The Library
Educational action research networks as participatory interventions
Tools
Townsend, Andrew James (2010) Educational action research networks as participatory interventions. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.
|
PDF
WRAP_THESIS_Townsend_2010.pdf - Requires a PDF viewer. Download (2467Kb) |
Official URL: http://webcat.warwick.ac.uk/record=b2339951~S15
Abstract
In 2002, the National College for School Leadership launched what was regarded as
the largest educational networking programme in the world. This brought together
groups of schools to collaborate over developing agreed areas of their work. This
thesis outlines a research project aimed at networks who were members of this
programme and whose main activity had been action research conducted by network
members. This research was intended to examine, and to understand, the
participatory aspects of networks of this sort.
Five overarching themes were drawn from the literature on participatory interventions
and related to educational networks and to action research. The interaction of these
three areas of literature provided the background against which the empirical aspects
of this thesis were conducted. Based around an interpretive argument emphasising
the contextual uniqueness of these networks, a case study methodology was adopted
to study three networks. These three networks were those who had agreed to
participate of a total of 18 that had matched the profile for selection and who had been
invited to participate.
The conduct of these three case studies used a mixed method approach examining
documents produced by these networks as well as collecting data through the use of a
questionnaire and semi-structured interviews. From these three case studies
overarching themes were identified in the ways that these networks related to
participatory interventions. These themes specifically concerned: the approaches that
these networks had taken to action research; the ways in which they had perceived
and involved communities in their work; the nature of collaborative relationships in
the networks; the relationship between the operation of the networks and principles of
voluntarism and finally the roles of leadership in the networks. Overall, these
networks presented a model by which individuals could collectively work together for
a common aspiration, whilst retaining the flexibility to be relevant to local contexts.
Item Type: | Thesis (PhD) | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Subjects: | L Education > L Education (General) | ||||
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Inter-school cooperation, Action research in education, Education -- Case studies | ||||
Official Date: | January 2010 | ||||
Dates: |
|
||||
Institution: | University of Warwick | ||||
Theses Department: | Institute of Education | ||||
Thesis Type: | PhD | ||||
Publication Status: | Unpublished | ||||
Supervisor(s)/Advisor: | Bush, Tony, 1943- | ||||
Extent: | vi, 276 leaves : ill., charts | ||||
Language: | eng |
Request changes or add full text files to a record
Repository staff actions (login required)
View Item |
Downloads
Downloads per month over past year