senses. The first

is the everyday meaning, where an intention is ‘a determination to act in a

certain way’ (Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary, 1981). From an existential

perspective, a teacher must not only determine to act in the sense of

choosing to act, she must be as conscious as possible of the situation,

making sure that she understands the situation, and deciding upon what is

useful and what can be believed (Greene, 1973). In doing this, the teacher

acknowledges that everything around her has meaning that arises from the

situation, including her own way of being, which in itself arises through

experience. To do this is to distinguish between what Heidegger calls the

‘present-at-hand’ and the ‘ready-at-hand’ (Heidegger, 1962). To think of

things as present-at-hand is to ignore that we know the object through our

being in the world. As a result, we think of it as something that is separate

from us and unchangeable. This leads to a mechanical and routine view. On

the other hand, when we recognise that objects are ready-at-hand, that is

that they have meaning because of us, we can critique and make

problematic those meanings. So when we reflect about the situation, we

must remember that the world as we experience it is a human construction,

and the image that arises through reflection is as Sartre reminds us, ‘the

image of what I am’ (Sartre, 1956):

In other words, Sartre makes particularly clear the

interdependence of subject and object and the important fact that

the meanings of a phenomenon (be it literary text, a street battle, a

Allan Feldman

238

drug sale, a child’s journal, a playground, a shattered window) are

contingent on a certain mode of human attending, active attending

and active interpretation, not the blank passivity of powerlessness.

(Greene, 1989, p. 36)

The second meaning of intentionality is as a specialised term used in the

philosophy of the mind. John Searle has defined it in the following way:

\[Intentionality is\] the feature by which our mental states are

directed at, or about, or refer to, or are objects and states of affairs

other than themselves. (Searle, 1984, p. 16)

He continues that intentionality refers not only to intentions, in the sense of

the word as I have defined it above, but also to:

beliefs, desires, hopes, fears, love, hate, lust, disgust, shame,

pride, irritation, amusement, and of those mental states (whether

conscious or unconscious) that refer to, or are about, the world

apart from the mind. (Searle, 1984, p. 16)

Searle ties these intentional states to human action by stating that actions

can be understood in terms of these intentional beliefs and desires. In doing

so he has distinguished between those actions that are premeditated and

those that occur without reflection by linking them to ‘prior intentions’ and

‘intentions in action’ (Searle, 1984).

In order for these intentional mental states to operate in a way that

links them to actions, Searle has postulated the existence of the

Background, ‘the set of skills, habits, abilities, etc., against which

intentional states function’ (Searle, 1984, p. 68):

All conscious intentionality – all thought, perception,

understanding, etc. – determines conditions of satisfaction only

relative to a set of capacities that are not and could not be a part of

that very conscious state. The actual content by itself is insufficient

to determine the conditions of satisfaction. (Searle, 1992, p. 189)

Consciousness and action are tied, according to Searle, through the

existence of intentional mental states, both prior and those in action, that

operate relative to the Background.

These two means of intentionality allow us to come to a better

understanding of how the emergence of the self as a teacher arises through

experience. Using the first definition we see that a teacher’s actions are tied

to decisions and choices that affect what will be and, therefore, what the

teacher will experience. However, these experiences shape the teacher’s

Background by affecting ‘skills, habits, and abilities’, which is clearly a

component of what we mean by the ‘self’. The second meaning of

intentionality adds another dimension to how we understand the self. Again,

it should be clear that what Searle refers to as intentional states – ‘ beliefs,

desires, hopes, fears, love, hate, lust, disgust, shame, pride, irritation,

amusement ...’ – are a component of what we mean by the ‘self’. So what we

EXISTENTIAL APPROACHES TO ACTION RESEARCH

239

have is a hermeneutical process by which people, through the interaction of

their Backgrounds, intentional states (2nd meaning), intentions (1st

meaning) and actions affect their situations in which they are immersed,

which results in a changed Background, different intentional states,

different intentions, a new set of actions and so on.

Greene has reminded us that Dewey wrote that ‘the self is not ready-

made, but something in continuous formation through choice of action’

(Dewey, 1916, p. 408). As we have seen from our analysis of intentionality,

those choices are an integral part of the self. However, the two meanings of

intention help us to understand how decisions and choices can in fact be

passive, routine or mechanical, rather than conscious, interested or

committed (Greene, 1978). Searle’s intentional states can develop without

conscious effort to understand, consider or problematise. This leads us to

Greene’s third characteristic of existential thought that people are free to

choose, but freedom to act is finite.

Freedom

We must begin by trying to understand what freedom means in relation to

existential thought. As with my analysis of intentionality, I begin with

dictionary definitions. The Random House dictionary tells us that freedom is

‘The state of being at liberty rather than in confinement or under physical

constraint’, and that it is the ‘power of determining one’s or its own action’

and ‘the power to make one’s own choices or decisions without constraint

from within or without; autonomy; self-determination’ (Random House,

1968). In this definition we see freedom being synonymous with autonomy

and liberty, where autonomy suggests freedom of the individual due to the

right to independent thought and action, and where liberty suggests freedom

from the control of others.

Freedom, as defined by Greene, is both different from and more than

autonomy and liberty. To Greene, human freedom ‘is the capacity to surpass

the given and look at things as if they could be otherwise’ (Greene, 1988,

p. 3). Liberty, as Greene points out, can be thought of in relation to social or

political terms. For example, liberty in the US context is conceived as being

constituted in a set of human rights that are protected by laws. While those

laws may ensure liberty they do not necessarily provide individuals with the

capacity to act freely and, conversely, individuals can have this capacity, but

are constrained from acting on it.

To be autonomous, according to Greene, also is not the same as

freedom. Greene sees autonomy as being:

self-directed and responsible; it is to be capable of acting in accord

with internalized norms and principles; it is to be insightful enough

to know and understand one’s impulses, one’s motives, and the

influences of one’s past. (Greene, 1988, p. 118)

Allan Feldman

240

However, even this highly developed sense of autonomy is not necessarily

the same as being free. That is because it is possible to have insight about

one’s intentions without being able to ‘name alternatives, imagine a better

state of things, \[or\] share with others a project of change’ (Greene, 1988,

p. 9). The person is autonomous, but does not have the capacity to be free

because he or she is not aware of possibilities, or the constraints that limit

possibilities. To return to the analogies that began this discussion of

existentialism, autonomy within Plato’s cave or as seen through the

reflection from the fun house mirror is not freedom.

Existentialists, such as Sartre (1956), claim that the freedom to choose

is an essential part of being human. However, what we see over and over

again is that people, and in our case people who are teachers, act as if they

have very limited choices or none at all. One way to understand this is to say

that freedom puts a burden on people in that freedom to choose allows one

to make wrong or bad choices. Anxiety or fear results from this realisation,

and as a result people forget that they have this freedom, or they flee from it.

Similarly, as Jack Whitehead (1989) has put it, we may find our practice to

be a ‘living contradiction’ between who we want to be and how we act,

because we believe that we are highly constrained as to what we can do.

Simone de Beauvoir (1949) has suggested several ways that people flee

from the responsibilities of freedom. They are:

1\. The child who is ‘perfectly free only in unimportant matters and forced to

submit in all others’. This way of being often includes the oppressed.

2\. The ‘sub-human’ who ‘fears existence and minimizes his desires’. These

individuals refuse all responsibility and become ‘cogs in the wheel’ or

soldiers ‘just following orders’.

3\. The ‘serious’ one who ‘loses himself in some object in order to annihilate

his subjectivity’. A person with this way of being puts an ideal or object

above other concerns.

4\. The fanatic ‘elevates one cause and militantly tries to impose it on others’.

5\. The adventurer ‘grasps his freedom, enjoys its exercise, but is indifferent

as to where and how he does it and the freedom of others’.

6\. ‘The passionate man does not try to lose himself in an object as the

serious man does but tries to possess the object’.

7\. The lazy man who is ‘comfortable in obedience to custom and routine’.

(Broudy, 1971, pp. 165-166)

We can all see people who we know, or even ourselves, in these seven ways

of being who avoid the recognition of existential freedom. In addition, for

some of them we can even admit that there can be some good inherent in

their stances toward the world.

For teachers, these ways of being arise when the ability to act ‘to

surpass the given and look at things as if they could be otherwise’ is

constrained by the real and mythical (Tobin & McRobbie, 1996). For

example, here in Massachusetts in November 2000 as I write this, teachers

are constrained by decisions made by local education authorities, and

EXISTENTIAL APPROACHES TO ACTION RESEARCH

241

statewide by the policies of a conservative government that has imposed

high stakes examinations on children and teachers. At the same time,

teachers feel the constraints of cultural myths, such as those related to the

need to transmit knowledge, content coverage, academic rigour, and the

preparation of students to be successful in the next course (Tobin &

McRobbie, 1996). These constraints to existential freedom are seen in the

types of dilemmas that a student teacher might face. For example, she may

feel the conflict between wanting to be liked by the students and perceived

as nice, while at the same time taking to heart the old saw ‘not to smile until

Thanksgiving’. There is also the conflict that Ted Sizer so eloquently wrote

about in Horace’s Compromise (Sizer, 1984) – there simply is not enough

time and resources to do all that one feels is necessary to do in order to be a

good teacher. Finally, there are the constraints that arise because the

cooperating teacher and the student teacher disagree about how and what to

teach, and why (Hultgren, 1987).

It is these types of constraints on teachers’ practice that present the

picture that freedom is finite, and that results in an existential concern that

has been identified by psychologists such as Irvin Yalom (1980) and Rollo

May (1983). Yalom has focused on the dilemma or paradox that we find

ourselves in because existential freedom suggests that because ‘the

individual is entirely responsible for ... his or her own world, life design,

choices and actions (p. 9)’, and that freedom can be terrifying: ‘it means that

beneath us there is no ground – nothing, a void, an abyss’ (p. 9). The result

is that individuals seek structure and constraints to ground themselves.

What existentialism attempts to do is to help people to acknowledge

that they do have the freedom to choose, and that their choices affect the

situations in which they are immersed and define who they are. As Van

Cleve Morris put it 40 years ago:

\[Our\] existence precedes essence. We first are; then we attempt to

define ourselves.\[Humanity\] is the great contingency; \[our\] essence

is not given ... we have been ‘thrown into existence’; not knowing

whence we came, we wake up to discover ourselves here. And

once we discover ourselves in existence, we commence the long

slow journey to find our essence. As we travel, we perform this

and that activity, make this and that choice, prefer this, reject that,

we are actually engaged in the process of defining ourselves, of

providing the essence for which we search. (Morris, 1961, p. 74)

What existentialists have claimed is that at some level, we are aware that we

create ourselves, and are therefore responsible for our own essence and for

how our choices and actions affect others. Morris has reminded us that this

is a ‘mountainous’ responsibility, and can account for why people flee from

freedom and allow themselves to be told what to do.

For those of us who want to improve teaching, the problem is how do

we help others to accept this responsibility not to flee, and to choose and act

responsibly? Morris suggested that there is an ‘existential moment’ when we

Allan Feldman

242

become aware of our own existence and make free choices. While I do not

believe that one needs to experience a transcendental moment like Stephen

Daedalus on the beach or Odysseus tossed about in the waves, I do see

action research and, in particular, an existential approach to action

research, as a means for teachers to acknowledge their freedom and to

identify how they are constrained, and what power they have to act in a way

that is responsible to themselves and for those who they care for.

Existential Action Research

In my practice as a teacher and facilitator of action research I have provided

teachers and other practitioners with this operational definition:

Action research happens when people research their own practice

in order to improve it and to come to a better understanding of their

practice situations. It is action because they act within the systems

that they are trying to improve and understand. It is research

because it is systematic, critical inquiry made public. (Feldman,

after Stenhouse, 1975)

In my move to existential action research, I found that it was necessary to

modify this definition in several ways. First, the original definition focused

on practice, rather than being. By doing so, the definition tends to reify the

notion of the teacher being separate from the educational situation in which

he or she is immersed, and therefore allows for a disconnection that can lead

to alienation. The possibility exists for a ‘we–they’ relationship with their

practice and with the others who are part of the educational situation of

their practice. In fact, this could lead to the teacher feeling defined and

constrained by others (Greene, 1978). The result is a lack of freedom

because the teacher is not aware of all the possibilities. The alienated

teacher, constrained and confronted by the political and social structures of

schooling, and her own lack of capacity to ‘surpass the given and look at

things as if they could be otherwise’ (Greene, 1988, p. 3), researches her

practice, but only in a narrow technical or practical sense. An existential

approach to action research takes the position that one cannot separate

what a person does from who the person is, and that the teacher must

question who she is as a teacher in order for action research to be

happening. Therefore, the definition needs to be amended so that we can say

that action research is happening when a person inquires into his or her

own being as a teacher.

An existential approach to action research recognises that the subject

of the research is one’s own being. Once this is acknowledged, it becomes

clear that my operational definition comes up short in another way. I wrote

that ‘people research their own practice in order to improve it …’ If

existential action research is an inquiry into one’s own being, then what is

the ‘it’ that is improved? This is where the existential concept of freedom

becomes important. To the existentialist, an improvement in our way of

EXISTENTIAL APPROACHES TO ACTION RESEARCH

243

being is a move towards gaining ‘the capacity to surpass the given and look

at things as if they could be otherwise.’ When people engage in existential

action research, they begin to feel the disquietude, the ‘incompleteness of

our vocation’ (Greene, 1989), our ‘living contradictions’ (Whitehead, 1989),

or the incompleteness, contradictions, dissonances, and dilemmas that we

have in our way of being teachers. The improvement of being, then, comes

about through the acknowledgement of our own discomfort with how we are

in the world, and the recognition that we have the freedom to choose.

This leads to a better understanding of our practice situations. That is

because existential action research has a way of attending to the situation

that is different from other forms of action research. It is ‘a certain mode of

human attending, active attending and active interpretation, not the blank

passivity of powerlessness’ (Greene, 1989, p. 36). It leads to the whole issue

of choice and decision, and the power to act. It is a search for freedom

through critical understanding. To paraphrase Morris, existential action

research allows the teacher to take increasing charge of her own practice

and to see that practice, as it stretches out in front of her, as a potential

statement of what she thinks she means in the world. It asks the teacher to

specify what she thinks is best in herself and to present that best, through

the vehicle of her practice, to the world (Morris, 1961).

My definition of existential action research so far could apply to

reflection. What makes it action research is first that actions are taken and

second that it meets Stenhouse’s criteria for research. However, in our

discussion of existential freedom, we distinguished between freedom to

choose and freedom to act. Freedom to act may be limited as a result of real,

not just mythic constraints. Greene reminds us that there are those teachers

who see ‘present demands and prescriptions as obstacles to their own

development, or ... feel it difficult to breathe. There may be thousands who,

in the absence of support systems, have elected to be silent’ (Greene, 1988,

p. 14).

Existential action research requires some type of support system for

teachers. Because existentialists have confidence in people, rather than

institutions as change agents, in existential action research that support

comes from other teachers. Greene has tied this need for cooperation or

collaboration to existential improvement of being:

It is when teachers are together as persons, according to norms

and principles they have freely chosen, that interest becomes

intensified and commitments are made. And this may open

pathways to expanded landscapes, richer ways of being human –

unique and in the ‘we-relation’ at one and the same time. (Greene,

1978, p. 34)

The result is that:

... freedom shows itself or comes into being when individuals come

together in a particular way, when they are authentically present

Allan Feldman

244

to one another (without masks, pretenses, badges of office), when

they have a project they can mutually pursue. (Greene, 1988,

pp. 16-17)

Putting this all together, existential action research happens when people

work together to research their own ways of being a teacher to increase their

capacity to choose freely and to act responsibly for themselves and those

they care for. In short, an existential approach to action research is an

optimistic view of what people are capable of accomplishing:

From a human perspective ... nothing is fully predictable or

determined. All kinds of things are possible, although none can be

guaranteed. When risks are taken, when people do indeed act in

their freedom, a kind of miracle has taken place. Arendt reminds

us that we ourselves are the authors of such miracles, because it

is we who perform them – and we who have the capacity to

establish a reality of our own. (Greene, 1988, p. 56)

Dimensions of Action Research

Where is this existential approach located within the field of action research?

I answer this by using the construct of the action research space, which was

devised by Mary Rearick and myself (Rearick & Feldman, 1999). In this

construct, we identified three dimensions of action research. The first, which

is derived from Susan Noffke’s review (Noffke, 1997), characterises action

research by purpose. The second dimension focuses on theoretical

orientation, drawing upon Grundy’s categories of technical, practical and

emancipatory orientations (Grundy, 1987). The third dimension uses

Rearick’s idea of reflection as being autobiographical, collaborative, or

communal (Rearick & Feldman, 1999).

Purposes of Action Research

Susan Noffke (1997) has told us that there are multiple purposes for

teachers who engage in action research: the professional, personal and

political. Those who engage in action research for professional purposes see

action research as a form of research that has as its main objective the

production of new educational knowledge. Because they acknowledge that

the products of traditional educational research move slowly if at all into

practice, they see action research as a means for bridging the gap between

theory and practice. Noffke noted also that there are personal purposes for

teachers to do action research. The main benefits for teachers from their

engagement in action research are ‘greater self-knowledge and fulfillment in

one’s work, a deeper understanding of one’s own practice, and the

development of personal relationships through researching together’ (Noffke,

1997, p. 306). Noffke also notes that there is a long-time tradition of action

research for political purposes beginning with the work of John Collier, US

EXISTENTIAL APPROACHES TO ACTION RESEARCH

245

commissioner of Indian Affairs, and Kurt Lewin, civil rights movements

around the world, and the practice of participatory action research. People

engaged in action research for political purposes ‘seek to create social

change toward greater social justice’ (Noffke, 1997, p. 305).

Action research can have professional, personal or political purposes,

and teachers choose to engage in action research for multiple reasons. For

many teachers, action research is a required part of a pre-service or

graduate teacher education programme. Other teachers find themselves

being asked or required to do action research as an in-service professional

development activity. Others volunteer to be part of funded projects that

have action research designed to bridge the research-practice gap, develop

curricula or as a way to implement knew forms of pedagogy. There are

teachers who engage in action research independent of education or staff

improvement programmes and funded projects. Instead, either on their own

or in collaboration with other teachers, they seek to inquire into their

practice for professional, personal and political purposes.

In the previous section I argued that existential action research

happens when people work together to research their own ways of being a

teacher to increase their capacity to choose freely, and to act responsibly for

themselves and those they care for. In short, an existential approach to

action research. By defining existential action research as inquiry into one’s

own being, it may appear that it fits into Noffke’s category of personal

purposes. However, it should be clear that it also satisfies professional and

political purposes. For example, an increased capacity to choose freely and

to act responsibly can help a teacher to converse with others in ways that

enables them to see how they have ‘flown from freedom’ in response to real

and mythic constraints. Existential action research can also be seen to

satisfy professional purposes because it is done by a group of teachers

working together. While it may not result in the forms of knowledge that can

reside in a knowledge base (Feldman, 1993c), knowledge and understanding

about practice, situation and being a teacher are generated and shared in

the process of coming together through conversation (Feldman, 1999).

It should also be clear that existential action research satisfies political

purposes because to attend to one’s being to uncover and understand real

and mythic constraints puts the focus on the moral aspects of teaching, and

how institutions, which are shaped by politics, affect one’s way of being a

teacher. Of course, to choose freely and to act responsibly is to engage in

moral and political acts.

An assumption that underlies the purposes for action research and the

reasons why teachers engage in action research is that it will ultimately

result in the improvement of education. Of course improvement can be

defined in many ways. For some, improved education means that students

score higher on standardised exams. For others, it can mean more equitable

opportunities to learn for all students. An improvement in education can

also be seen as changes in the role of teachers and students in the ways that

Allan Feldman

246

classes are conducted. Others might even claim that the best way to improve

education is to do away with the institution of schooling. In any case, this

assumption suggests that action research is a normative process for which

its practitioners have a vision of improved education that is the ultimate

purpose of the process. In existential action research, that vision is tied to

the idea of helping students to become aware of their own freedom to choose,

and the real and mythic constraints on them, and helping them to gain the

knowledge and skills that will provide them with the capacity to act

responsibly.

Theoretical Orientations

Shirley Grundy (1987), following on the work of Jürgen Habermas (1971),

has described three orientations to research: the technical, the practical and

the emancipatory. The technical orientation is similar to what Schön (1983)

has described as technical-rational. It is positivist and assumes a stance in

which problems are defined and solutions sought. The practical orientation

towards research begins with the understanding that most human problems

are ill-defined because they are highly situated, and are moral and ethical.

Human problems are also ones that are ultimately answered through action,

rather than solely through the production of knowledge. Therefore, a

practical orientation to research leads to the making of decisions through

deliberation, and is one in which knowledge production comes about

through interpretation and meaning-making. An emancipatory orientation

has as its basis perspectives, such as critical and feminist theories that seek

to uncover the structures that coerce and inhibit freedom. Grundy claims

that the emancipatory orientation to research leads to an engagement in

‘autonomous action arising out of authentic, critical insights into the social

construction of human society’(Grundy, 1987, p. 19).

Where does an existential approach to action research lie along the

dimension of theoretical orientation? When I teach my course in action

research, I tell my students that I have four explicit goals. The first is to

prepare them to do action research. The others are:

· to develop professional community;

· to help them to illuminate power relationships in their educational

situations;

· to help them to recognise their own expertise.

The existential approach to action research that I promote in the class

reflects elements of all three of Grundy’s theoretical orientations. The

methods used include ways to identify problems of practice and methods for

finding solutions to them. However, while a technical orientation to action

research may end with the solution, the existential approach leads the

action researcher through a reflective process that raises existential

concerns such as meaninglessness, self-estrangement, anxiety (the concern

about one’s performance), fear (forces outside of oneself) and the possibility

EXISTENTIAL APPROACHES TO ACTION RESEARCH

247

of ‘bad faith’ (Sartre, 1956). As a result, the action researcher becomes aware

of multiple solutions that are tied to a multiplicity of interpretations of the

educational situation, which leads to a better understanding of the situation

and one’s own being through interpretive meaning-making and deliberation.

Critical theorists and feminists have been critical of existentialism

because of its seeming focus on the individual and lack of attention to wider

social, political and economic concerns. While existentialists have

challenged this reading of their philosophy (Cooper, 1999), I agree with their

critics because of the lack of an explicit social agenda in much of what is

called existentialism. However, the existentialist approach to action research

does make social concerns explicit and incorporates them by structuring the

research as a collaborative activity. It is important to note that by

collaborative, I mean a group of action researchers working together, helping

each other in their inquiries, rather than a collaboration between teachers

and university researchers (Feldman, 1993b, 1996b, 1999). It is through

this collaborative effort that existential action research transcends the

individual and moves toward the emancipatory orientation, and helps my

students to reach the goals that I set in the course on action research.

The Reflection Dimension

Mary Rearick (Rearick & Feldman, 1999) has identified three forms of

reflection that are located along this dimension: autobiographical,

collaborative and communal. In autobiographical reflection action

researchers examine the meaning of their stories to probe into their

metaphorical meanings to understand and explain practice. Collaborative

reflection involves sharing personal theories, asking questions and seeking

answers beyond the self. Communal reflection involves an examination of

the social construction of the self and the situation within cultural,

historical, and institutional contexts. It can involve political public dialogue

about philosophical questions such as the meaning of democracy, freedom

and social justice.

As with the other dimensions of the action research space, an

existential approach includes all forms of reflection. This is best illustrated

by first looking at what Elizabeth (Dolly) Pedevillano calls existential

reflection (Pedevillano & Feldman, 2000). An existentialist view of reflection

begins by making several acknowledgements. First, because we are

conscious beings, we all engage in reflection. Secondly, reflection takes on

various forms and can include others in multiple ways (Rearick & Feldman,

1999). Thirdly, there is an implicit assumption in education that reflection is

a normative process that leads to ‘better’ educational situations, where

better is defined in relation to particular ideologies.

The goals of existential reflection are to move forward in an authentic

way by building a strong understanding of who one is as a teacher and to:

· illuminate assumptions about oneself as a teacher;

Allan Feldman

248

· bring to light assumptions, theories and myths about the outside systems

that affect teaching;

· work towards a transformative and transcendent experience and

emancipation.

Existential reflection builds on knowledge that begins and already exists as

part of the self. The person has this knowledge from being in the world as a

person who teaches. Existential reflection seeks to uncover the self as

teacher, to discover one’s ways-of-being a teacher, in our original

experiencing of the world including feelings like passion, mood, interest,

curiosity and enthusiasm. In doing so, we are trying to name that which

already exists, to make meaning of the world that we are in already. As a

result, as Sartre tells us, self-reflection is ‘conducted not by switching on an

inner searchlight, but by observing how one is reflected in that “world of

tasks”, which is the “image of myself”’ (Cooper, 1999). In this way, existential

reflection is similar to Rearick’s autobiographical reflection.

An existential approach to action research incorporates existential

reflection and, through its collaborative mode, adds aspects of Rearick’s

collaborative and communal reflection. That is because a teacher, through

existential reflection in collaboration with others, pays attention to the

intersection of her tacit knowledge, and assumptions about teaching and

learning, with the details or task at hand in the lived world of the classroom.

The result is that the goals of existential reflection are achieved.

Conclusions

From my analysis of existential action research using the dimensions of

action research, it appears as if existential action research is everything. In

it we can see elements of all purposes, theoretical orientations and types of

reflection. Does this mean that my formulation of existential action research

is so nebulous that it loses its usefulness, or that, like a politician seeking

office, I am promising something to everyone? What I argue, instead, is that

we can see all of these possible aspects of action research in existential

action research because the existential approach rejects the theoretical

separation into parts. What existential action research attempts to do is to

bring together all ways of seeing who we are, where we are, what we do, and

why. To use separate means is to lose the essence of being.

Denton has illustrated this with the following example:

\[C\]onsider my favorite example of an orange. We may describe the

orange in terms of atoms and molecules; we may describe it as a

color-patch; we may describe it as an approximation of a circle, its

sphereness. But to describe it as an orange is to see it in its

original orangeness; that is, as it is related to me in the act of

experiencing an orange, my being-with-the-orange. (Denton, 1971,

p. 165)

Denton ties his critique to research in this way:

EXISTENTIAL APPROACHES TO ACTION RESEARCH

249

If I walk into \[a classroom\] with my sociologist’s glasses on, I will

quite likely see roles and role-relationships, formal and informal

power structures, etc. If I walk in with my psychologist’s glasses

on, I shall probably see achievement and underachievement,

responses and reinforcements, etc. With my architect’s glasses,

something else again. And so on and on this would go, depending

on the number of ‘glasses’ we had available. Each set of glasses

brings with it definition, categories of description, research

methodologies, and theories of explanation. But what happens if

we try to see with naked eyes? We would see, I think, something

more akin to the common sense of accumulated teaching lore than

to that which is usually referred to as educational research.

(Denton, 1971, p. 164)

We are not strangers to this experience. We have all experienced seeing a

teacher at work, and knowing somehow that what is happening in the

classroom with the children is good for the students and good for the

teacher. But when we try to use our theories to develop ways to measure

what is happening with checklists, rubrics, or even narrative accounts, we

lose something important. What we attempt to do with existential action

research is to hold on to all that we can about our knowledge,

understanding, and our way of being in the world, so that we can build our

capacity to choose freely and to act responsibly for those we care for.

Correspondence

Allan Feldman, School of Education, University of Massachusetts, Amherst,

MA 01003-3070, USA (afeldman@educ.umass.edu).

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[Hvernig verður „ríkisbangsinn flippaður“? List- og verkgreinakennarar á þremur skólastigum segja rýnisögur úr starfendarannsóknum sínum \[How can the “state bear become a quaint artifact”? Arts and vocational teachers at three school levels share narratives from their action research - in Icelandic, long abstract in English\]](publication/354732488_Hvernig_verdur_rikisbangsinn_flippadur_List-_og_verkgreinakennarar_a_thremur_skolastigum_segja_rynisogur_ur_starfendarannsoknum_sinum_How_can_the_state_bear_become_a_quaint_artifact_Arts_and_vocationa)

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... Dermed kan vi utvide vår evne til å se forbi det gitte (Burchardt et al., 2015;Feldman, 2009;Monkerud et al., 2018). Samtidig kan frihet skilles fra autonomi ved nettopp å se ting på nye måter i konkrete situasjoner, å overskride det gitte og å gjøre autentiske valg (Feldman, 2002;Greene, 1988). ...

[Egenorganisering blant husløse: Et aksjonsforskningsprosjekt om identitet og ressursmobilisering](publication/351707671_Egenorganisering_blant_huslose_Et_aksjonsforskningsprosjekt_om_identitet_og_ressursmobilisering)

Thesis

Full-text available

- May 2021

- [![Håvard Aaslund](data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAEAAAABCAYAAAAfFcSJAAAADUlEQVR42mN89OjNfwAJDwOxHEacwgAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==)Håvard Aaslund](https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Havard-Aaslund)

This PhD-dissertation is a participatory action research study of self-organization among
people experiencing homelessness. The study is based on the housing project “Karigate” – a
resident led community with democratically led businesses for people disenfranchised from
access to housing and work. The dissertation aims to contribute to new knowledge about
barriers and possibilities for self-organization, among people with challenging housing
situations, by studying the project aimed to create a new housing solution, and by mobilizing people who have experienced homelessness themselves. The overall research question is:
Which factors are important for self-organization among people experiencing homelessness, and in what way?

A key focal point for the dissertation is the study of self-organization as a collective action.
Accordingly, the dissertation is inspired by social movement theory, where collective action is
connected to processes of collective identity, collective action framing, resource mobilization
and political opportunities. Other perspectives used to understand the collective action are
identity and positioning, stigma and participatory democracy. The study is informed by a
critical realist epistemology, where practice and experiments represent opportunities to
explore potentials in an unfinished world. Social structures are constituted by a set of
positions taken by actors, that make up social conditions, which are recreated and transformed
by the actors’ activities. Participatory action research and a critical-utopian direction allows
for exploring and challenging the frontier land of forms of self-organization considered
possible within the existing order, by realizing visions of what the world can become
(Mathiesen, 2011; Melucci, 1992).
The study is based on a four-year project to establish “Karigate”. The project was initiated by a group of women in a homeless shelter, and they planned and implemented it together with social workers, me as researcher, and a non-governmental organization (NGO). The collective action and the production of knowledge are both a joint effort between the participants and the researcher, by continuously alternating between practice, data production, dialogue and reflection. Data consist of field notes, qualitative interviews, dialogue meetings and written documents, analyzed in collaboration.

The results show three main findings contributing to the understanding of possibilities for self-organization among homeless people. The first is how self-organization was hampered by the participants experience of stigma and institutionalization. The second finding is how consciousness-raising and language was essential for the development of a collective identity,
a sense of “we” and a coherent narrative about “Karigate”. The third finding is how the
organization of the project and the relation to the NGO were crucial for the emergence of the
project, as well as its termination.

The dissertation is composed of four scientific articles. Article 1 analyzes how language work
was necessary to raise awareness among the participants, the researcher, and the outside
world, about categories and concepts that limited the courses of actions, possibilities and
horizon for self-organization. Challenging the concepts that kept the participants in
stigmatized positions; service user, user control, housing facility and substance misuser, started a process of consciousness-raising. This process created knowledge that made new practical opportunities to realize “Karigate” possible.
Article 2 analyzes how collective identity and collective action interacted in the meeting
between the initiators and later participants. The participants developed solidarity and
collective identity through processes characterized by boundary-making with the outside world, group consciousness of language, and negotiations about the idea and narrative of the project. The collective identity emerged from the tension between politics of identity and ambitions for material change.
Article 3 shows the importance of project organization and the relation to the NGO. The
article analyzes how the relation between the participants, the researcher and the NGO
changed during the project period. Of paramount importance is how the level of participation varied in different phases. The resources from the NGO were necessary to realize the project. Simultaneously, several challenges contributed to strong dependence and co-optation of the self-organized project; the challenges were related to power differences, different understandings of participation, project organization, and to the NGO’s role as both service provider and advocate for the disadvantaged. Article 4 discusses this finding in an analysis of
challenges in the encounter between marginalized groups’ collective actions and helping professions. In the article we discuss such processes as affected by political and institutional context, collective action framing and identity, and develop a model for reflection over similar processes.
The overall contribution of the study is how self-organization among homeless is affected by processes related to identity, collective action, resource mobilization and organizational arrangements. The results uncover new knowledge about homeless people’s needs, resources and possibilities, and barriers related to stigma and organizational context. The interaction
between language and consciousness, collective identity and collective action appears particularly important for understanding the emergence of the self-organized project.
Consciousness-raising and identity work was not just and end, but a necessary means for
working to improve the material conditions.

[View](publication/351707671_Egenorganisering_blant_huslose_Et_aksjonsforskningsprosjekt_om_identitet_og_ressursmobilisering)

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... From there, they can form their personal theory on teaching, to apply in the future. The reflection activity in action research has been found to help bridge the gap between theory and practice (Feldman, 2002;Luttenberg, Meijer & Oolbekkink-Marchand, 2016;Neilsen, 2014), which can be a challenge to the pre-service teachers (Clarke & Fournillier, 2012;Smith & Sela, 2005). It can be a struggle for the pre-service teachers to relate what they have learnt theoretically during a formal class in the institute with what they acquire throughout their teaching practical experiences. ...

[AN INQUIRY APPROACH TO FACILITATE REFLECTION IN ACTION RESEARCH FOR ESL PRE-SERVICE TEACHERS](publication/347357394_AN_INQUIRY_APPROACH_TO_FACILITATE_REFLECTION_IN_ACTION_RESEARCH_FOR_ESL_PRE-SERVICE_TEACHERS)

Article

Full-text available

- Jul 2019

- [Caroline Val Madin](https://www.researchgate.net/scientific-contributions/Caroline-Val-Madin-2186021300)
- [![Suyansah Swanto](data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAEAAAABCAYAAAAfFcSJAAAADUlEQVR42mN89OjNfwAJDwOxHEacwgAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==)Suyansah Swanto](https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Suyansah-Swanto)

Reflection is a significant skill in action research, but many practitioners still display unsatisfactory reflective thinking levels, especially among teachers. Pre-service teachers, in particular, have voiced issues concerning their reflections in action research. Although reflections are personal and have infinite forms, research has demonstrated that using an inquiry approach can build reflection skills. This study aimed to identify pre-service teachers’ and their respective lecturer-supervisors’ views on the use of an inquiry approach to facilitate the reflection aspect in action research. A question-structured checklist was provided to the research participants to guide their reflection in action research. Data were collected from twenty (n=20) English as a Second Language (ESL) pre-service teachers and five (n=5) lecturer-supervisors in an Institute of Teacher Education Malaysia campus through follow-up interviews and focused group discussions. Findings revealed the benefits of the inquiry approach used in guiding the pre-service teachers’ reflections in their action research and writing the final reports. Feedback from the lecturer-supervisors suggested that the use of the inquiry approach had guided the pre-service teachers’ reflections to be more organized and relevant to the focus in each section in the report. Future recommendations on the application of an inquiry approach are suggested.

[View](publication/347357394_AN_INQUIRY_APPROACH_TO_FACILITATE_REFLECTION_IN_ACTION_RESEARCH_FOR_ESL_PRE-SERVICE_TEACHERS)

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[Increasing Student Success in Mathematics and Statistics through Sustainable Faculty Professional Development](publication/382468647_Increasing_Student_Success_in_Mathematics_and_Statistics_through_Sustainable_Faculty_Professional_Development)

Article

Full-text available

- Jul 2024

- [Jennifer Clinkenbeard](https://www.researchgate.net/scientific-contributions/Jennifer-Clinkenbeard-2287545650)
- [Sarah Ultan](https://www.researchgate.net/scientific-contributions/Sarah-Ultan-2287588640)

Inclusive and student-centered approaches to teaching are crucial for student success in mathematics and statistics courses. However, faculty need ongoing support and education to effectively implement active learning strategies that address issues such as equitable participation, to ensure all students meet their learning objectives. At California State University Monterey Bay, we have implemented a professional development model focusing on regular professional development activities that meet the ongoing needs of our faculty that will help their students succeed. This model supports both new and experienced faculty, drawing on existing campus expertise while building faculty teaching skills and a stronger teaching and learning community over time. In this paper, we discuss the lessons learned from the first year of implementing our professional development model, as well as considerations for other departments that are interested in creating a similar model for professional development aimed at increasing student success, building community in the department, and improving teaching and learning for students and faculty.

[View](publication/382468647_Increasing_Student_Success_in_Mathematics_and_Statistics_through_Sustainable_Faculty_Professional_Development)

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[Bir Mesleki Gelişim Aracı Olarak Bireysel Araştırma: Bir Kavramsal Analiz](publication/376605858_Bir_Mesleki_Gelisim_Araci_Olarak_Bireysel_Arastirma_Bir_Kavramsal_Analiz)

Article

- Dec 2023

- [Ahmet SABAN](https://www.researchgate.net/scientific-contributions/Ahmet-SABAN-2269028192)

“Bireysel araştırma”, eğitimcilerin kendi mesleki uygulamalarını eleştirel, derinlemesine ve sistematik bir biçimde incelemeleri ve bu sayede de kendilerini mesleki açıdan geliştirmeleri, değiştirmeleri veya dönüştürmeleri üzerine odaklanmaktadır. Eğitimcilerin uygulamada yaşadıkları ikilemler, endişeler ve gerilimler ya da sahip oldukları öğretim anlayışları, inançları ve idealleri, bireysel araştırmanın başlatılmasına neden olan temel unsurları simgelemektedir. Bu yönüyle bireysel araştırma, eğitimcilerin kendi uygulamalarına ilişkin “pedagojik sorgulama” yapmaları olarak ele alınmaktadır. Bu çalışmanın temel amacı, bireysel araştırma hakkında kapsamlı bir sistematik alanyazın incelemesi gerçekleştirerek bu araştırma yaklaşımının daha iyi anlaşılmasına katkı sunmaktır. Bu genel amaç doğrultusunda, bireysel araştırmaya ilişkin güncel alanyazın aşağıdaki sekiz soru çerçevesinde derinlemesine analiz edilmiştir: (1) Bireysel araştırma nasıl kavramsallaştırılmaktadır? (2) Bireysel araştırma tarihsel süreç içinde nasıl ortaya çıkmıştır? (3) Bireysel araştırmanın doğuşuna ve kavramsallaştırılmasına katkı getiren eğitimciler kimlerdir? (4) Bireysel araştırmanın tanımlayıcı özellikleri nelerdir? (5) Bireysel araştırma nasıl öğretilebilir ve öğrenilebilir? (6) Bireysel araştırmayı diğer nitel araştırma yaklaşımlarından farklı kılan nedir? (7) Bireysel araştırmanın en büyük zorluğu nedir? (8) Bireysel araştırmaya getirilen temel eleştiriler nelerdir? Bu çalışmanın, bireysel araştırmada yeni olan araştırmacılara, bireysel araştırmayı öğrencilerine öğretmek isteyen eğitimcilere ve bireysel araştırmanın uygulanmasında meslektaşlarına destek sunan deneyimli bireysel araştırmacılara faydalı olacağı düşünülmektedir.

[View](publication/376605858_Bir_Mesleki_Gelisim_Araci_Olarak_Bireysel_Arastirma_Bir_Kavramsal_Analiz)

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[Repercussions of the Continuous Instability for the Quality of Education in the State of Libya: An Investigational Study within the Faculty of Education, University of Benghazi (UoB)](publication/365064460_Repercussions_of_the_Continuous_Instability_for_the_Quality_of_Education_in_the_State_of_Libya_An_Investigational_Study_within_the_Faculty_of_Education_University_of_Benghazi_UoB)

Article

- Oct 2022

- [Dr. Ageila Ali Elabbar](https://www.researchgate.net/scientific-contributions/Dr-Ageila-Ali-Elabbar-2135143826)

[View](publication/365064460_Repercussions_of_the_Continuous_Instability_for_the_Quality_of_Education_in_the_State_of_Libya_An_Investigational_Study_within_the_Faculty_of_Education_University_of_Benghazi_UoB)

[‘Small Existential Fractures and an Interrogative Relationship with the World’: An Existentialist Reading of Frances Hardinge’s A Face Like Glass](publication/361009198_'Small_Existential_Fractures_and_an_Interrogative_Relationship_with_the_World'_An_Existentialist_Reading_of_Frances_Hardinge's_A_Face_Like_Glass)

Article

- Jun 2022

- [![Marianne O'Kane Boal](data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAEAAAABCAYAAAAfFcSJAAAADUlEQVR42mN89OjNfwAJDwOxHEacwgAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==)Marianne O'Kane Boal](https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Marianne-Okane-Boal)

Philosophical approaches to children’s literature constitute a burgeoning area of the field. This article focuses on the existentialist dimension of A Face Like Glass by Frances Hardinge. The Heideggerian existentialist analysis of the novel examines the ambiguity of childhood, its temporality, adult–child power relations, existential fractures, and potency. In this radical fantasy, the positive power of a protagonist who privileges her being-with-others can transform social inequality. This moral fantasy tale links to contemporary society, referencing complex political and social issues, and cautions against extreme societal control.

[View](publication/361009198_'Small_Existential_Fractures_and_an_Interrogative_Relationship_with_the_World'_An_Existentialist_Reading_of_Frances_Hardinge's_A_Face_Like_Glass)

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[Reflections on change theory and community-based participatory action research: Congruent, similar or different?](publication/355648077_Reflections_on_change_theory_and_community-based_participatory_action_research_Congruent_similar_or_different)

Article

Full-text available

- Oct 2021

- [![Mary Asirifi](data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAEAAAABCAYAAAAfFcSJAAAADUlEQVR42mN89OjNfwAJDwOxHEacwgAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==)Mary Asirifi](https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Mary-Asirifi-2)
- [Linda Ogilvie](https://www.researchgate.net/scientific-contributions/Linda-Ogilvie-10379458)
- [Sylvia Barton](https://www.researchgate.net/scientific-contributions/Sylvia-Barton-2128253103)
- [![Lydia Aziato](data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAEAAAABCAYAAAAfFcSJAAAADUlEQVR42mN89OjNfwAJDwOxHEacwgAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==)Lydia Aziato](https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Lydia-Aziato)

While change is acknowledged as integral to all action research, literature linking the theories of change theoretically merits exploration. Are some theories of change more congruent to principles of action research than others? Does congruence depend on which type of action research and which change theory are being compared? During the implementation of a four-cycle community-based participatory action research (CBPR) project in nursing education in Ghana, such questions arose. This paper is an attempt to grapple with those questions. While Kotter’s eight-step theory of organizational change was chosen to guide this study, it became obvious that various elements of change theories were integrated in the study as it progressed. For Kotter’s organizational change theory to serve as an effective guide for the implementation cycles in the CBPR project, it must be conducted through the lens of critical social theory and a perspective on social and cultural change.

[View](publication/355648077_Reflections_on_change_theory_and_community-based_participatory_action_research_Congruent_similar_or_different)

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[Strategic Pause on the National Libyan Education Reform Plan: Insights & Enhanced Tactics](publication/354593270_Strategic_Pause_on_the_National_Libyan_Education_Reform_Plan_Insights_Enhanced_Tactics)

Article

Full-text available

- Sep 2021

- [Dr. Ageila Ali Elabbar](https://www.researchgate.net/scientific-contributions/Dr-Ageila-Ali-Elabbar-2135143826)

Primarily based on the strategic pillars presented in the essential plan titled: "National Libyan Public Education Reform: Entire Transformative Strategies 2020–2026" (Published: November 2017), which proposed comprehensive bases for reforming Libyan public education as a reflection on the problems that the whole Libyan public/private education system have faced due to still-existing circumstances. It divided the entire reform strategy into six years of definite procedures designed to solve the revealed problems through gradual, ongoing actions. This essential plan was followed by a detailed executive paper on the same reverence plan titled "Contextualizing the First Two Years of the Libyan Education Reform Proposed Strategies (2020–2026): Targeted Candidates and Reflective Activities" (Published: May 2018), which explained in detail the projected (Phase I) actions of the first two years of the plan. (Phase II) of applying such a plan was explained in a paper titled "Employing the Subsequent Four Years of the Libyan Education Reform Strategy: Administrations and Contributors" (Published: January 2019), which extensively described the four executive years of the reform strategy with considerations to the constitutional laws or the existing educational regulations in the country.This associated project aimed to obtain a deeper understanding and awareness of the consequences and variables resulting from the remaining state instability for over (10) years (2011-2021) in general, and from (2017-2021) in particular, along with an assessment of the impacts of the coronavirus (COVID-19) on the whole educational system in Libya. This comprehensive work is a result of (16) months of field qualitative study (&), which predominantly depended on the pillars of the suggested plan to professionally determine whether the projected National Reform Plan for the entire Libyan education system is still valuable to apply, or if it needs to be modified, developed, or even changed in some of its aspects or in one/all its phases. The significance of obtaining this field work emerged after the increase of great challenges that revealed problems faced by/facing the entire State of Libya: for instance, the effects of civil wars, a prolonged time of sharp institutional division (East and West), and a tremendous deficit (damage) in most education infrastructures and interferences, in addition to the almost non-existence of QAs, CPD, research, technology, and teaching facilities inside public schools, universities, and even in the vocational sector. This is in addition to the deep effects of the continued lack of a clear policy of education and the approximate non-existence of a clear and authentic Vision, Mission, and Goals (VMG) or sequenced tactics of leadership and lifelong learning for educators, inspectors, social workers, education administrators, TAs, and university lecturers, etc.This field study uncovered profound problems in the entire Libyan education system, which might lead to a complete collapse or major failures if it remains as it is now. It also re-verified the still-valued proposed National Libyan Public Education Reform (NLPER) strategy in combination with contemporary innovative concepts, added stakeholders, and developed tactical leadership philosophies and active crisis management techniques, all to be contained in a developed (7) years of reform strategy and tactics instead of the (6) suggested years, which will immediately take place (the updated Reform Plan) as a response to the findings of this study.

[View](publication/354593270_Strategic_Pause_on_the_National_Libyan_Education_Reform_Plan_Insights_Enhanced_Tactics)

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[Employing the Subsequent Four Years of the Libyan Education Reform Strategy: Administrations and Contributors](publication/336142329_Employing_the_Subsequent_Four_Years_of_the_Libyan_Education_Reform_Strategy_Administrations_and_Contributors)

Article

- Sep 2019

- [Dr. Ageila Ali Elabbar](https://www.researchgate.net/scientific-contributions/Dr-Ageila-Ali-Elabbar-2135143826)

[View](publication/336142329_Employing_the_Subsequent_Four_Years_of_the_Libyan_Education_Reform_Strategy_Administrations_and_Contributors)

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[The Rediscovery of the Mind](publication/341350392_The_Rediscovery_of_the_Mind)

Book

- Jan 1992

- [John R. Searle](https://www.researchgate.net/scientific-contributions/John-R-Searle-2174751233)

[View](publication/341350392_The_Rediscovery_of_the_Mind)

[Existential Encounters for Teachers](publication/324335161_Existential_Encounters_for_Teachers)

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- Jul 1969

- [Irving Kaufman](https://www.researchgate.net/scientific-contributions/Irving-Kaufman-2141046283)
- [Maxine Greene](https://www.researchgate.net/scientific-contributions/Maxine-Greene-2141061556)

[View](publication/324335161_Existential_Encounters_for_Teachers)

[The Dialectic of Freedom.](publication/318517895_The_Dialectic_of_Freedom)

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- [Maxine Greene](https://www.researchgate.net/scientific-contributions/Maxine-Greene-2130721915)

[View](publication/318517895_The_Dialectic_of_Freedom)

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- [Susan E. Noffke](https://www.researchgate.net/scientific-contributions/Susan-E-Noffke-2123370535)

[View](publication/314101722_Professional_Personal_and_Political_Dimensions_of_Action_Research)

[Teaching: The Question of Personal Reality](publication/313479655_Teaching_The_Question_of_Personal_Reality)

Article

- Jan 1991

- [Maxine Greene](https://www.researchgate.net/scientific-contributions/Maxine-Greene-2122256066)
- [A. Lieberman](https://www.researchgate.net/scientific-contributions/A-Lieberman-2122254890)
- [L. Miller](https://www.researchgate.net/scientific-contributions/L-Miller-2085616195)

[View](publication/313479655_Teaching_The_Question_of_Personal_Reality)

[The Student Teacher as Person: Reflections on Pedagogy and Being](publication/284777850_The_student_teacher_as_person_Reflections_on_pedagogy_and_being)

Article

- Jan 1987

- [Francine H. Hultgren](https://www.researchgate.net/scientific-contributions/Francine-H-Hultgren-2086121193)

[View](publication/284777850_The_student_teacher_as_person_Reflections_on_pedagogy_and_being)

[Democracy in education](publication/284740700_Democracy_in_education)

Article

- Jan 1916

- [J. Dewey](https://www.researchgate.net/scientific-contributions/J-Dewey-2086103654)

[View](publication/284740700_Democracy_in_education)

[The Rediscovery of Mind](publication/276002131_The_Rediscovery_of_Mind)

Article

- Apr 1994

- [Paul F. Snowdon](https://www.researchgate.net/scientific-contributions/Paul-F-Snowdon-2073152831)
- [John Searle](https://www.researchgate.net/scientific-contributions/John-Searle-2073156297)

[View](publication/276002131_The_Rediscovery_of_Mind)

[Book Review: Existential Encounters for Teachers](publication/273591485_Book_Review_Existential_Encounters_for_Teachers)

Article

- Mar 1969

- [Ian McD. Mitchell](https://www.researchgate.net/scientific-contributions/Ian-McD-Mitchell-2069332239)

[View](publication/273591485_Book_Review_Existential_Encounters_for_Teachers)

[The Dialectic of Freedom](publication/270320858_The_Dialectic_of_Freedom)

Article

- May 1990

- [![Ellen Handler Spitz](data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAEAAAABCAYAAAAfFcSJAAAADUlEQVR42mN89OjNfwAJDwOxHEacwgAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==)Ellen Handler Spitz](https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ellen-Spitz)
- [Maxine Greene](https://www.researchgate.net/scientific-contributions/Maxine-Greene-2062030378)

[View](publication/270320858_The_Dialectic_of_Freedom)

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The intention of this paper is to open a debate on the concept of Physical Literacy. This is a term that has been used intermittently over the years but has never received serious analysis. The discussion has three parts. The first sets out, briefly, the findings of earlier research (Whitehead, 1987), which created the ground for this paper. The second proposes a context within which the concept ... \[Show full abstract\] of Physical Literacy may be defined and uses this context to discuss possible components of the concept The presentation is set in an existential and phenomenological context and therefore considers the concept of Physical Literacy from a particular philosophical perspective. The final part of the paper lists a series of questions. These challenge proposals that are made in the paper and, at this stage in the debate, need to be subject to critical consideration.

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January 1962

- [Henry Sidgwick](https://www.researchgate.net/scientific-contributions/Henry-Sidgwick-2124088478)

§ 1\. We have seen that in delineating the outline of duty, as intuitively recognised, we have to attempt to give to common terms a definite and precise meaning. This process of definition always requires some reflection and care, and is sometimes one of considerable difficulty. But there is no case where the difficulty is greater, or the result more disputed, than when we try to define Justice.

[Read more](publication/314584283_Justice)

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