Educational influences in learning with visual narratives

In this presentation, we intend to show, through the use of digital video, our understanding of ontological values of a web of betweenness and pedagogy of the unique (Farren, 2004) as they are lived in practice with students, in this case, practitioner-researchers on award bearing programmes. We both work with a sense of research-based professionalism in which we are seeking to improve our educational practice with our students in action research enquiries 'how do I improve what I am doing?' The visual narratives, in the form of digital video clips, of our educational practice, include our engagement with practitioner-researchers as we seek to understand our educational influences in their learning so that we can "influence the education of social formation" (Whitehead, 2004a & b). This relates to the idea of social formations as defined by Bourdieu (1990) and points to the way people organise their interactions according to a set of regulatory values that can take the form of rules. In studying our own education practice, with the help of digital video, we hope to influence the education of social formations so that others will begin to question their underlying values, assumptions and epistemologies that inform their practice. The purpose of this paper is to communicate to a wider audience and network with other higher education educators through visual narratives of our work in higher education. There is a lack of research in how educators in higher education are influencing the education of their students. This area of research is one which we develop through this paper

Book review: de Sousa Santos, B. (2014) Epistemologies of the South: justice against Epistemicide. London; Paradigm Publishers

My review of de Sousa Santos’ book for the Educational Journal of Living Theories is in two parts. In Part One I share my understandings of some of Santos’ concepts that are new to me. These include ideas on the abyssal line; subaltern insurgent cosmopolitanism; epistemicide; ecology of knowledges; intercultural translation. In Part Two I explain my excitement with Santos’ ideas by showing how I am drawing insights from these ideas in the evolution and transformation of my own living-educational-theory, and in my exploration of the implications of Santos’ ideas for Living Theory research as a social movement

Review of Marie Huxtable’s doctoral thesis, ‘How do I evolve living-educational-theory praxis in living-boundaries?’

This thesis offers four original contributions to knowledge: 1. Living-Educational-Theory praxis, highlighting the fundamental importance of educators creating 'valuesbased explanation of their educational influences in learning' (Whitehead, 1989), as they research to develop praxis within living-boundaries. 2. Living-boundaries as co-creative space within which energy-flowing values can be clarified and communicated. 3. Inclusive gifted and talented education developed from an educational perspective, which enables each learner to develop and offer talents, expertise and knowledge as lifeaffirming and life-enhancing gifts. The knowledge is that created of the world, of self, and self in and of the world. 4. Living-Theory TASC, a relationally-dynamic and multidimensional approach to research and developing praxis, which integrates Living-Theory (Whitehead, 1989) with Thinking Actively in a Social Context (TASC) (Wallace & Adams, 1993)

Generating living theory and understanding in action research studies

The paper explains how individuals can generate their living theories from action research as explanations for their educational influences in learning. The epistemological significance of these explanations is explored in terms of the energy and values that are expressed in explanatory principles of learning in enquiries of the kind, ‘How do I improve what I am doing?’. Limitations in the expression of the meanings of these explanatory principles through words on pages of printed text are overcome from a perspective of inclusionality and in multi-media explanations that focus on the embodied knowledges of action researchers. These explanations can be accessed through the live URLs provided in the article. Evidence that the explanations of educational influences in learning from Whitehead’s educational research programme have been used by others is provided from the masters and doctoral degrees of other living theory action researchers

Review of Sadruddin Bahadur Qutoshi's doctoral thesis, ‘Creating living-educational-theory: a journey towards transformative teacher education in Pakistan

The originality of Sadruddin Bahadur Qutoshi's thesis is focused on a transformative teacher education programme for Pakistan and a living-educational-theory that includes reflexivity, inclusive logics, multiple genres and multiple ways of knowing. The originality is consistent with what de Sousa Santos (2014) is calling for as ‘ecologies of knowledges’ as a response to the hegemonic influences of a ‘Western’ epistemology. This thesis offers five transformative visions for teacher education and research practices in Pakistan: 1. A living-educational-theory of inclusive co-leadership with embodied values of intention of doing good for others, humility for humanity, care of self and others with ecological consciousness, love and peace; 2. The use of a metaphor of montage in conceiving a liberating view of curriculum; 3. Critical-creative pedagogies for an empowering view of education; 4. A holistic view of authentic-developmental assessment; 5. An innovative-integral view of transformative research

A self-study contribution to a history of the self-study of teacher education practices

My self-studies of my teacher education practice began in 1973, with my appointment as a Lecturer in Education at the University of Bath, UK. Between 1973-1993 I explored my question, ‘How do I improve what I am doing in my professional practice?’ In 1993 I published a book on ‘The Growth of Educational Knowledge: Creating your living educational theories’ (Whitehead, 1993). In this I offer an analysis of my contributions to educational knowledge between 1973-1993, which I brought into S-STEP. These contributions included the original idea that individuals could create their own living-educational-theories (Whitehead, 1985, 1989) ‘as explanations of their educational influences in their own learning, in the learning of others and in the learning of the social formations in which the enquiry was located.’ The idea that S-STEP researchers could generate their own living-educational-theories provided the organising principle for a Special Issue of Teacher Education Quarterly in 1995 (TEQ, 1995). In 1999 my doctoral thesis (Whitehead, 1993) demonstrated the existence of a Living Educational Theory methodology that transcended limitations in social science methodologies for enquiries of the kind, ‘How do I improve what I am doing?’ I communicated this methodology (Whitehead, 2009a) within the limitations of a printed-text based medium for instance in a chapter in a book (Tidwell, et. al. 2009) and transcended these limitations in a multimedia paper on Living Theory methodology, published in the multimedia journal, Educational Journal of Living Theories (EJOLTS), (Whitehead, 2008). Over the course of my research between 1993-2014 I have consistently sought to make a contribution to the evolution of S-STEP in two ways. The first concerns the rationality of explanations of educational influence that include evidence of their influence in the learning of students. I am thinking here of the nature of the rationality in the unit of appraisal, living standards of judgment and the living-logics used by S-STEP researchers in their explanations of educational influence in learning. The second concerns the development of methods for clarifying and communicating the meanings of the embodied expressions of energy-flowing, ontological values as explanatory principles in explanations of educational influence. The paper is organised in terms of the Aims, Context, Methods and Outcomes

Enacting educational reflexivity in supervising research into creating living-educational-theories

To show how enacting reflexivity in research supervision in creating a living-educational-theory can address the notion of self in ways that go beyond navel-gazing in both improving practice and generating knowledge in making scholarly, academically legitimate, and original contributions to educational knowledge. This paper on educational reflexivity in supervision stresses the importance of clarifying and communicating the values that carry hope for the flourishing of humanity in explanations of educational influence from self-study researchers. In the same way that not all learning is educational, not all reflexivity supports the values that carry hope for the flourishing of humanity. Hence, the paper is focused on educational reflexivity in supervision to emphasise the importance of living these values as fully as possible in the creation of living-educational-theories

How am I integrating the personal and political in improving professional practice and generating educational knowledge with collaborative/cooperative action research?

A summary of a paper presented at the CARN 40th Anniversary Conference at Bishop Grosseteste University in Lincoln, UK, 10-13 November 2016, with the theme of 'Integrating the Personal and Political in Professional Practice'. The full paper outlines my living-educational-theory as an explanation of my educational influences in my learning, the learning of others and the learning of social formations, over the 49 years of my research programme, whilst working with political, historical and cultural influences in my practice and understandings. It integrates insights from the work of De Sousa Santos (2014) on ‘Epistemologies of the South: Justice against Epistemicide’ as one of the most advanced social theories of today. It can be accessed from: http://www.actionresearch.net/writings/jack/jwCARNindividual091116.pd

Creating a living-educational-theory from questions of the kind, ‘how do I improve my practice?’ 30 years on with Living Theory research.

30 years ago, a paper of mine, Creating a living-educational theory from questions of the kind, ‘how do I improve my practice?’ was published, that is most often referenced in relation to Living Theory research. The paper still offers an easy introduction to my ideas about living-educational-theory. I revisit the paper in order to share my present understanding of Living Theory research and living-educational-theories. I have used the hypertext facility enabled by EJOLTS, to update the six headings of the 1989 paper with my 2019 insights. I also use the latest technology to include digital visual data to communicate the meanings of educational practices and educational relationships. I use these data to show how I clarify and communicate the meanings of my embodied and ontological values. I use these as explanatory principles and standards of judgment in explanations of educational influences in my own learning, in the learning of others and in the learning of the social formations that influence my practice and understandings. I provide evidence from universities around the world that living-educational-theory accounts (valid values-based explanations of educational influences in learning) have been recognised as contributing to global academic knowledge and discourse. I conclude the paper by focusing on enhancing the influence of Living Theory research as a contribution to a global social movement with values of human flourishing and projections into the future