Preface to the Proceedings of the Inaugural Research Symposium for NZCARN

New Zealand Collaborative & Action Research Network

No rera, Nga mihi nui ki a koutou.

As co-chairs of this inaugural NZCARN research symposium we are proud to welcome you to the University of Canterbury. We would also like to introduce everyone to the vision and background for this inaugural NZCARN research symposium.

Over the two days of our symposium we invite you to join together in the spirit of collegiality with the goal of advancing educational research and practice in New Zealand and internationally. We ask you to join us and enjoy the intellectual, natural and cultural environment of the symposium and Christchurch in an atmosphere where knowledge is shared, peer networked and connections created among communities, practitioners, scholars and academic leaders.

Bridget has been a longstanding leader in the Collaborative Action Research Network (CARN) and a founding editor of the prestigious international journal Educational Action Research. Importantly we note that, while CARN and its journal Educational Action Research appear to emphasize the term Action Research, this international network supports a broad community of approaches and Educational Action Research will be pleased to see submissions linked with Kaupapa Maori related research.

During Bridget’s visit to New Zealand, as the 2009 Visiting Canterbury Fellow at the University of Canterbury, she has stimulated a movement to establish a regional CARN network here, similar to the CARN networks recently established in Spain-Latin America, and the Netherlands. There is a lot of on-going action research in New Zealand. Bridget has made contacts with colleagues leading action research work at the Universities of Otago, Waikato, Victoria and the New Zealand Action Research and Review Centre (NZARRC) at Unitec. We hope that members of existing action research networks will join us in establishing CARN: New Zealand.

The New Zealand CARN Regional Network will develop a New Zealand ‘flavour’ including research approaches those influenced by our increasingly bicultural nation, such as Kaupapa Maori. We are particularly delighted that Lynne Te Aika and her school’s Maori teaching staff lead the opening Maori welcome to our research symposium. Our opening keynote by Angus Macfarlane entitled “Nau te rourou, naku te rourou. Your food-basket and my food-basket” will help us engage with the ‘braided rivers’ of Action Research and approaches of this flow of methodologies including Kaupapa Maori.

Given this nation’s strong scholarship and teaching of Action Research in the area of ICT and e-learning, we propose that digital technologies become a particular strength of New Zealand CARN. We have both been involved in researching innovations with digital technologies for decades. During the first project in the world to integrate ICT in preservice teacher education, Bridget introduced Niki and colleagues in five teacher education programmes in England to Action Research. Niki has refereed ICT-related papers for her journal ever since. This inaugural symposium has attracted leaders of ICT and e-learning in New Zealand, including Dr Clare Atkins, who leads New Zealand’s major educational project in Second Life: “Engaging with Second Life: Real Education in a Virtual World”. Others who have pledged their support include Dr Vince Ham of CORE Education and Professor Wing Lai, University of Otago.

Every conference takes a huge commitment and to that end we would like to than our sponsors, the University of Canterbury College of Education and its School of Literacies and Arts in Education without whose support the symposium would not have been possible. The University of Canterbury will become a sponsor of CARN with 10 individual memberships for three years. There are indications that other organizations will also become sponsors so that together we can establish this national network. We would also like to thank our fellow committee members for their time and effort, especially the proceedings editors and our LAED support staff Tracey and Louise who have gone above and beyond for us all. Our thanks also go to the New Zealand Video
Conferencing Centre for their support to bring Chris Bigum virtually to launch of the second edition of the Sage Handbook of Action Research edited by Bridget Somekh and Susan Noffke.

These proceedings contain a letter from the current CARN leaders in these proceedings. CARN is committed to supporting and improving the quality of professional practice, through systematic, critical, creative inquiry into the goals, processes and contexts of professional work. Bridget Somekh is a keynote speaker in this year’s annual CARN conference in November in Greece where she and some of our symposium participants will bring news of the formation of this regional network. CARN Networking works through: Sharing accounts of action research and related approaches, in the bulletins, on the CARN website, in the Educational Action Research Journal, and through other CARN publications; Attentive personal encouragement and critical feedback; and Engaging with CARN colleagues at steering group meetings, regional events (such as this) and at the CARN annual conference.

Enjoy your participation in our exciting inaugural symposium to launch and start to map NZCARN networking.

Heoi an?, mauri ora

Niki Davis and Bridget Somekh

Co-chairs of NZCARN Inaugural Research Symposium

Note: With apologies for the lack of macrons.