A community of practice of the professionals of the education around the values and the principles of the Council of Europe. The Council of Europe’s Pestalozzi Programme promotes the message of the Organisation and its values – human rights, democracy and the rule of law – in the practice of education (formal, non-formal and informal) and aims to support member states in including these ideals in their education systems. Basing its approach to professional development firmly on social constructivism and social constructionism, it invests in educators who create new practices. This book represents an example of a transformational enterprise in which several practitioners from different parts of Europe gather in the Pestalozzi Programme community of practice and set out to learn how to become action researchers. While many books focus on how to carry this out, this publication is action research in action. In addition, it features examples of how participants can use online social platforms and affordable web applications in their collaboration and learning practices.

Action Research Communities presents a new perspective on two current and proven educational practices: classroom-/school-based action research and professional learning communities. Implementation of one or the other of these practices often results in a variety of possible benefits for the teaching–learning process, for student achievement, and for overall school improvement. While these might seem to be separate, isolated practices, the author has taken the beneficial aspects of each practice and merged them into a cohesive and potentially powerful concept, coined "action research communities." Each of the two concepts or approaches (action research and professional learning communities) is presented and discussed in detail. Because they both focus on local-level improvement of educational practice and share several overlapping features, the two concepts are then merged into a single entity—action research communities, or ARCs. These professional learning communities, with action research at their core, hold an immense amount of power and potential when it comes to enhanced professional growth and development for educators, increased student achievement, school improvement, and educator empowerment. ARCs essentially capitalize on all the individualized benefits and strengths of action research and of professional learning communities, and merge them into a single educational concept and practice. ARCs have the potential to help educators everywhere experience: •a common and collective focus and vision; • sustained collaborative inquiry; •individualized, customizable—and meaningful—professional growth; and •true empowerment that comes with this form of collaborative, inquiry-based, and reflective practice. Practical guidance for the development and implementation of ARCs is also provided, by focusing on ways in which professional educators (teachers, administrators, support staff, etc.) can implement, sustain, and extend the impact of their respective action research communities. Specific roles for district administrators, building administrators, and teachers are presented and discussed in depth, as are ways that ARCs can be used both to deepen professional learning for educators and to improve student learning.

Bringing together accounts of online community engagement from a range of perspectives, this book considers how the changing landscape of doctoral communities might be used to inform institutional level decisions about doctoral provision and support. Despite the increasing availability of online communities dedicated to doctoral supervisors, there has been little consideration of how they form and operate. This book surveys the landscape of these online communities and examines their impact on the production of the doctorate, and on the experience of doctoral researchers and supervisors. Bringing together accounts of online community engagement from a range of perspectives – doctoral students, supervisors, content curators, and research support practitioners, one of the overarching aims of this volume is to explore these communities in action. With the supporting doctoral research through online media catalysed as the ‘new normal’, this book allows stakeholders in doctoral education to better understand how students are using social media in their PhD studies, how online communities of practice impact upon researcher/supervisor relationships and support, and ways in which student experiences of various platforms might converge to create an augmented experience.

Community Based Participatory Research by Dr. Karen Hacker presents a practical approach to CBPR by describing how an individual researcher might understand and then actually conduct CBPR research. This how-to book provides a concise overview of CBPR theoretical underpinnings, methods considerations, and ethical issues in an accessible format interspersed with real life case examples that can accompany other methodologic texts in multiple disciplines.

The third edition of The SAGE Handbook of Action Research presents an updated version of the bestselling text, including new chapters covering emerging areas in healthcare, social work, education and international development, as well as an expanded ‘skills’ section which includes new consultant-relevant materials. Building on the strength of the previous landmark editions, Hilary Bradbury has carefully developed this edition to ensure it follows in their footsteps by mapping the current state of the discipline, as well as looking to the future of the field and exploring the issues at the cutting edge of the action research paradigm today. This volume is an essential resource for scholars and professionals engaged in social and political inquiry, healthcare, international development, new media, organizational research and education.

This Handbook is a critical resource for carefully considering the possibilities and challenges of strategically integrating participatory action research (PAR) and community development (CD). Utilizing practical examples from diverse contexts across five continents, it looks at how communities are empowering themselves and bringing about systemic change.

Action research is a term used to describe a family of related approaches that integrate theory and action with a goal of addressing important organizational, community, and social issues together with those who experience them. It focuses on the creation of areas for collaborative learning and the design, enactment and evaluation of liberating actions through combining action and research, reflection and action in an ongoing cycle of cogenerative knowledge. While the roots of these methodologies go back to the 1940s, there has been a dramatic increase in research output and adoption in university curricula over the past decade. This is now an area of high popularity among academics and researchers from various fields—especially business and organization studies, education, health care, nursing, development studies, and social and community work. The SAGE Encyclopedia of Action Research brings together the many strands of action research and addresses the interplay between these disciplines by presenting a state-of-the-art overview and comprehensive breakdown of the key tenets and methods of action research as well as detailing the work of key theorists and contributors to action research.

Participatory Action Research in Healthcare provides a guide toparticipatory action research in the community health setting. Itdraws upon the authors' experiences working, researching andengaging with people utilising collaborative, participatoryapproaches. The authors position participatory action research as avital, dynamic and relevant approach that can be engaged bypractitioners and health service providers. It is argued thatparticipating with people is the way to move forward towardsustainable services that evoke human flourishing. Participatory Action Research in Healthcare explores the key issuessurrounding participatory action research, and examines thebenefits of this approach for community development and healthpromotion. It includes detailed guidelines on data generation andanalysis.

"This is a wonderful book with deep insight into the relationship between teachers′ action and result of student learning. It discusses from different angles impact of action research on student learning in the classroom. Writing samples provided at the back are wonderful examples." —Kejing Liu, Shawnee State University Teacher Action Research: Building Knowledge Democracies focuses on helping schools build knowledge democracies through a process of action research in which teachers, students, and parents collaborate in conducting participatory and caring inquiry in the classroom, school, and community. Author Gerald J. Pine examines historical origins, the rationale for practice-based research, related theoretical and philosophical perspectives, and action research as a paradigm rather than a method. Key Features Discusses how to build a school research culture through collaborative teacher research Delineates the role of the professional development school as a venue for constructing a knowledge democracy Focuses on how teacher action research can empower the active and ongoing inclusion of nontraditional voices (those of students and parents) in the research process Includes chapters addressing the concrete practices of observation, reflection, dialogue, writing, and the conduct of action research, as well as examples of teacher action research studies