Action research: Transformation in the first year of a pandemic Anne Burns University of New South Wales
Introduction The theme originally chosen for the 2020 Action Research in ELICOS Program was blended learning – a thoughtfully targeted and interesting topic, given that more and more institutions and teachers in the Australian ELICOS sector were being asked to mix modes of program delivery. However, as the year began and the Covid-19 pandemic began to overtake what had initially seemed to be a perfectly reasonable and ‘normal’ area for research, transformations in thinking and practice became urgent and inevitable. In this short introduction to the articles in this issue, I explore the notion of transformation and how it relates to action research (AR). I also briefly consider how the participants in the program both modified their own practices as teachers and also their own learning about themselves as practitioners. I also consider in what ways the Program itself needed to transform in order to continue to operate.
Transformation The term transformation can raise images of a sudden and dramatic change or realisation – a kind of ‘road to Damascus’ enlightenment. However, from a learning perspective, Jack Mezirow’s theory of transformation (1991), developed from his work with adult learners in the 1970s, envisages it as a more gradual and profound process, cognitively situated in a significant cultural and social environment. Mezirow (2009:22) states that ‘transformative learning may be defined as learning that transforms problematic frames of reference to make them more inclusive, discriminating, reflective, open, and emotionally able to change’ (emphasis in original). He also sees transformation theory as constructivist, in that the way people interpret and reinterpret their experiences, and the mindsets they construct from them, lead to changes in meaning-making and learning. Transformational changes are social as well as cognitive in that they are achieved through reflection and discourse with others. Transformation thus relates to the adjustment of perspectives from which people view their current learning situations and occurs through different types of changes: psychological (changing one’s understanding of oneself), convictional (reframing one’s belief systems), and behavioural (changing one’s actions and lifestyle).
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