Conference Programme
- 08:00 - 10:00 a.m.
- Emeritus Professor Stephen Kemmis
- Zoom
Opening Ceremony and Keynote 1 "Changing the world, transforming practices"
The world confronts many challenges. The climate emergency and the COVID-19 pandemic are just two. To address them, changes are needed both at global and local levels. The theory of practice architectures provides some resources for bringing about local and large scale changes. It does so by suggesting how practices can be transformed along with transformations in the conditions (practice architectures) that make existing and emerging practices possible.
- 11:00 - 13:00 p.m.
- Dr Yoon Sook Jhee, Dr Pang Jee Ching
- Zoom
Workshop 1 "Participatory action research and social justice in education: A paradigm shift"
Participatory action research emphasises collaboration with communities while tackling social issues underpinning action and reflection. PAR has been well discussed and is not uncommon in educational research. In this interactive workshop, participants will explore the nature of PAR, who would be involved in PAR, why we use PAR and how PAR is applicable in different educational settings. We will explore the process of inquiry to build capacity, focusing on empowerment, social justice, and participation. The workshop will also explore various creative strategies to understand the communities we serve. Using Kolb’s experiential learning, participants will have opportunities to practise co-constructing a PAR study with those with autism and/or learning disabilities, and underprivileged individuals. By the end of the workshop, participants will leave with ideas on how to use PAR as a means for a more liberating and life-enhancing way of giving voices to those we are working closely with in our respective settings.
- 14:00 - 16:00 p.m.
- Zoom
Parallel Session 1
Room 1: Research Track, Room 2-6: Practice Track
- 08:00 - 10:00 a.m.
- Emeritus Professor Gary Anderson, Professor Katheryn Herr
- Zoom
Keynote 2 "Quality criteria for action research: An ongoing conversation"
In 2005, Kathryn Herr and Gary Anderson published a ground-breaking action research handbook, the Action Research Dissertation. On the back of that success, a second edition was published in 2015. The handbook demonstrates how action research dissertations are different from more traditional dissertations and prepare students and their committees for the unique dilemmas they may face, such as validity, positionality, research design, the write-up stage, ethics, and dissertation defence. As a result, since its publication, the handbook has helped many postgraduate students across the globe to justify the use of action research for their studies. The title of the keynote, ‘Quality criteria for action research: An ongoing conversation,’ is inspired by Chapter 4 of the handbook. In the keynote, Kathryn and Gary will focus on the quality criteria for action research projects based on their decades of action research experience. The keynote aims to inspire postgraduate students and prospective students to pursue their studies using an action research
- 11:00 - 13:00 p.m.
- Zoom
Parallel Session 2
Room 1: Research Track, Room 2-6: Practice Track
- 14:00 -16:00 p.m.
- Associate Professor Dr Fariza Puteh Behak
- Zoom
Workshop 2 "Merekabentuk projek kajian tindakan: Satu panduan praktikal"
Menjalankan kajian tindakan adalah sinonim dengan usaha pembangunan profesional para guru di Malaysia. Proses pembudayaan telah bermula sejak dari awal 1990an di mana subjek kajian tindakan mula diterapkan di dalam program latihan perguruan, dan sehingga kini Kementerian Pelajaran Malaysia membuat ketetapan bahawa sekolah-sekolah perlu menjalankan projek kajian tindakan untuk meningkatkan keberkesanan proses pengajaran dan pembelajaran. Justeru itu, isu berkaitan kajian tindakan telah banyak dibincangkan di peringkat jabatan, sekolah dan institusi lain melalui pelbagai program latihan dan juga persidangan. Kebanyakan sesi ini mengupas prinsip asas kajian tindakan seperti kepentingan gegelung merancang, bertindak, memerhati dan mereflek dan juga falsafah-falsafah dan paradigma yang menjadi tonggak kajian tindakan. Kurang perhatian diberikan kepada langkah-langkah praktikal bagi merekabentuk sebuah projek kajian tindakan. Sesi bengkel ini akan membawa para peserta untuk meneroka langkah- langkah praktikal untuk mengenalpasti permasalahan kajian, menulis kajian literatur, memilih kaedah pengumpulan data dan analisa data yang sesuai. Dan yang paling penting adalah cara untuk memastikan semua elemen tersebut dapat di selarikan bagi mencapai objektif kajian. Diharapkan di akhir sesi bengkel ini para peserta dapat menyediakan satu rangka awal bagi projek kajian tindakan mereka.
- 08:00 - 10:00 a.m.
- Zoom
Parallel Session 3
Room 1: Research Track, Room 2-6: Practice Track
- 11:00 - 13:00 p.m.
- Associate Professor Dr Nadarajan Thambu
- Zoom
Workshop 3 "Practice Innovation through Action Research"
Teacher reflection is important to make an interpretation of an issue in solving student learning problems in the classroom. Therefore, teachers must have a reflective mind to reflect on the teaching that has been implemented. In this regard, action research becomes a very useful research methodology because this method justifies teachers making critical self -reflection on their teaching practices. Action research refers to research on practice by teachers as practitioners. The basic purpose of action research is to change and improve a teacher's existing practice. In addition, action research is also able to change teachers' perspectives and perceptions of a common teaching theory or practice. Now teachers cannot rely entirely on conventional teaching methods acquired during their studies in teacher training colleges and universities. Reform and innovation in teaching practice is essential to produce students who possess all the skills of the 21st century. One of the ways teachers test and improve their teaching practices on students is through action research. The four phases in an action research cycle, namely planning, implementing, observing and reflecting on, become an appropriate methodology for the research and development (R&D) process in education. The feature of action research, which is the improvement of teachers' teaching practices through reflection with students, can make teachers a catalyst for change or inventor in education. Action researchers conduct research, collect data, and analyze the collected data to find innovations that can improve the quality of teaching and learning. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to discuss concepts, ideas and innovations in teaching practice through action research that can be implemented by teachers.
- 14:00 - 16:00 p.m.
- Emeritus Professor David Coghlan
- Zoom
Keynote 3 "Developing the Practice of Scholarship: The Case of Insider Action Research"
In this address I will recount and explore the development of my framework of insider action research as an exercise in theorizing. Beginning from a practical dilemma in a seminar room and subsequent shared inquiry to the publication of a framework in five editions of a successful book, numerous articles and book chapters which have formed the basis of multiple doctoral and masters dissertations, I will ground my story in the process of interiority. I will use the address as an invitation for the conference participants to engage in the same process for themselves.
- 08:00 - 10:00 a.m.
- Dr Satirah Ahmad
- Zoom
Workshop 4 "Transforming Practices Through Action Research: We Just Have to Do It Right!
Action Research (AR) has been part of Malaysian teachers’ professional engagement since 1980s. Nevertheless, the extent to which this engagement has been able to transform teachers’ practices is still questionable. AR is often perceived as an extra work and a must do task to meet the Key Performance Indicators (KPI) requirements. Additionally, teachers are constrained by demands set by their superiors in the way they conduct and report their AR projects. These challenges have inadvertently diverted teachers’ AR intentions from the actual reason for conducting it, which is to transform practice, and hence, have also impacted on their professional and personal satisfaction and sense of ownership. This workshop will highlight the transformative power that AR can offer as teachers learn to be involved in the process of inquiry. They will learn to conceptualize and create knowledge, interact and collaborate, transform knowledge, and apply what they have learnt in their own teaching contexts. Teachers will also learn how, through the process of reflection, to gradually improve their classroom practices, as a daily routine. This workshop will also guide teachers to become autonomous in their decision making, develop an energetic and dynamic environment for teaching and learning, articulate and build their craft knowledge, and recognize and appreciate their own expertise.
- 11:00 - 13:00 p.m.
- Zoom
Parallel Session 4
Room 1: Research Track, Room 2-6: Practice Track
- 14:00 - 16:00 p.m.
- Emeritus Professor Dato Dr Othman Lebar
- Zoom
Keynote 4 "Sustaining action research practices in Malaysian context: Personal Reflection" and Closing Remark
Sustaining action research practices in Malaysian context would require continuous efforts and commitments on the part of education professionals. From my own observations and critical reflections, action research culture has failed to flourish and develop as it should be among teachers and schools even though programs and initiatives to encourage teachers to do action research had been mobilised by the Ministry and some State Education Departments, education institutions and action research associations and network. The reality is that the cultural ground of our educational practices is not fertile enough to cherish and support the growth of action research practices. The big question mark is why action research culture do not develop as a professional culture among teachers and schools? The main issue here is sustainability of practice through action research. There are many factors involved in this issue. I would like to address two main factors that are interrelated. These factors are our failure in adapting action research culture into our own working and professional culture; and lack of sharing and utilisation of action research findings by teaching professionals. To develop a culture that embraces social equity, working collaboratively as well as independently is not an easy task in Malaysian educational context. It is like trying to fit a flatter culture into the hierarchical culture that is very much embedded in our educational thinking and organisations. Much adjustments and integrations that need to be considered and developed. Continuous supports and recognitions are of paramount important not only by education officials and institutions but also by professional colleagues in order to ensure that action research practice is sustained and transformed.