Opportunities and pitfalls of action research: an investigation into the importance of 'practice-based research'\or students participating in the University of Plymouth's Integrated Masters Programme with the 'Initiative fur Praxisforscliung

This study is situated within the work of a recently formed Swiss based organisation, the Initiative fur Praxisforschung (Initiative for Practice-based Research) or ipf. The study analyses the importance of practice-based research for practitioners who are studying on the Integrated Masters Programme (IMP) of the University of Plymouth with ipf. The term practice-based research as used by ipf is identified as being synonymous with the English language term action research. The aims of ipf are researched, and its emphasis on an award-bearing programme of practice-based research and study as an important component of the continuing professional development of Waldorf practitioners is analysed using the models of CPD suggested by Kennedy (2005). Kennedy's study investigates the extent to which CPD may be said to be transformatory of individual practice, and for students working with ipf, the value they ascribe to their participation in a practice-based Masters programme is shown to cut across traditional boundaries within Kennedy's models. A review of practitioner experience of action research in an international context is deepened by Ponte's (2005) framework. In this framework, practitioners' experiences of action research are organised into categories based on Carr & Kemmis' (1986) definition of action research. The work of Herbert Altrichter in promoting and making acceptable an action research approach in German speaking countries is shown to have been highly significant for ipl A cross-cultural difficulty with the term action research is pointed out, as this expression had been used in Germany to refer to a politically charged educational philosophy linked to the student protest movement of the late 1960s. For Waldorf practitioners, Rudolf Steiner's ideas concerning the role of the teacher are shown to be instrumental in favouring a practice-based research agenda for ipf. His ideas are compared with frequently debated themes in the literature of action research. Following Worrail (2004), questionnaires and interviews are used to explore IMP participants' understandings of practice-based research, their experiences with it and the importance for them of this research approach. Within the Swiss context of ipf, practice-based research initiatives linked to formal academic accreditation through the IMP are seen to be strongly encouraged by ipfior very pragmatic reasons of teacher accreditation. The background to this issue is explored. It is shown that within Waldorf education as a whole, there is increasing debate about the important role that recognized programmes of a practice-based nature such as the IMP as piloted by ipf can contribute to the movement as a whole. It is suggested that the emancipatory aims of action research as propounded by Carr and Kemmis (1986) may be used to describe the importance of practice-based research for IMP participants and ipf, and further, that parallels between emancipatory action research and Steiner's vigorous encouragement of teacher development and curricular renewal may be seen. The ethical aspects of this research have been particularly important and immediately following this abstract these issues are discussed for the reader in the Ethics Protocol.Faculty of Educatio