Becera praxeology keynote 0213

Centre for Research in Early Childhood (CREC)

Praxis, Ethics and Power‘Praxeology’ as a Participatory Paradigm for

Early Childhood Research

Tony Bertram and Chris Pascal

British Early Childhood Education Research Association3rd Annual Conference

Birmingham, February 2013


• What is ‘Praxeology’ and why now?

• Historical roots

• Characteristics and objectives

• Principles and practice

• Strengths and limitations

• Issues of power, status and progress

Considerations

Praxis, Ethics and Power: Praxeology as a Participatory Paradigm for Early Childhood Research


What is Praxeology?

• ‘the theory and study of praxis’ (Freire: ‘reflection

on, and in, human action’)

• ‘Situated’ real world and participatory, wherein

power, voice and ethics are realised

• research and development with social and political

transformationPraxis, Ethics and Power:

Praxeology as a Participatory Paradigm for Early Childhood Research


What is Praxeology? (cont..)

• deep reflexivity and rigorous processes

• understand values and power in all actions and interactions • not fixed, singular view of ‘competency-based best practice’ but flexible ‘wise practice’

• Aristotle, ‘phronesis’ and ‘sophia’Praxis, Ethics and Power:


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Theoretical and Conceptual Roots • McNiff ‘action research and living theories in educational practice’• Bourdieu ‘theories of practical reason’• Wenger ‘communities of practice’• Flyvberg ‘phronesis balances instrumental rationality with value rationality’ • Eikeland ‘phronetical social science’ • Reason and Bradbury ‘participatory and cooperative enquiry’• Bredillett ‘systems can’t replace human decision making’ Praxis, Ethics and Power:



Praxeological Objectives

1. Knowledge Generation: • participation, voice and democracy• co-constructed, peer reviewed = trustworthy

• localised but authentic, meaningful and having transferability



Praxeological Objectives

2. Liberation and Transformation:

•challenges ‘domesticity’ through a critical stance, self awareness and self critique

• promotes a culture of transformation

• requires leadership, risk-takers and radicals


http://www.ripeducation.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/pedagogy2.jpg


Principles of Praxeological Research

1: PR is ethical, moral and values driven/committed

2: PR is democratic, participatory, inclusionary, collaborative, empowering, aiming to redistribute power more equitably

3: PR is critical, risky, courageous and political, with a concern for social justice and equity



Principles of Praxeological Research

4: PR is subjective with multiple perspectives

5: PR is highly systematic and methodologically rigorous

6: PR is action based, educational, useful, creative and transformational, generating and sharing learning in a dynamic and continuous cycle of praxis


AUTHENTIC PARTICIPATIVE RESEARCH PRACTICE: PRAXEOLOGICAL POSSIBILITIES

AUTHENTIC and TRANSFORMATIVE

PARTICIPATION

ETHICS?

RIGOUR?

ATTACHMENT ?

UTILITY? POWER?

TRANSFORMATION?

WHAT DO THESE WORDS MEAN IN TERMS OF OUR RESEARCH PRACTICE?HOW DO WE LIVE THEM OUT?

VOICE? ACTION?


Rethinking and Deepening through Praxeology:the EEL Project

• What is the EEL Project?

• How is it participatory?

• How does it work?

•What impact has it had?



Developing Praxeologist’s Skills

Transformative Leadership is complex and requires:

•Personal skills of self awareness and self critique•Facilitative skills in interpersonal and group settings•Political and ethical skills•Intellectual skills•Knowledge transfer skills



Developing Praxeological Methods

• Need to extend the range of voices and explore different ways of doing, reporting and discussing research.

• Show courage to innovate and experiment and goes beyond traditional and orthodox research methods

• Encourage silenced people to find ways to tell and thus reclaim their own story.



Praxeological Research Methods

• orthodox, eg, interviews, case studies, life biographies, questionnaires, observations……

•… and unorthodox, eg, storytelling, drawing, painting, song, dance, poetry, photography, film making, socio-drama, mime and plays.

•Reason and Bradbury (2008) claim these alternative and expressive forms of knowing need to be taken more seriously in our research designs if we are to see more inclusive, democratic, participatory and intense forms of inquiry in the future.



Strengths of Praxeological Methods

• authentically participatory - those involved themselves identifying ways to improve their world and taking responsibility for this action

• research evidence gives a close account of what works, how and why, ensuring credibility and utility

• critically for those who work with young children and families, it has a transparent stance on ethical values.



Limitations of Praxeological Methods

•it is not able, nor does it set out, to show cause and effect

•its focus on specific contexts and smaller numbers means transferability is scoped by the research context (meta analysis)

•it takes time, deep attachment and ongoing commitment.

Praxis, Ethics and Power: Developing Praxeology as a Participatory Paradigm for Early Childhood Research


Issues of Credibility, Status, Utility and Power

•Historically, participatory and practice focused research has had low status and low visibility at policy level BUT at practice level it has always had high involvement, high utility and high impact.

• Now higher visibility, credibility and power for practice-based research at policy and practice levels - evident in its profile in recent conferences, research projects, international publications and policy debates.



What Forums Exist for Praxeology?

Progress is evident in the development of practitioner research centres and communities of practice

• International Research Centres e.g. Braga based Children’s Association, Centre for Experiential Learning in Belgium, Pen Green Research and Leadership Centre in Corby and the Centre for Research in Early Childhood (CREC) in Birmingham UK

• New Teaching Children’s Centres in England

• BECERA and EECERAPraxis, Ethics and Power:


PRAXEOLOGY a

developing paradigm for

early childhood research

Praxeological Research:

practitioner/part-icipatory research whilst consciously addressing ethics, politics & power

Methodological Characteristics:

e.g. trustworthy, ethical, political, conscious of power relationships, authentic, accessible,

inclusive, situated, transferable, worthwhile

etc.

Theoretical Constructions:

PHRONESIS: the wisdom of experience

PRAXIS: theories of action

Methods:Orthodox –interview,

observation, life histories, case studies, etc.

Non-orthodox – social drama, story-telling, etc


The Challenge for Praxeologists!

‘We have to shift our worldview and reflect more critically on how to more authentically realise the participatory practice we strive for. This requires courage, risk taking, and further innovation, alongside a more rigorous and critical engagement in the redistribution of power and the living out of ethics. This shift could give us the chance to achieve more open, inclusive, democratic research that has the capacity to answer the deeper questions we face in developing ECEC in the 21st century.’

Pascal and Bertram, 2012



An optimistic final note: Reason and Bradbury (2008) have identified

‘an emerging worldview, more holistic, pluralist and egalitarian that is eventually participative. This worldview sees human beings as co-creating their reality through participation, through their experience, their imagination and intuition, their thinking and their action. This participative worldview is at the heart of inquiry methodologies that emphasise participation as a core strategy’.
