Action research (AR) is commonly used in Australian independent schools as a structure for professional learning, with benefits stated as enhanced collaboration, greater understanding of students’ needs, and evaluation of interventions. This paper outlines the findings of a doctoral study through The University of Melbourne which sought to understand teacher-researchers’ experiences of undertaking AR projects in independent secondary schools. The study took a pragmatist standpoint as it sought to answer questions about practical, school-based usefulness. The study’s pragmatist standpoint informed “research design choices which cut across qualitative-quantitative divides” (Foster, 2024, p. 4). Using a sequential exploratory mixed methods approach, the study used semi-structured interviews and a survey, with “collection and analysis of qualitative data followed by the collection and analysis of quantitative data” (Terrell, 2012, p. 264). The study delivered 10 key findings, including that:

• teacher-researchers expressed concern about gathering and interpreting reliable student data
• AR projects must be seen to have support from school leadership
• AR was seen as a mechanism for social support from colleagues and for collaborative construction of knowledge
• AR projects were considered more successful when they were small and focused
• AR was seen as a mechanism for identifying and working towards teacher practice goals
• improved student learning was not considered a direct outcome of AR.

The findings speak to conference themes of ‘Characteristics of quality teaching’ in considering AR as a mechanism for professional learning, and ‘Equity an inclusion in teacher education’ in the resounding finding that teachers see AR as a mechanism for social support and collaborative construction of knowledge. This paper considers these findings and their contribution to the literature about action research in schools. Although the study considered the experience of Australian teacher-researchers, the findings are broadly relevant in other international contexts with similar independent school structures and professional learning approaches.

This study explores the impact of the long-standing divide between mind and body in higher education. Given a traditional dearth of body-centered curricula in universities, the thesis analyzes how Theatre of the Oppressed (TO)—a collection of techniques first developed by Brazilian artist Augusto Boal—can be a useful methodology for implementing embodied education in universities and colleges. Such embodiment is crucial if we want to adequately address diverse ways of learning while favoring a holistic pedagogical experience for university students, thereby stimulating genuinely transformative education.

The research, which arises from a PhD co-tutorship at the University of Bologna and Universidad Complutense de Madrid, involved analyzing the implementation of TO in seven different contexts, as part of workshops from various disciplines and across three universities in Italy and Spain. Through analysis of the fieldwork, this cross-cultural case study finds that TO can be used as an embodied critical-pedagogical strategy to support anti-oppressive, socially just, and emotionally attentive higher education practices.

Informed by Freire’s critical pedagogy, this research concludes that it is necessary to re-evaluate the role of the body in university education and that universities should operate as spaces for students to practice active engagement in a democratic society. The findings suggest how—when incorporated into broader university curricula—TO could be a valuable approach for re-establishing a perception of the body and mind as mutually constitutive entities, fostering teaching practices that cultivate what writer Eduardo Galeano refers to with the term “sentipensante,” the ability to act without separating mind and body or reason and emotion.

We describe an embodied multimedia normative case study on ethical reasoning used in an educational ethics and law graduate teacher education course as well as the processes and experiences of an interdisciplinary design team of educators. In the case study, teacher-candidates (TC) explore the case, examine the situation from multiple stakeholders, reflect on their values, consider and make decisions, connect their choices to their personal and professional identity, and ponder the dynamics and interacting levels of the decisions that stakeholders make. TCs engage with critical discourse and re-reflect upon their values.

This study examines the multi-media collaborative nature of the case study. The content of the written adapted script was translated into spatially oriented representation maps in order to establish a common visual language and represent the embodiment of multimedia content in the active learning space. Maps, copy decks, and other collaborative design strategies are discussed. The initial pilot study will be formatively and summatively evaluated in Fall 2024 to assess TCs' learning experience, growth in ethical reasoning, and professional identity development. Insights from our first cycle and reflections on feasibility and fidelity for future iterations will be shared.

Additionally, we are studying the processes of innovation in curricular design. Conceptualized as a multi-year iterative study, our co-design process is examined through meeting transcripts, reflective entries, and design artifacts to capture the complexities of developing curricular innovations. Our initial findings emphasize the impact of the interdisciplinary nature of the team each bring different disciplinary expertise within education and working from different positions: faculty, administrator, and graduate-student. We note the emotional tone in which the team worked and find the importance of curiosity, wonder, trust, struggle, and creative explorations brought to our inquiry-stance that supported the critical and ethical work of this innovation.

Strand: Equity and Inclusion in Teacher Education