Reflections on Action Research:
Todays, Tomorrows & Yesterdays in my Backyard

by Karen Brooks-Cathcart

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Jack Whitehead, in his book entitled The Growth of Educational Knowledge: Creating Your Own Living Educational Theories, (1993, p.2), suggests that the very beginning of action research arises from reflection on the question: "How do I live my values more fully in my practice?" As I reflect on my own experience with action research, posing this question resulted in a bittersweet moment. In thinking about the question, I realized that I was not fully living my values in practice. It forced me to look back and question how I had arrived at this place. On the positive side, however, I saw a glimmer of possibility. I felt new hope that I could revisit places in my heart and bring them now back home.

he key to getting started, I believe, is to engage in thoughtful reflection. As a teacher, a wife and a mother of small children, my life is a whirlwind! Before this course, I focused on today and then tomorrow, and all my yesterdays eventually were left behind without a thought. As a part time M.Ed. student, I was introduced to the concepts of action research by Tom Russell, who also introduced me to writing folders, or personal journals as a mechanism for thoughtful reflection and teacher-student dialogue. I didn't always want to sit down and write, feeling the "tyranny of the blank page", so to speak. However, reflecting on the course readings always led me to reflect on my own practice as a nurse educator. I began to revisit my yesterdays and saw them from a new perspective. Through this thoughtful reflection, I was also able to develop some ideas for transforming tomorrows by planning and implementing practices more consistent with my values.

hrough this process of reflection, I was able to become more aware of my feelings about my practice, more conscious of myself in my world. As part of the course, I had decided to engage in an action research project of my own. But where to start? For me, it evolved from a student's written accounts of a medication error made in the clinical practice setting. This sounds quite simple on the surface, and had I not been actively and critically self-reflexive, the moment of serendipity might have passed m e by and become yet another tomorrow. I do not wish, in the context of this discussion, to describe the specific details of how this student illuminated for me the thematic concern that sparked the inquiry.

Rather, I want to send a message to other prospective action researchers. That message is: Look in your own back yard. Look at the institution where you practice and the people with whom you interrelate. A myriad of possibilities is waiting for you! But you must first know your back yard. You must know how you exist in your back yard, and who lives there with you. But, most importantly, think about how you arrived in this back yard, the person you were then, and who you have become. This may help illuminate for you those practices that do not reflect your values.

Having described the thematic concern, I set out to develop a plan of action to improve an existing situation. I did this in collaboration with a group of six students in a clinical practice setting. I was open and honest with them about how I felt about a particular school-imposed evaluative feedback tool required as part of their clinical experience. I discussed with them my personal values, action research, the power of reflection and my personal experience with journal writing. I encouraged them to share their feelings with me, and they did. They shared many of their thoughts and feelings about a variety of aspects of their educational experience. They also shared their perception that they could not change things and that no one really cared enough to listen. From this discussion, we were better able to understand each other and enter into a partnership to promote change.

And so we began this journey together, as neophyte action researchers, with the goals of developing more meaningful dialogue between teacher and student, and, ultimately, altering the current oppressive practice of eliciting teacher-directed student information about the clinical experience. It was a simple plan really, and yet so powerful!

he students kept daily journals in which they freely shared their thoughts, feelings and reflections on their clinical practice experiences. The rich descriptions of their experiences facilitated a clearer and context bound understanding of their learning. Reading the journals offered a new lens through which I came to know them as individuals and facilitated development of a caring connection between teacher and student. One simple action, and it had so much impact! So, you see, action research is not expensive or expansive. I did not need "release time" or "research grants", as we so often believe to be necessary to conduct "useful" research. I have no "special preparation" as a researcher, and I make no claims about generalisability of the results of this study. I am just me, a teacher living in her own back yard, and striving to live there in harmony with my values.

I encourage all teachers to consider this form of inquiry as a possibility for themselves, as a transformative and empowering means of putting your values back into your practice. We hear so much today about the problems facing education and society and that there is an imperative to change. Action research offers a means by which you can make changes now, for yourself and for those with whom you collaborate. The little changes you as an individual make today may well prove to be instrumental in changing tomorrow for all of us.........

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