To Know Is Not Enough, or Is It?

• In Event: “To Know Is Not Enough”: Action Research as the Core of Educational Research

Abstract

1. Objectives/Purposes

The purposes of this presentation include a questioning of the assertion ‘To Know Is Not Enough’. It will be argued that propositional and dialectical forms of educational knowledge are not enough in the sense that these forms of knowing do not necessitate an engagement with improving practice. It will be argued that the generation of living educational theories with a grounding in inclusional forms of awareness necessarily engage with improving practice in enquiries of the kind, ‘How do I improve what I am doing?’.

2. Perspective(s)

The presentation accepts McTaggart’s (1992) perspective about the need to go beyond the de-valuation and de-moralisation of economic rationality. It offers an action research approach that carries hope in transcending these constraints. It also accepts Noffke’s perspective about the need to address social issues in terms of the interconnections between personal identity and the claim of experiential knowledge, as well as power and privilege in society (1997, p. 329). It is grounded in Polanyi’s (1958) perspective about personal knowledge and responsibility. The presentation builds on Rayner’s (2009, 2011) perspective of inclusionality with his reasoning as to why self-identity naturally includes neighbourhood.

3. Methods and Modes of Enquiry

The methods include the use of action reflection cycles, the use of Habermas’ (1976, pp. 1-2) four criteria of social validity in validation groups and empathic resonance using visual narratives for clarifying the meanings of energy-flowing and embodied values as explanatory principles. The modes of enquiry are focused on explorations of the practical and theoretical implications of asking, researching and answering questions of the kind, ‘How do I improve what I am doing?’ (Whitehead, 2009).

4. Data sources, evidence, objects, or materials

These include some 40 living theory doctoral theses and masters dissertations that have been legitimated in Universities in the UK, the Republic of Ireland, Canada and Australia over the past 15 years. Their evidence-based explanations have satisfied internal and external examiners as to their originality, critical judgment and critical evaluations of the ideas of others.

5. Results

The results are focused on Ball’s and Tyson’s (2011) request for suggestions to fulfill the second part of the mission of AERA. That is, to promote the use of research to improve education and serve the public good. The results show that the knowing of educational action researchers, which draws insights from the theories of education researchers, is both necessary and sufficient to fulfill the AERA mission.

6. Scholarly significance

The significance of the study can be understood as an original response to Schön’s (1995) call for a new epistemology for the new scholarship. The living standards of judgment for this epistemology are formed from the energy-flowing values that educational action researchers have used as explanatory principles in explanations of their educational influences in learning in enquiries of the kind, ‘How do I improve what I am doing?’

Author

• Jack Whitehead, Liverpool Hope University