On co-creating with (lamenting) teachers by Nicola Nasi
Educator and action researcher, Dr. Nicola Nasi, shares a taster of her recently published paper with ARJ. In the article Nicola highlights how working with sometimes overly subtle feedback, (that may arrive too late!), is a challenge to be solved in our work as action researchers. You’ll find the full citation and forever links below. Nicola writes:
“When researchers step into schools to collaborate with teachers on a shared project, they need to negotiate the respective roles and responsibilities for the conduct of the whole process. What happens when this partnership falters? Why does this negotiation fail, at times?
We were faced with these questions in our recent work in Italy, as teachers lamented a high level of stress and experiencing a feeling of abandonment due to our limited involvement in the research process. We think that field incomprehension and miscommunication were central factors in these reported difficulties: even though we interacted with teachers throughout the co-creation process, these challenges never emerged before the final evaluation of the activities. Thus, we probably failed to grasp the subtle displays of uneasiness that teachers were expressing.
Our article sets out from this recognition to outline some possible strategies to enhance communication with teachers in the field. Specifically, we point to the relevance of researchers’ interactional competence, meant as the ability to notice and respond fluently to the contingencies of their social interactions with participants in the field. We believe that an increased interactional competence would allow researchers to better manage their social relationship with participants and effectively navigate the dilemmas that are inherent to participatory research (for example, the dilemma between being directly involved in the process or adopting a peripheral position to let participants freely express themselves).
Altogether, effective communication in the field can allow us to better understand teachers’ needs and to create a structured yet flexible framework for collaboration, ensuring that all participants feel supported and valued throughout the research journey. Participatory action research thrives when researchers and teachers manage to share their knowledge and co-construct a meaningful collaboration: read our full article to discover some possible ways towards this outcome.
Further readings
If you are interested in a participatory action research project that involves educational institutions across Europe, please visit newabc.eu
Citation: Nasi, N. (2024). Co-creating with teachers during participatory action research: Teachers’ perceptions, researchers’ dilemmas, and some possible strategies to enhance communication in the field. Action Research, https://doi.org/10.1177/14767503241306023
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