JOURNAL OF CRITICAL ISSUES IN EDUCATIONAL PRACTICE VOL. 12

It is our great privilege to be the editors of this journal. The opportunity to review the scholarly work of others and provide a forum for dissemination is important work. Three original pieces of research are included in this volume of the journal. Selected for originality and timeliness, it is our hope that some part of your educational practice might be informed. It is our goal to feature voices that might be considered outside of the expected or usual. What is your philosophy of education? One might ask if this is ever a serious question or rather just an academic exercise? Do you really want my philosophy or are you just looking to make sure my philosophy matches a certain litmus test? If the words diversity, inclusion and equity are central to the statement, will the test be passed? In her article, Dr. Tiffany Bates, raises the important issue of how a philosophy might inform practice. Can a philosophy be integral to our professional work? The implications for teacher training programs, as well as public schools, are included as part of this research. Rightly considered, discipline is something that you have rather than something that you do. The procedures that are used to establish and maintain discipline in a school or a classroom are critical to establishing a learning environment that is fair to the diverse populations that we serve. Can discipline be fair if the differences in our students are not important variables in how we structure our daily interactions? Dr. Jaime Welborn uses the lens of cultural proficiency to examine this issue. To what extent do norms and expectations match student groups and how does what we know about diversity drive our decision-making? It is a time-honored tradition in many classrooms to begin the day with what is called a morning meeting. This teacher-led meeting reviews the events of the day and might be topical about a current event or something the teacher considers important. If nothing else, students are reminded of the day of the week, date and year, and the weather forecast. Whether this is time well spent might deserve some attention. Dr. Christine Uliassi provides a case study that demonstrates how this meeting time can be a more meaningful exercise in social and emotional learning and one that might expand critical literacy skills. Should you be so inclined, please consider sharing any personal reflection or critical review of the journal’s content. We would like to consider a review feature in future editions of the journal. Best wishes for 2023

“Researcher-As-Instrument” in Qualitative Research: The Complexities of the Educational Researcher’s Identities

The purpose of this study was to reexamine the principle of researcher-as-instrument to provide insights on methodological ways of engaging critically and reflexively. There are few published pieces that have given attention to the complexities of the educational researcher’s identities through the method of critical self-analysis. The researcher’s nine published case studies were critically reanalyzed by using the criteria of excellent qualitative research such as rich rigor to examine the relationship between the researcher’s identities and the quality of qualitative research. The findings suggest that the researcher’s published studies lack sincerity most among other criteria. The layered identities of the researcher, specifically her theoretical knowledge and linguistic orientation, influenced the data interpretation and subsequent reports. The field of educational research tends to view researchers as one homogenous group; this study redefines that notion as the findings uncover that the researcher’s positionality affects data interpretation. The findings suggest that a more rigorous method of reexamining the concept of researcher-as instrument is vital for the improvement of the educational practice. A suggestion for future publications is to include a “complexities” section to share researchers’ complex identities in their qualitative research reporting