Keynote by Professor Susan Groundwater-Smith, University of Sydney

Action Research in Education: Considering Practice Architectures

Honorary Professor of Education, University of Sydney

Abstract for Keynote on 29 May 2009

This presentation will commence with an assertion that action research is not, in fact, a methodology but an orientation to inquiry with an obligation to action. As such it admits a number of methodological approaches but resists quasi-experimental ones of the grounds of the particularity of the context and the specificity of the purposes. It will draw upon the work of Kemmis and associates in reference to practice architectures.

The major purpose of action research is one that is practical, leading to the development and improvement of practice. It is participative and inclusive of practitioners and consequential stakeholders, such as students in schools and users of various social services. It uses evidence forensically, that is to understand particular phenomena; rather than adversarially, where the pressure is to prove one treatment may be better than another.

I shall argue that action research can make a powerful contribution to professional knowledge building beyond Modes 1 and 2 and towards what I shall characterise as Mode 3 knowledge. I shall claim that while formal knowledge (episteme) may be seen at one end of the continuum, action research is concerned with practical knowledge (phronesis) at the other. A task for the academy is to assist in the building and understanding of that continuum.

The presentation will attend to the ways in which Mode 3 knowledge building has been enhanced by the adopted of Web2 technologies that enable greater participation in discussion and debate. As well, new and different tools for inquiry are being developed in situ. This claim will be illuminated with examples.

I shall sound a word of caution regarding the recent trend, internationally and locally to appropriation and domestication of action research in the field of education and contrast this to practices in social work. This matter, as well as others, has implications for ethical practice and the quality of inquiry.


Susan Groundwater-Smith has published widely in the area of teacher professional education and specifically in relation to practitioner inquiry. Her most recent publications are:

• Campbell, A. & Groundwater-Smith, S. (Eds.) (2007) An Ethical Approach to Practitioner Research, London: Routledge;
• Groundwater-Smith, S. & Mockler, N. (2008) Ethics in Practitioner Research: An Issue of Quality. In J. Furlong & A. Oancea, A. (Eds.) Assessing Quality in Applied and Practice Based Research in Education. London: Routledge pp. 79 – 92;
• Groundwater-Smith, S. & Mockler, N. (2009) Teacher Professional Learning in an Age of Compliance: Mind the Gap. Rotterdam: Springer; and,
• Groundwater-Smith, S. (2009) Walking Tall: Changing Educational Practice in Challenging Circumstances: A Case Study in Co-operative Change Management through Practitioner Inquiry. In B. Somekh & S. Noffke (Eds.) (2009) Handbook of Educational Action Research. Sage Publications.