39.9 Action Research as a Vehicle for Curriculum
Development
If curriculum development is to be about the rooting and development of ideas and
practices, it has to be rooted in the reality of the lives of the teachers and the
students in their contexts. The experience of both these examples is that action
research engages with these realities and can either support the problem solving
required to make the new practices embed, or it will founder. These realities must
be faced in a supportive and constructive way. Robinson and Soudien ( 2009 ) argue
that‘sustainable and meaningful change depends on teachers being able to identify
with the principles and procedures of the change and to see its purpose in their own
environment.’(p. 475)
39.10 Action Research as a Vehicle for Reform
The advantages of engaging teachers in action research as part of a national reform
agenda is that there is more chance of it being a real and sustainable change. The
issues of power and voice that were central to the South African example emerge
again. The process must be planned from the inception of the reform and followed
as in integral part of it. Robinson and Soudien ( 2009 : 475) raise the questions‘How
does the community of teachers participate in a national agenda of reform?’In the
next section, I explore this question and look at what can be learned from these two
examples and other current examples of reform in the UK and Canada.
39.11 Researching Practice as Education and Reform
The two illuminative cases have raised questions as well as providing some sub-
stance to support the argument that action research is a highly suitable strategy for
the sustainable development of teachers’ practice and for planned educational
reform. There are two recent examples that have also exemplified this and are
systematic and well-planned reform initiatives. Both included research or the use of
data in their strategies: one used teacher enquiry and one made more general use of
data. These two are the London Challenge initiative (Hutchings et al. 2012 ; Kidson
and Norris 2014 ) and the reform of the Ontario schools (Fullan 2009 ). They show
that the planning of all the elements discussed in this chapter is possible and key to
remarkable progress.
Thefirst important element is clear supported pathways for teacher learning.
This involves professional development aligned to the teacher’s needs and goals
right from the beginning of the reform attempt. Action research where the teacher
has limited autonomy is well suited to this. It requires skilful facilitation and the
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