Chapter 2

Chapter Two
Methodology
This chapter is divided into two sections. In the first section I put forward an explanation of
my understanding of action research and reflection, and a justification for using them. I
discuss the methodology used in this study. Further I reflect on the concept of a
teacherresearcher and why I believe it is important for teachers to research their
professional practice.
In the second section, I discuss the methods used in this research. My intentions are to
describe methods of collecting data and data analysis and discuss their advantages and
disadvantages. The most telling developments in my study can be perceived through my
experience and reflections as well as those of my students while learning life skills in a
drama classroom. It embraced varied perspectives that required a special form of writing.
In this section I have also presented the argument for the style of writing my thesis.
Section 1
Starting with Action Research
I drew on a methodology that worked for me; this proposal is equivalent to Altrichter and
Poschs (1989) suggestion, whats good for the practice is good for research (p.29).
Built into action research is the proviso that, if as a teacher I am
dissatisfied with what is already going on, I will have the confidence and
resolution to attempt to change it. I will not be content with the status quo...
(McNiff, 1988: p.50)
A commonsense view of action research provided by McNiff (2002) is that we:
14
review our current practice,
identify an aspect we want to improve,
imagine a way forward,
try it out, and
take stock of what happens.

modify our plan in the light of what we have found, and continue with the
'action',
monitor what we do,
evaluate the modified action,
[continue] until we are satisfied with that aspect of our work. (p. 7)
The process that the researcher goes through to achieve understanding is a spiral of
action research cycles consisting of four major phrases: planning, acting, observing and
reflecting (Zuber-Skerrit, 1991: p 2). The initial cycles of these four activities lead to a
second cycle in which the reflections of the previous cycle inform the plan of the next
cycle. The cyclic process alternates between action and critical reflection (Dick, 2002). As
the cycles progress a greater understanding is developed through the continuous refining of
methods, data and interpretation (Dick, 2002).
The action research framework suggests Hopkins (1993), is most appropriate for
participants who recognize the existence of the shortcomings in their educational activities
and who would like to adopt some initial stance in regard to the problem, formulate a plan,
carry out an intervention, evaluate the outcomes and develop further strategies in an
iterative fashion. The essentials of action research design (Elliott in Hopkins, 1993) I
considered followed this characteristic cycle:
In the first stage understanding of a problem is developed and plans are

made for intervention. This is the reconnaissance phase.
Then the intervention or action is carried out.
During and after intervention, observations are collected in various forms.
Data is reflected on and revisions are made on the initial plan.
The new interventional strategies are carried out, and the cyclic process is
repeated, continuing until a sufficient understanding of the problem is
achieved.
I began by questioning myself and grouped my concerns under the following headings:
I was concerned about the way I taught.
15
I was interested in identifying the potential of drama as an innovative method to teach

children with SpLD life skills.
Following the lead given by Ghaye (1999), some of the important steps of action
research I incorporated were to:
Define my professional concern.
Set my values in relation with my concern.
Remember that action research is a learning process.
Organize my work in series of spirals of action and reflection.
Undertake my research rigorously and systematically.
Show evidence that there has been an improvement in the quality of education in my
context.
Make it a visible process.

A rationale for using a qualitative methodology
Goodson and Walker (1991) reveal that the task of research is to make sense of
what we know (p.107) and the sense we make is determined by the selection and politics of
our approach.
My contention is that both quantitative and qualitative research approaches are
appropriate for a study in educational research (Strauss and Corbin, 1990; Patton, 2002),
which deals with life skills. Both quantitative and qualitative methods are concerned with
studying phenomena (Libarkin and Kurdziel, 2002). However, qualitative research is
primarily concerned with gaining direct experience with a setting and is intrinsically an
exploratory endeavour (Mann, 2003). Thus it has the potential for generating new theories
and ideas and is therefore particularly applicable to my study.
I have collected qualitative data in the form of transcripts and descriptions while at
the same time I have also collected data that can be measured and represented in numbers.
However all the quantifiable data has been interpreted qualitatively. For example, the
Creativity Rating Scale (Appendix 15,p.58) used to chart the progress made by the students,
are technically quantitative measures and so are the emotional learning measures (see
16
Chapter 6, p.176) framed on the quantitative works of Mayer and Salovey (1993), and
Greenberg and Kusche (1998). Such data have been interpreted qualitatively. This is
because I believe a positivistic scientific approach does not allow dynamic, lived
experience such as in drama education to be captured and interpreted faithfully for a
number of reasons.
Firstly, consider the assumption that behaviour can be observed and measured in
numbers. Objectivity, rightly or wrongly, is valued more than subjectivity (Kincheloe, 1991)
as it is suggested that what cannot be scientifically articulated has no truth (in Taylor,
1996: p.8). Thus a difficulty manifested itself in that how would one measure a lived
experience, like for example, the understanding of emotions (Chapter 6) or understanding of
self (Chapter 7) or learning in process drama (Chapter 5)?
While teaching the children and then measuring emotional understanding in the
children, I made some note-worthy observations (see Chapter 6, p.176-7):
Teachers are not trained to use quantitative checklists used by psychologists.
Statistics are extraneous to drama-in-education.
The children I was teaching were weak in English.
9/10 children had slow speech and language development.

Additionally, there were incidents when a child tried to inflate his/her learning score
by copying a fellow student. In cases such as this, scientific control and statistical
measurements, which are supposed to be more objective, become erroneous. I believe
teachers can be objective in their observation of their students learning. Moreover, in such
cases the use of thick descriptions (Geertz, 1973) of events in a classroom can be more
trustworthy and credible than statistics and scales of 1(low) to 5 (high).
Thick descriptions are a rich and extensive set of details concerning methodology
and context provided in a research report. They aim to describe and explain the implication
and significance of actions and behaviour as they occur in a cultural network saturated
with meanings (Eisner, 1985: p.112). By inserting history into experience (Denzin, 1989:
p. 83), thick descriptions ascertain the significance of an experience, or the sequence of
events, for the person or persons in question. In thick description[s], the voices, feelings,
actions, and meanings of interacting individuals are heard (p. 83).
17
The rating scale, employed to record the change in understanding and the progress
made by the students, operate as reference points (Chapter 9, p.252). However, scores are
inadequate as they do not resolve the question of how the children learnt and why their
creative thinking skill increased or conversely why it did not increase. My aim is to offer an
explanation of the process of learning rather than just display scores. Presentation of
qualitative data and analysis in this fashion enhance the richness of the data.
Secondly, purposeful sampling (Patton, 1990), which is the dominant strategy in
qualitative research, was used. Typical case sampling used by me, is one of the sixteen types
of purposeful sampling identified by Patton (1990), which seeks information-rich cases, and
can be studied in depth. A large-scale research was not appropriate for my study, which is
based in a mainstream school in Mumbai for a number of reasons:
In Indian schools if a child is diagnosed with a specific learning difficulty (SpLD) they are
usually referred to special schools (Srivastav, 2004, 2004a; see Chapter 3, p.64-5) and have
to leave the mainstream school they are studying in.
A very small number of schools in India have special educational needs centres (see
p.46), thus limiting my choice of schools, and consequently reducing the number of
children I could teach.
At the same time a certain amount of assessment and evaluation has to be carried out
in life skill enhancement. To demonstrate and describe a change and reveal the effectiveness
or failure of a teaching tool there has to be an initial level and a subsequent level where I
examined whether the enhancement programme was successful or not. A quantitative
approach of pre-test and post-test was useful in this situation. In my study the pre-test and
post-test level are identified as the pre-learning level and the post-learning level. i
I have laid less emphasis on numbers and more on in-depth descriptions, which
enabled me to present a human centred account (Taylor, 1996: p. 14) of my students and
my learning process. I think a drama teacher cannot claim that if this happens then that
will follow. Besides, a dramatic act suggests OToole (1996) exists most validly in the
moment of happening (p.150). I think a dramatic act, therefore cannot be exactly repeated
as; it is a craft which at the moment of its fulfilment, vanishes (Barba, 1995: p. 8). Taylor
(1996) makes the point well when he conveys, his doctoral supervisor, Elys remark to him:
18
Surely your background in dramawill tell you that human activity is multi-dimensional
and complex. How could you ever hope to study an aesthetic moment by drawing on a
conventional scientific instrument? (p.26)
Thus, I engaged in a naturalistic inquiry as I tried to make sense of my teachings as I
collected data and interpreted it.
Teacher researcher
Before I continue I would like to repeat my research questions: how can I use drama
as a tool to enhance life skills in children with SpLD? And how can I improve my practice?
Both these questions firmly establish the classroom as the research site and the teacher as
the researcher.
The idea of classroom action research was introduced by Stenhouse (1975) and
promoted by Elliott (1991) and others who recognized the concept of a teacher as
researcher. They suggested that research in educational practice should be carried out by
the practitioner themselves and not by outsiders or external agents. They advocated a
research that does not aim to replace the practitioners thinking with expert knowledge but
on the contrary intends to build on it and support it (Altrichter, 1993: p.48).
On the other hand Hammersley (1993) contended that while teacher research can
be useful, it does not substitute for educational research of a more conventional kind'
(p.441). This argument made me apprehensive because I believe innovation resides within a
professional domain and that schools and teachers have a part to play in drawing up an
effective improvement agenda (Nixon, 1989). However, writers such as Carr and Kemmis
(1986) who recommend that teachers must be researchers and McNiff (1988) who observes
that, action research presents an opportunity for teachers to become uniquely involved in
their own practice (p. xiii), refute Hammersleys views. Researching teaching should be
accessible and useful for teachers and should be done with them or by them.
Stenhouse (1975) advocated the teacher-researcher concept and supported teachers
reflective action research. While Stenhouse (1975) suggested that the role of the researcher
must be linked to the role of the teacher, he maintained that full-time researcher teams
should work with the teacher to help them by interpreting classroom observations and to
19
plan improvements. Further, working with a full-time researcher the teacher did not select
his/her own topics for research.
I disagree with this stance as I believe that if teachers are to be the end-users of the
research then they have to be at the heart of the enterprise. This is important as I believe
teachers are the 'developers and the 'evaluators as well as the 'facilitators of their pupils
learning (D'Arcy, 1994: p. 293). A teachers research could inform how they act in
relation to their own and their students learning (Cochran-Smith and Lytle, 1993). To
faithfully capture information about the breadth, multiplicity, richness and uniqueness of
teacher craft, the teachers must carry on an internally persuasive discourse, a way of
thinking that engage[s them] from within, rather than impose[s] itself from without
(Baktin, 1981: p.342). It is a pre-requisite that teachers should embrace new scenarios and
become active learners themselves if they wish to be empowered teachers (Cochran-Smith
and Lytle, 1993; Rodgers, 2002) to make sense of the complexity of their world and their
work of teaching (Smyth, 1999: p. 70).
Moreover, data that are collected by professional researchers or outsiders and
subsequently analysed by them would tell an uneven story as there is a separation of roles.
This could create an inconsistency between the thoughts, motives and loyalties of the
practitioner and the researcher (Carr and Kemmis, 1986; Altrichter, Posch, and Somekh,
1993; Hopkins, 1993).
An outsider researching in a classroom would not be as perceptive as the teacher
who is researching from inside. My argument is related to the view that to see educational
research as a different form of work as compared to classroom teaching narrows teacher
research to an educational commando raid (Eisner, 1985: p.143) of collecting data. The
researcher enters the classroom to collect data and to leave (Eisner, 1985: p.143). The
subsequent data analysis and the conclusions drawn from the analysis may not be helpful or
relevant to the classroom practice.
I see the learning needs of an adult as comparable, to a large extent, to that of
children. I believe education is an initiation into new ways of seeing, hearing, feeling,
moving [and that] it signifies the nurture of a special kind of reflectiveness and
expressiveness, a reaching out for meanings (Greene, 1999: p.7). Just as we need to
20
empower students to take control of their learning, teachers too need to be empowered.
Action research undertaken by a teacher can be especially valuable as it can generate
pedagogic knowledge (Pikes, 2002). It enables a teacher-researcher to engage intellectually
with learning; knowledge is not handed over. It can elucidate the process of how
decisions were made and why they were made in a teaching situation. Moreover, it can
explicate how these decisions affected the learners, in this case both the student and me, the
teacher-researcher.
In my research situation, an outside researcher collaborating with me while I taught
in my drama class was not feasible. This is seeing that I have observed from my experience
in teaching drama that everybody in a drama class except the students and the class teacher
are others. To make my argument clearer, anybody taking active part in the classroom
routine are not others however, a person purely observing the classroom activities is an
other. Unlike actors and teachers who have made a contract to allow people to stare
(Heathcote, 1984: p. 162), children have not made such an agreement. An outsiders
presence in the drama class may have put the class on the defensive.
Consequently, as a teacher, I would have had to spend much precious time in wearing down
their discomfiture, which happens when students feel when they are stared at.
Moreover, my students were children with SpLD. Such children usually have low
self-esteem and the presence of others could act as a stressor. Thus it would be
selfdefeating to have an outsider in class who may induce stress in the class.
The primary aim of this research was to explain and theorise about a new teaching
method hence linking practice and research. If teachers are to bring about change in
education they need to actively participate in the culture and politics of their teaching
(Nunan, 1993). Since action research entails action towards improvement (Lomax, 1994:
p.4), it not only facilitates better classroom practice (McNiff, 1993) but also supports the
creation of personal theories of practice (McNiff with Whitehead: 2002, p. 20).
Action research leads to the generation of what McNiff (1993) term as the Itheory
of knowledge (McNiff with Whitehead, 2002: p.22). Contrasting I-theory to E-theory, she
elucidates that E-theory is externally generated, focusing on others and I-theory is one that
is located [internally] with the practitioners tacit form of knowing, and which emerge in
21
practice as personal forms of acting and knowing. Outsiders are not in and of the
classroom (Bryant, 1996: p.114) therefore they do not possess the situated knowledge of the
classroom or the I-theory of the practitioner. Given that, I believe that the outsider is not
naturally positioned to understand or change the classroom situation.
I argue that teacher-research is a way for practitioners to voice their concerns in
education (Baumann and Duffy, 2001). It is a real world research because when teachers
research their practice they gain knowledge on how effective teachers teach and about how
children learn better (Mortimore, 1999).
As a teacher, I see myself working upwards out of the swampy lowlands of Schons
(1983) topography. Not because I am in awe of the high hard grounds, but because I see the
need to bridge the gap and reach a ground, more solid than the swamp, where teaching is
subject to systematic investigations (Cross and Steadman, 1996). I think action research
enables practitioners to learn steadily, in a self reflective spiral (McNiff with Whitehead,
2002) of acting and observing, reflecting and by making mistakes and subsequently
replanning. By doing so not only improving ones practice but additionally creating a
personal living theory (Ghaye and Ghaye, 1998).
As an artist, I try to find a place on the platform with researchers like Taylor (1995,
1996) and OToole (1996). My views echo their concerns that artists and teachers have
avoided research and equally academics have avoided researching in the arts, each with the
arrogance of not really understanding the other. Drama practitioners suggest that too much
analysis harms the art forms and researchers suggest that the ephemeral quality of drama
denies rigorous analysis (Somers, 1996). At the same time teachers and artists are often
suspicious of theorisers and are often at discord. This unproductive cacophony (Somers,
1996: p. 7) has harmed the unique contribution drama can make to childrens lives.
Acknowledging the rigour and artistry in art and research permits exciting possibilities for
simultaneous researching our art form and the art in our teaching as we practice them
(Heikkinen, 1996; Taylor, 2000; Henry, 2000).
It appears to me that the crux of the problem is not whether a teachers research is a
valid form of research or not, because I do believe that educational action research
potentially can make a significant contribution to a teachers knowledge base. I agree with
Bigger (personal communication) that we no longer have a battle of paradigms, but we do
22
have increasing demand for rigour and that teachers should underpin persuasive research
with evidence/data that stand up to external scrutiny.
I have carried out an action research project to change my practice and at the same
time to persuade the wider community to change their behaviour by showing that life skills
education is an important feature in enhancing childrens mental health, which can be done
by using drama as a method. I have systematically collected data reflected on it and
critiqued it and subsequently recorded my interpretation of my professional learning, my
students enhanced life skills and my educational theory in this thesis. However, to persuade
the wider community I believe it is essential to present some form of evidence to support
my claim: that I have worked systematically, I have followed a disciplined approach in my
action research, that my practice has indeed improved and by what criteria I am making the
claims (McNiff with Whitehead, 2002). Without academic rigour and validated evidence to
support, it a claim could rightly be challenged as personal opinion or hearsay.
Ely (in Taylor, 1996) rejects the concept of truth, validity and falsification and
embraces the struggle of a reflective practitioners ambiguous and contradictory journey. I
too struggled with uncertainty and conflicts. The question of proving the validity of my
research was not as important to me as demonstrating the integrity and soundness of my
work. Self-validation, which meant that I had to be my own stringent critic (McNiff with
Whitehead, 2002: p.104) was and continues to be important to me.
However, in a work that is carried out towards a research degree that is not
sufficient. I maintained transparency in my work from the beginning to avoid pitfalls such
as self-delusion, factual errors or misinterpretations of my methods while teaching and
collecting data.
Secondly, understanding, suggests Whitehead (in Newman, 1999: p.9), may not
require validation. However, ways of knowing and knowledge (p.9) which is central to
research, draw attention to the importance of validity in the sense of testing the validity of
a claim to knowledge. The idea of validity is important to action researchers who seek to
make significant and original contributions to knowledge (Whitehead in Newman, 1999:
p.3).
23
I did not wish to abandon validity therefore my validation group and critical
friends played an important role in my research. They evaluated the efficiency of my
research methods and report during the planning stage, through data collection and also in
retrospect. For a solo researcher, peer debriefing is an important process. Peer debriefing
(Lincoln and Guba, 1985) is:
the process of exposing oneself to a disinterested peer in a manner
paralleling an analytic session and for the purpose of exploring aspects of
the inquiry that might remain implicit within the inquirers mind. (p.308)
Enhancing life skills shifts slightly from the teaching profession to that of the field
of socio-psychology. Therefore I had to maintain what Hitchcock and Hughes (1995)
termed as instrument or technique validity, which justifies the appropriateness of the data
collection techniques and instruments suited to the type of data required. In this research my
validation group comprise: two psychiatrists and a senior professor in the Psychology
Department of Shreemati Nathibai Damodar Thackersey (SNDT) Women's University. As
my professional superiors they reviewed the instrument or technique validity.
Outcome validity (Anderson and Herr, 1999) which is concerned with whether the
descriptions given in fact do describe what the research sets out to do was similarly
checked. In the case of instrument or technique validity and outcome validity I had
extensive and exhaustive arguments with members of my validation group. Even though my
research was the meeting of two streams, education and socio-psychology I had to be
careful not to over step my role of a teacher and assume the role of a psychologist. One of
the members of my validation group was also working for a UNESCO project of integrated
education in India, which was an action research project.
External validity refers to generalizability suggest Saldana and Wright (1996)
referring to the applicability of ones work to other groups besides the participants of ones
research. Conversely, a traditional educational action research does not yield neat
generalisations, as each classroom is unique (Yin, 1994). My opinion is that it does not
mean my research cannot be effectively applied beyond the context of my work. As:
it is the understandings of the complexities of the particular situation and
the recognition of the different ways in which the familiar can be interpreted
that is the aspect that is so readily transferable to other situations.
24
(Green, 1999: p. 107)

Cohen and Manion (1994) suggest that the small-scale, restricted, qualitative action
research rules out the possibility of generalisations. I disagree with this assumption as I
think it devalues and marginalizes the knowledge a teacher generates by asserting that it is
only locally applicable (Pike, 2002). This also implies that the research a teacher does with
one class enlightens us about that particular class and those pupils, but not about the
teaching, learning and education.
Teachers generalise from past to present experience in classrooms, similarly
other professionals studies can provide vicarious experiences which are generalisable to
their own situations, and vice versa (Elliott, 1991: p. 65). Teachers learn and gain
knowledge from other teachers experiences and are able to transfer elements of others
experiences to their own situation.
Similarly, this research has scope for generalisations. In my thesis I desire to
communicate the way I have taught in my class and my experience and thus demonstrate
how it is possible for other teachers and schools to have similar modules in their schools to
enhance life skills.
A researcher cannot specify the transferability of findings; he/she can only provide
sufficient information that can then be used by the reader to determine whether the findings
are applicable to the new situation (Lincoln and Guba, 1985). Keeping in mind that it is
essential for a teacher researcher to check whether the research strategy and the specific
research instruments are pragmatically compatible with classrooms and teachers work
conditions (Altrichter, 1992: p. 45), I took factors such as time-limit of the class, methods
of teaching, evaluation and assessments into consideration from the beginning of my
research. I am of the view that in doing so my research module ensured transferability.
Time limit is always an important factor in a school-teaching situation (Lomax, 1994 a;
Dadds, 1995), and therefore my classes were planned for just an hour each. This was done
so that if the module used in this research is transferred to another school it can be easily
fitted into the curriculum timetable. In many schools in India the last period of the day is a
free period were the students participate in activities like hobby classes, moral science
lessons and occasionally they even do their home-work during that time. Thus if my
25
research module had to be transferable I had to set a time limit that would be acceptable in
the school routine.
As this is a teachers action research, even though I am a trained counsellor, I was
careful to design all the evaluations from a teachers viewpoint. All through the research I
was careful to use tests and measures which a teacher could use (e.g. Creativity tests,
p.249250).
Importantly, the action research paradigm requires its own quality criteria. Action
research should not be judged by the criteria of positivist science, but rather within the
criteria of its own terms (Reason and Bradbury, 2001). Rigour in my action research
enquiry was carried out in accordance with Winters (1989: p. 43-65) six principles. He
suggests that the author of an action research project offer a reflective and dialectic critique,
substantiate collaboration, risk and a plural structure and finally show the transformation
and the harmonious relationship between theory and practice.
I have accommodated Winters six principles into my research and they have been
important criteria in the shaping of my research. They refer to how data are generated,
gathered, explored and evaluated, how events are questioned and interpreted through
multiple action research cycles.
Reflexive critique open[s] up lines of argument and discussion (Winter 1989:
p.44). A reflective process is inherent in the cycles of action research accordingly there is a
reflective process in my research project, which I have discussed below in Reflection
(p.27). Reflection has played an important part in my research and I have discussed this in a
greater detail in Chapter 5, p.99, 112. The dialectic critique is discussed in the text below
(p.32).
Collaboration gives the opportunity for participants in an action research to
challenge each others thinking (Kemmis and McTaggart, 1988). I did not work in
partnership with another researcher or a teacher. However, in view of the fact that I consider
participants in an action research project are co-researchers (Winter, 1998), I understand
collaboration as:
26
everyones point of view will be taken as a contribution to resources for understanding;

no-ones point of view will be taken as the final understanding as to what all the other
points of view really mean. (p. 56)
Additionally, I maintained plurality of perspectives by involving significant
others in the research. The initial interviews and questionnaires administered to the parents,
teachers and the special educational needs co-ordinator (SENCO) enabled me to learn more
about my students behaviour at home and in school (also see p. 49,53-6). The subsequent
interviews with the significant others enabled me to chart the progress the children made
out of my classroom and validate my claims to the childrens progress in life skills learning
or lack of it.
The plural structure of my inquiry is represented by the multiplicity of views of the
students, significant others and mine, the interpretation of the views and opinions and
critiques of it. This means that within my work there are a variety of accounts made
explicit, with commentaries on their contradictions. This plural structure of inquiry required
a plural text for reporting, which I have done by creating narratives and a patchwork text
(p.59).
As regards risk, as an educational action researcher I claim to be exposed to risk
in the improvisatory exploratory nature of my enquiry, which I accepted and took on the
challenges head on. This can be seen in the way I revised my teaching module in Cycle 2
(Chapter 5, p.129). The change process made me extremely vulnerable as this was the first
time I broke away from preset formulas, took the risk of asking students to suggest what
forms of art should be incorporated into the drama class (Chapter 5, p.147) and how they
envisioned their drama class. I found directing dancedrama for the annual programme a
nerve-wracking experience and I believe I took a great risk when I agreed to do a
presentation given their lack of exposure to drama, the irregular attendance of some of my
students and their unpredictable nature. Most importantly, I believe I took the maximum
risk when I developed the lessons from the students ideas and then built the curriculum
needs around it in the process of teaching at risk (Chapter 5, p.159).
As regards his sixth principle, Theory, Practice and Transformation, this links all
the previous ones together. I have elucidated the theoretical justifications for my actions and
27
theoretical understanding and transformation, in the ensuing section Living educational

theory and The emergent paradigm of my research.
Reflection
The most important element in action research is reflection; it lies at the core of
action research (Somekh, 1995: p.347). Elliot (1991) suggests that the process of reflection
is representative of the action research process. It is a dialectic process (Kemmis, 1985):
It looks inward at our thoughts and thought process and outward at the
situation in which we find ourselves; when we consider the interaction of the
internal and external, our reflection orients us for further thought and
action. Reflection is thus meta-thinking (thinking about thinking) in which
we consider the relationship between our thoughts and action in a particular
context. (p.141)
The spiral of action research cycles follows a process of action, observation and reflection
to achieve greater understanding, followed by further action and reflection. Reflection is
intentional and grounded in the situation (Bryant, 1996).
I see the role played by reflection as fundamental to professional development.
Reflection is a way of attending to problems of practice. Encouraging the puzzlements
during the process of attending to an experience to open new possibilities, then giving shape
to those problems in order to discover new ways of both acknowledging ones responses as
well as seeing and implementing solutions is the art of reflection (Schon, 1983).
Reflection-on-action (Schon, 1991) is retrospective reflection and occurs after the
event. It is an important process of planning for new action. Reflection-on-action worked on
three levels in my research. Firstly, reflecting on my actions enabled me, the
teacherresearcher, to revisit my previous actions in the drama class and transform them
through deliberate and critical self-examination. Secondly, reflecting on the students
actions facilitated thorough interpretation of the childrens behaviour enabling me to move
beyond mere fact and surface appearances to deep, authentic understanding. Thirdly,
reflection on an experience in a learning situation, especially in drama, leads to a change of
understanding more so than the experience itself (Bolton, 1993). Thus, reflection-on-action,
28
by the students and me at the end of the class, during reflection time led to changed
perspectives and greater self-understanding (e.g. Chapter 5: p.112-7).
Reflection-in-action is contemporaneous reflection. It enables the practitioner to
examine changes, which occur during the moment of intense professional action (Brause
and Mayher, 1991). It is a process of thinking about something while doing it (Schon,
1983). Reflection-in-action (Schon, 1987):
is tacit and spontaneousit involves making new sense of surprise, turning
thoughts back on itself to think in new ways about phenomena and about
how we think about those phenomena (p. 3).
I reason reflection-in-action has received little research attention because of its
ephemeral quality. Decisions are taken on the spot by the practitioner to change the situation
for the better and may be done impulsively and automatically and may not be intellectual
activities. It is internalised or intrinsic knowledge (McNiff with Whitehead, 2002).
A large amount of our knowing in drama is in action. Knowing-in-action refers to
the spontaneous process involved in for example, how to handle an awkward pause during a
performance when a fellow actor has forgotten his/her lines. An experienced practitioner is
knowledgeable about the theory involved and is skilled in the task. There are no
microprocesses involved in the action an actor just does it.
The artistry of drama and teaching is in relation to knowing-in-action. Knowinginaction is tacit knowledge and is implicit in our actions and the way we deal with the
situation of surprise (Schon, 1983). With experience knowing becomes more tacit,
automatic, spontaneous and intuitive.
In drama, intuition is like divination (Sudakov, 1955), the basis of the material of
experience. Bergman, the great Swedish director talks about intuition being his strongest
card and how he never argues with it (William Jones, 1983). However, he goes on to say
that after one has decided something intuitively, it is necessary to follow it up intellectually.
Intuition reaches far out into the dark but afterwards one must try to go on foot to the spot
where intuition's javelin has landed (Bergman in Bjorkman, Manns and Sima, 1973:
p.104/5). I consider the act of going on foot to the spot where intuition's javelin has landed
changes knowing-in-action to reflection-on-action.
29
It is reflection-ON-reflection-in-action (Schon, 1987: p. 4) that is an intellectual

act. When artists and teachers understand a situation by knowing-in-action and theorise
about it, they acquire knowledge-in-action. This enables the individual to understand their
world; moreover it also empowers them to use that knowledge in their professional lives,
thus uniting doing and thinking, practice and theory.
Reflective practice is akin to action research seeing that like an action researcher:
a [reflective] practitioner is interested in transforming the situation from
what it is to something he[sic] likes better. He also has an interest in
understanding the situation, but it is in service of his interest in
understanding the change. (Schon, 1983: p.14)
This means that a practitioner is interested in understanding the situation. The reflective
practitioners interest in understanding has a specific interest in transformation and the
change leads to understanding reminiscent of action researchers who systematically study
their actions and attempt to change and improve educational practice (Ebbutt, 1985).
Reflective practice enables the researcher to enhance the understanding of the
process value of action research (Elliott, 1991). Action research when pursued as a
reflective practice enables the researcher to move beyond improving his/her practice and
become a producer of knowledge (Elliott, 1991). Schon (1983) claims that when someone
reflects-in-action, he [sic] immediately becomes a researcher in the practice context (p. 689). He adds that by constructing theories that are applicable to her/his practice; a
practitioner is empowered to break free from established theories. As a reflective
practitioner is not bound by set theories she/he can proceed to research unique situations
even when she/he is uncertain of the way her/his inquiry will ensue. Through the
transformation of our experience in a learning situation we can initiate the creation of
knowledge (Kolb, 1984). Reflecting critically on our experiences facilitates this process.
The strength, rigour, the emergent and trial and error quality of reflective practice
(Taylor, 1996) augurs well for my action research in drama education. Reflecting,
reflection-in-action and reflection-on-action permitted me to be surprised at situations that
arose in my class and during my research, making the ordinary extraordinary and thus
facilitating new perspectives in familiar everyday situations.
30
Critical Incidents
Even though reflection is recognised as a powerful tool for exploring our learning,
and as a process by which we can reframe our understanding of our practice (Tripp, 1993;
Brookfield, 1995), it is difficult to know where to begin. All teachers think about their work
and how to improve their teaching and the students learning whether purposefully or
casually (Schon, 1983; Van Manen, 1994). However, reflecting deliberately and critically
requires a disciplined approach. The crucial aspect of reflective practice is that it requires
commitment to learning from experience (Ashcroft and Foreman-Peck, 1994). Tripp (1993)
suggests that an inquiry into our practice and its augmentation can be done through
identification and analysis of episodes or critical incidents.
The term critical incident (Tripp, 1993) refers to some event or situation which
marked a significant turning-point or change in the life of a person (p. 24). However,
critical incidents are not all dramatic; they are mostly commonplace events that occur in
routine professional practice. Nevertheless, they compel us to look at our practice with a
new eye as they reveal gaps in our espoused beliefs (Newman, 1987). Woods (1993)
suggests that:
They are flashpoints that illuminate in an electrifying instant some key
problematic aspect or aspects of the teachers role and which contain, in the
same instant the solution (p.1).
Critical incidents can be triggered in the midst of teaching (Newman, 1991); they
can also arise through reading, or in a conversation. Sometimes a critical incident can also
confirm the belief held by a teacher. The most exciting moment occurs when some
theoretical insight clarifies a knotty problem in practice, or when the obscurity of theory is
illuminated by memory of a significant dramatic event in the classroom or on stage
(ONeill, 1996: p.136).
It is exciting as the critical incident may not be big or special events but are at the
same time highly charged moments or episodes that have enormous consequences (Sikes,
Measor and Wood, 1985: p.230) as they facilitate teacher development. In this manner they
31
perform not only a confirmatory function but also permit the teacher to maintain their
selfefficacy (Woods, 1993).
McConaghy (1986) recommends we keep a journal in which to record these
incidents and our professional judgements and thoughts of those episodes. Focusing our
attention on critical incidents and the subsequent analysis can help teachers to develop their
own grounded theory. Understanding and reflecting on a critical incident could be used to
gain awareness about a particular aspect of ones practice.
Alternatively, a series of incidents could be collected and analysed together to see if
patterns emerge, in order to find a focus for action research. The approach relies on the
individuals commitment especially if it moves beyond a mere descriptive level. It is a
powerful technique to develop increased understanding and control over professional
judgements, particularly if the processes of action research reinforce it. The challenge is
how to encourage in-depth analysis. Newman (1987) suggests that we reflect on the
questions:
Why was the incident exceptional?
What made it noteworthy?
What did we learn from it?
How could we have dealt with the situation differently?

Critical incidents are created like data and are not independent of the observer, awaiting
discovery (Tripp, 1993). They are produced by the way we look at a situation; a critical
incident is an interpretation of the significance of an event.
Dialogue
Reflective practice is energized by dialogue. Practitioners must enter into reflective
conversations about practice problems in which they make their reasoning explicit.
Reflective practitioners explore their thinking through dialogue (Schon, 1983). This
dialogue happens through a process of question answers. When a reflective practitioner
contemplates on an event to seek answers to the question what is this? it enables them to
see the taken-for-granted with new eyes. (Schon, 1987: p.28).
32
True knowledge is dialectical and is based on interplay of question and answers

(Collingwood, 1924: p. 77-79). This is the contrary to the traditional form of philosophy of
education which suggests that true knowledge is propositional (cf. Hirst, 1974; Best, 1991).
The propositional form of knowledge is that of a proposal. That is propositional logic uses
true statements to form or prove other true statements. It endorses the view that is
prescriptive and explanatory. However, it lacks the form of exploratory propensity of action
research and reflective practice.
Central to action research is the questioning of data which enables the practitioner
to go beyond expert understanding (Winter, 1998). Action research is a process that is
essentially a reflective process in the search for change both in practice and in
understanding. The reflective process inherent in action research produces a search for the
contradictions and discrepancies, which bring alternatives into view (Winter, 1998).
I had instinctively followed the dialectical form of educational knowledge, which I
classify as knowing-in-action. I call it knowing-in-action because it a part of my tacit
knowledge and was implicit in my actions as teacher and researcher. I say instinctively
because the values I hold were in sync with the notion of dialogue:
Freire (1970) suggests that dialogue requires hope in order to exist. Hopelessness is a form
of silence, of denying the world and fleeing from it (p.72). I believe that creating a good
society involves committed action by everyone in the society. I hold a vision that enables
teachers to make the schoolroom a better and safer place for the children that come to it. I
see teaching as a caring profession and that if as teachers we abandon this vision we will be
pretenders. A teacher is a pretender (Lindsey 2000: p. 272) when he/she fails to recognize
the role teachers plays in supporting unjust social structures in schools. My values in
education and my principles as a member of a caring profession (Nodding, 1992), restrain
me from turning a blind eye to the chaos created by the present system of education in
India. I believe I have to make a personal commitment to assist in creating a good social
order.
I am deeply critical of anti-dialogical banking education (Freire, 1970: p.74), which is

rampant in the educational setting in India. According to the traditional Indian model of
education, knowledge is dispensed in a vertical and authoritative way (banking style). In
such a system, the teachers are the only agents of legitimate knowledge and they impose it
33
on their pupils. Indian classrooms are filled to the brim with students who listen to the
teacher talk, are preoccupied with copying the teachers words verbatim and repeating the
lesson in a parrot like fashion. Banking education attempts to control thinking and action
and inhibits the students creative power.
I value education that is dialogical. In which the teacher is open, tolerant, forthright, yet
challenging, respects the students and acknowledges that learning is not transmission of
knowledge and teaches so that students can learn to learn.
Without dialogue there is no communication and without communication, there can be no

true education (Freire, 1970: p.73). Significantly, in a dialogue one does not impose ideas.
This is because dialogue is sharing, a give and take of ideas. I endorse the concept of
negotiated learning, which I believe can only foster with dialogue between the teacher and
the learner.
The concept of a dialogue in education is comparable to the practice of democracy. I
have high regard for the concept of democracy and the values it suggests favouring
social equality and freedom of thought. These values are linked to the previous idea of
communication and the next, which suggests that dialogue cannot subsist in a despotic
situation. One cannot dialogue if you place yourself above another because a dialogue is
essentially a conversation between equals (Bohm, Factor and Garrett, 1991). Freire
(1970) states through dialogue, the teacher-of-the-students and the students-oftheteacher cease to exist and a new term emerges: teacher-student with studentsteachers (p.67).
Dialogue cannot exist unless the dialoguer engage[s] in critical thinking (Freire,
1970: p.73), which links me to action research and the philosophy of reflective practice.
Freire suggests that words without action is verbalism. Transformation cannot happen
without action. At the same time transformation is also impossible with empty action
without reflection. Only action and reflection (praxis) enables transformation.
My educational values provide the blueprint for [my] professional action (Lomax,
1994 a: p. 116) and that is why I see the reason for making my tacit understanding of values
34
explicit. Action research is a value driven research. Lomax (1994: p.1) suggests that action
research moves beyond:
mere technical change in favour of change that is demonstrably the
outcome of critical examination of the values and beliefs about the practice
in question. It is not just what one does is important, but why one does it.
My values motivated me to start this research project and I maintain I have not only
been truthful to them while teaching during the research but that they inform my behaviour
in my professional and personal life. However, notably the process of researching-reading
of literature, critically reflecting on the literature and my work, has refined my values to a
greater extent.
Living educational theory

Practitioners in drama have conventionally preferred to discuss techniques used in
the classroom and the progress made, rather than worry about theoretical and ideological
perspectives (Hornbrook, 1989: p. 3). The power of theory to inform drama practice has
been ignored by drama educators (Hornbrook, 1989; Taylor, 1996; Bolton, 1996).
Drama practitioners need to develop a partnership between teaching and research,
practice and theory. However, because of its ephemeral and dynamic nature, drama is
difficult to research vis--vis theory. Drama education is not positioned naturally with
conventional boundaries of research and is divided between disciplines of pedagogy,
psychology and sociology. Thus outside theories, made in stable intuitional contexts put
forward by academic researchers can be misleading for a number of reasons. Firstly,
teaching is a dynamic task, particularly drama education, making knowledge acquisition in
a classroom a constantly changing and shifting process.
Secondly, theories propounded outside the classroom situation lacked the
practicality of classroom application. My research takes place in a real classroom of real
children. The realities of my classroom practice cannot be answered by educational
theories made outside my classroom as sometimes the theories are not specific enough, or
the propositions they contain are not easily generalisable to [my] teaching situations
(Hopkins, 1993: p.72).
35
Importantly, I believe the needs of my real students cannot be resolved purely by

theories implied by the academic theorist. They have to be resolved by my practice and me
through constantly developing and re-developing actions. In doing so my action research
brings together theory and practice, in the search of practical solutions (Reason and
Bradbury, 2001). This means that as an action researcher, I am interested in knowledge that
is derived from practice and practice that is reflected upon and theorised (McBride and
Schostak, 1995; OBrien, 2001). Theory and practice are interrelated in action research.
Action researchers are interested in theories that are grounded in their practice, which is
reflected upon and theorised about.
My research is positioned in the school but at the same time does not deal with a
conventional curriculum subject like geography, history or language. It is unique in the
sense that although it is set in the school situation, it is a research dealing with a subject life skills, which is not a traditional subject in schools. Moreover, in India drama is not used
as a method to teach any subject. If the situation is newborn, how is a researcher to
understand it and ultimately evaluate it? Understanding situations and the changes brought
about by unique methods, which are developed in an individualistic style call for a unique
technique of understanding. Controlled, scientific logic is clearly not applicable to this
study.
Thus arose the epistemological crisis of my professional knowledge. Decisions
made by me, while following the process of teaching and researching drama and life skills,
empowering my students and at the same time empowering my practice did not adhere to
simple rules set by drama education, set in the field of study of psychology or in fact set by
a particular research methodology. My concerns echo Greenes (1978) apprehensions; I did
not want to become a stranger in my research.
Winter (1997) suggests that theory in action research is a form of improvisatory
self-realisation, where theoretical resources are not predefined in advance, but are drawn in
by the process of the inquiry. I understand this as: action researchers create theories as they
reflect critically on their practice. Theories do not precede practice, they are grounded in
practice that is reflected upon and theorised. Thus our educational theories are forms of
improvisatory self-realisation in which we create descriptions and explanations for our own
educational development. (Whitehead, 1997: p.4)
36
My theories then should emerge from a set of beliefs grounded in my practice and
my own understandings about my world through my experience of it. Teacher-researchers
should not be constrained by theories outside the classroom but should generate their own
theories (Lomax, 1986: p. 43). Through this standpoint, I unite my perspectives to the
larger body of established literature developed by those who explore similar questions about
their understanding providing me with a framework for linking theory with practice. This
larger body of literature to which I refer is the living educational theory (Whitehead,
1989).
Living educational theories are formulated when practitioners explore questions of
the type, How do I improve my practice? It is an account of the description and
explanation of the researcher's professional practice and educational development
(Whitehead, 1989: p. 5). Importantly, a living educational theory is created when an action
researcher carries out a systematic enquiry made public (Whitehead, 1993).
A living theory approach is a dynamic process. In this approach the theories come
from practice that is reflected upon and critiqued. This in turn feeds into practice and into an
ever-continuous loop of theory and practice. Reflecting and subsequently critiquing my
experience in the drama class enabled me give an explanation of my professional learning.
This is what makes the living theory both dynamic and personal. Eames (1995) suggests
that:
The contribution should be personal rather than impersonal. They should
try to root claims to knowledge in the writers own experiences, to show how
the writer has been educated, has changed as a result of the action and
experiences described. They should involve some element of narrative as
well as reflection; the personal growth of the writer - how she/he came to
his/her present understanding is central. (Chapter 9, p. 44).
Living educational theories use the process of getting to know through question and
answer and are dialectical in nature. It is a process theory that offers a moving perspective
on educational events, where the meanings emerge through practice (Whitehead and
Lomax, 1987: p. 177).
37
When the researcher asks questions: How do I improve my practice? How do I

improve this process of education here? How do I live my values more fully in my practice?
and at the same time keeps the living I at the centre of the enquiry they support their
action research and prevent it from becoming a mere academic exercise (Whitehead, 1998).
This enables the context of the action to move from what is happening here to why
should it be a problem for me? During the process of asking this question and answering it
I take the responsibility for the actions taken by me in the classroom as I see certain
educational principles that are negated in my practice.
Whitehead (2000) outlines the process as follows.
I experience a concern when my values are negated in practice.
I imagine a way forward.
I act.
I evaluate.
I modify my concerns, ideas and actions in the light of my evaluations. (p. 93) The
contradiction is seen from the point of view of; who am I, what do I believe in and what am
I doing and represents the tension between espoused theory and theory-in-use. Espoused
theory is the theory of action to which [a researcher] gives allegiance (Argyris and Schon,
1974: p. 7) and theory-in-use are evident in the actions of the researcher. The contradictions
derived from the inclusion of the I in a living theory are an important part of the
explanation of the development of the practitioners professional learning. What this means
is that the practitioner has the ability to hold together particular values and their negation.
Developing and applying a living theory is a process in which the practitioner tries to work
through these contradictions.
The emergent paradigm of my research

Here I give an explanation and description of my learning as I tried to improve my practice.
I define and describe the emergent nature of my research as my understanding developed.
The process of understanding, learning, and teaching educational drama cannot be

encapsulated by one particular proposition or theory. I believe there is a necessity of using a
38
wide variety of appropriate theories to solve the problems being researched (Griffiths, 1995:
p. 302) to answer my research questions:
How can I use drama as a tool to enhance life skills in children with specific learning
disabilities?
How can I improve my practice?

Moreover, as action research is an emergent process the focus of the inquiry shift as the
inquiry develops and new theoretical angles emerge (Winter, 1997). Action researchers
must then, strive to be flexible and creative and improvises the relevance of different types
of theory at different stages in the work.
Living educational theories are not characterised solely by asset of interconnected
propositions (Whitehead, 1998: p. 2, his emphasis) because the validity of a living
educational theory cannot be reduced to propositions given its dialectical nature. Living
theories contain I as the living contradiction (Whitehead, 1998) while propositional logic
rejects such an understanding as it suggests that two mutually exclusive statements cannot
be true simultaneously. Instead, Whitehead (1989) makes a case for creation of educational
theory as a living form of question and answer, which includes propositional contributions
from the traditional disciplines of education. In a living educational theory the propositional
logic whilst existing in the explanation do not characterise the explanation. The explanation
is embodied in the exploration of questions of the form, How do I improve my practice?
(Whitehead, 1989).
My theories about my practice are grounded in my lived experiences as I research
and teach life skills in my drama class. I elicit my theories of my practice not from
propositional knowledge directly but from my actual experiences of teaching in my class. It
is the description and explanation of my educational development and it documents the
changes I, the teacher- researcher, brought about in my practice.
I have created a living educational theory, in which I have drawn on propositional
theories to help to explain my experiences. Rather than adjusting my practice to fit into a
particular theory I have critiqued a dynamic form of theory as it clarifies my practice. It is
my belief that insights from theories about education can be integrated into my own
educational theory, but without the latter being reduced solely to any one of the former
39
(Whitehead, 1993: p. 57). In doing so I believe I have used theoretical knowledge to explain
my work as I answer the question How do I improve my practice? My living educational
theory shows not only how I tried to achieve proficiency as a drama teacher but also shows
how I constructed an effective life skills enhancement module for children with SpLD and
at the same time it also illustrates how drama played a valuable role in life skills
management.
I began this research operating purely on interpretivist paradigm, which suggested
that knowledge is socially created.
The purpose of doing interpretivist research is to provide information that
will allow the investigator to make sense of the world from the perspectives of
participants; the researcher must be involved in the activity as an insider and able to
reflect upon it as an outsider. (Eisenhart, 1988: p. 103) My task was to interpret and
understand the meanings that were operating within the group of students being researched.
I, the researcher, was outside the process I was observing and held an omniscient position in
relation to the students. The key characteristics of this view of research are to interpret,
understand and describe. As the researcher, I held the power position and the control of the
learning process was out of the hands of the students. I
played the role of the outside assessor and critic as I made them play drama games and
assessed their performance and life skills.
Simultaneously, my lesson plans included the concept of dialogue, which can be
seen in the way the rules the class would follow were negotiated (Chapter 5, p.103) and
with the incorporation of reflection time in the curriculum (Chapter, 5, p.112). The sense of
dialogue, however, was only included after the basic classroom activity when the students
and I reflected on the classroom proceedings and behaviour. The dialectic relationship I
held with my teaching methods and research at this stage in Cycle 1 was yet undeveloped
and elementary. This is because I as the teacher held the power position as I taught with a
tightly structured lesson plan leaving no room for the students to improvise without the
lesson plan.
When I analysed and wrote the account of my work at the end of Cycle 1 (Chapter 5,
p.124-5), I realised that my teaching methods were too simplistic. Through my class
instructions I strived to answer my research question by explaining how meaning and
40
experience be made sense of through drama games. I had as yet not explored different
drama techniques like role-play, stopping to consider and teacher-in-role and was still
outside the drama process, functioning as an assessor. Researching through a theoretical
lens of interpretivism it was not surprising that my approach was limited to testing whether
drama could facilitate life skills enhancement in children.
Reflecting on the analysis of teaching methods used in Cycle 1, I realised that my
work did not focus on the complexities of life skills and the intricacy of drama education.
A reflective conversation with a unique and changing situation (Schon, 1987: p.83) added
a new dimension to my teaching methods. This was the first step towards a change in
research perspective. My inquiry changed from an E-inquiry (externalised inquiry, focusing
on others) to an I-inquiry (internalised inquiry focusing on self) as can be seen in Chapter 5,
p.139-40. As a researcher it involved the recognition of what Whitehead (1989) calls the
living contradiction of the I or what McNiff (1993) sees as the conflict between value and
actions. What emerged from my new understanding was a different theoretical template.
The change in focus of my lessons and the impact of an additional theoretical lens
primed my actions to develop into a more complex and critical endeavour. Living
educational theory of action research enabled me to exercise methodological
inventiveness (Dadds and Hart, 2001: p. 166) that was vital to my work as I theorised it. It
enabled me to critique and improve my methodology. Beyond that, it gave me an
opportunity to examine the assumptions about knowledge that inform my research design.
In Cycle 2, following a critical incident (Chapter 5, p.124), my teaching plans
underwent a change. There was a change in understanding towards my perception of life
skills and drama methods used by me in my lessons in Cycle 1. Firstly, I redeveloped what I
believe was an effective life skills education programme. Secondly, my drama lessons
moved beyond theatre games and I started using improvisation in a small grouping in pairs
and trios and a method called stopping to consider (see Chapter 5, p.131, 133). Now the
dialectical relationship entered into the classroom activities in addition to previously used
dialogue during reflection time.
Consequently, I could not follow an exclusively interpretive paradigm. I had to use a
more appropriate approach that would support my developing epistemology. With the
41
addition of a more educational oriented lens with attention to transformative theory and
dialogic theory to my approach, my study gained a new dimension.
The transformative and dialogic elements required me to be engaged in the process
of attitude change, emancipation and collaboration. This form of research enabled me not
only to attempt to understand but also change social reality (Lather, 1992) and fitted well
into the idea of transformation that is at the heart of my research in drama education and life
skills enhancement. My aim was not to correct misperceptions on the part of the students.
Rather, it was to empower the children with critical faculties, so they could understand the
social reality they are embedded in, and become capable of transforming that reality. The
modification of the research paradigm endorsed my views that drama is centrally concerned
with transformation and is uniquely positioned to deal with life skills learning (Chapter 4,
p.82).
Crucially, transformational learning should not be regarded as the province of
adulthood or adult education alone. The transformative element in my research worked on
two levels; one in the childrens learning and at the second level in my learning.
The use of interpersonal power of dialectics enabled the students to take control of
the class situation through their dramatic enactments and during reflection time. It enabled
the power structure, of the position of the teacher and students that operates within the class
to be negotiated. The collaborative, conversational nature of drama that facilitates learning
and inquiry and allows personal transformation to take place through the medium of art
came into the forefront. In Cycle 2, the students began to construct dramatic narrations from
their personal experience and imagination; this was the first shift towards a more dialectical
research paradigm. The students did not merely voice their thoughts but were in a speaking
position through the narrative mode. Simultaneously, the research project entered a
transformatory mode as they began to learn about emotions and progressed to
understanding self and empathy.
Transformative elements of my research enabled me to understand that reality is
neither objective as asserted by positivism nor subjective as maintained by interpretivism,
but a complex combination of both perspectives. The transformative mode in my practice
occurred through objective and subjective reframing. Objective reframing emerged as I
critically reflected on the ideas and beliefs of the students as we experienced
42
problemsolving task, during narrations and role play; subjective reframing occurred as I
critically reflected on my own assumptions.
Transformations may be sudden and dramatic, which Mezirow (2000) calls epochal.
Critical incidents and critical events the children and I experienced during the research are
examples of sudden and dramatic transformation. Gradual or incremental transformation
occurred throughout the research in slow steps as the life skills education progressed from
understanding emotions to understanding self.
However, both kinds of transformation are neither a simple nor a smooth process of
self-actualisation but are ridden with elements of conflict, self-doubt and anxiety. This is
because genuine transformational learning is not merely a change in behavioural repertoire
or an increase in the fund of knowledge (Kegan, 2000) but is always to some extent an
epistemological change. Transformational theory reveals it is not so much what happens to
people but how they interpret and explain what happens that determines their actions, their
hopes, their contentment, emotional well being and their performance (Mezirow, 1991: p.
xiii). I understand an act of learning can be called transformative only if it involves a
fundamental questioning or reordering of how one thinks or acts.... (Brookfield, 2000: p.
139), this was at the heart of my life skills educational programme (Chapter 4, p.83-4) by
which I hoped to enable the students to reflect on complex life situations and human
intricacies and thereby facilitate the augmentation of pro-social behaviour.
Post Script
Writing my methodology about my ontological and epistemological positions helped
me gain clarity. Solitary reflection, suggests Wells (1994), definitely leads to a growth of
understanding, however, writing ones thoughts makes it possible to re-visit and review
them. When writing is undertaken to communicate one's understanding to others, even more
benefit accrues (p.31). For, when one is writing to communicate ideas one has to make a
special effort to be very clear. Consequently, one is often forced to rethink and revise (p.
31).
At the same time, new knowledge can be generated through dialogue with others,
who are equally interested in the process of learning (McNiff, 2002). Here in lays the
43
important role played by the outsider within the research, which include my supervisors,
critical friends and validation group. The dialogic relationship I maintained with them
enabled me to look critically at research and problematise it. My supervisors and critical
friends objectively observed me in action and introduced an insider-outsider dialogue
(Bigger, personal communication) and thus enabled me to refine my work.
Through reflective conversations with my supervisors I was able to achieve what I
believe was sophistication of understanding of the process of action research. Although my
entry into research was to inform practice and not theory, I am now ready to make my
intuitive and tacit knowledge explicit and explain the theoretical aspect of my research.
Action research is about process, attitudes, quality, expression, context, intrinsic,
extrinsic and aesthetic learning. I now understand that action research is a form of research
wherein the researcher actively takes part in the actions and is a form of practitioner
research. Even so, action research requires a comprehensive amount of pre-understanding
of the practice that is being researched. It encompasses looking intently to our experiences,
relating to our feelings and attending to our theories in use (Smith, 2001).
The practitioner allows himself to experience surprise, puzzlement, or
confusion in a situation which he finds uncertain or unique. He reflects on
the phenomenon before him, and on the prior understandings, which have
been implicit in his behaviour. He carries out an experiment which serves to
generate both a new understanding of the phenomenon and a change in the
situation. (Schon, 1983: p.68)
The procedure usually associated with action research is a cyclical process of stages
as follows: action, observation and reflection on action, evaluation, planning for further
action and back to action and observation (Kemmis and McTaggart, 1988). Action research
is fundamentally about change and is grounded in development and innovation to improve
professional practice. In this thesis I desire to show how I involved myself in a qualitative
action research project to enhance life skills in children with SpLD and improve my
practice. The improvement initiative has a wider meaning than just one teacher improving
her teaching, a wider meaning than ten children with enhanced life skills. It has a wider
meaning than an improved method of teaching life skills using drama as a method. I believe
my thesis goes further than all this. I have carried out an inquiry that characterises good
44
teaching, [it] is an instrument for better practice, rather than an end in itself (Schwab,
1969: p. 24). By that I mean that I have researched the process of teaching and learning and
at the same time by doing so I can try to persuade the larger community to change. Action
research is one way to encourage social change (McNiff, 2002).
An action research process consists of two interlinked cycles because it has dual aims
(O'Brien, 2001): improvement in practice and contribution to theory to the body of
knowledge. Thus in an action research project there are two action research cycles operating
concurrently. One is the cycle of planning, taking action and evaluating in relation to the
project or the core action research cycle (Zuber-Skerritt and Perry, 2002). The second is a
reflection cycle, which is an action research cycle about the action research cycle or the
thesis action research cycle (Zuber-Skerritt and Perry, 2002). This is learning about
learning, meta-learning. It is the dynamic of this reflection on reflection that enables action
research to be more than everyday problem solving as it aims to generate new knowledge
and insights according to the research question. This supports Elliotts (1991) claim that
action research theories generated are validated through practice enabling a holistic
understanding of the practice. It also establishes the importance of the role played by
reflection in action research.
It is an interactive and democratic form of research done by maintaining a dialogic
relationship with the participants who collaborate in the research process. Further, critical
reflection enabled me to maintain a dialogic relationship with literature, critical friends and
the validation group.
Concurrently, action research requires an understanding of the ethical framework
and values. The purpose of action research is not simply to describe, interpret, analyse
and theorise - the stuff of traditional research - but to act in and on a situation to make
things better than they were (Altrichter, Posch and Somekh, 1993: p.4). Seeing the values I
hold being negated in my practice and my attempt to change the situation and try to
improve it is the reason for my taking up this research project.
Action research resists closure; each ending is a new beginning (McNiff, 2002).
Being a process of acting, observing, interpreting, planning, one is never sure of the
outcome suggests the emergent nature of action research (Patton, 1990; Taylor, 1996). It is
not possible to finalise research strategies before data collection has begun, thus action
research can include all types of data gathering methods. In action research one should be
45
cautious of facts and the illusion that all is stated (Bryant, 1996), as most importantly in
action research there is always more to be said (p.118).
'We shall not cease from exploration And
the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time...'
(Quartet No. 4: Little Gidding, Eliot, 1968)
Section 2
Selection of the research site
The selection of the research site was tricky as there are only a handful of
mainstream schools in Mumbai with special need centres. There are 1400 schools in
Mumbai including municipal schools and private schools, however less than 1% has
counsellors and special educators attached to the institutes (Dastur, 2005).
I searched for a school that would appreciate the framework of drama for life skill
enhancement and a school principal who would empathise with my research endeavour. I
had to find a 'gatekeeper' who was friendly and co-operative. I believe that a friendly and
co-operative gatekeeper can help shape the development of research (Hammersley and
Atkinson, 1983: p.73).
After telephoning the Maharastra Dyslexia Association and a few educational
psychologists I selected a school which seemed like a potential research site. This school
46
had a human resource development (HRD) department. I contacted them via the telephone
and was immediately given an appointment to meet the resource co-ordinator and the
Principal.
The Principal of this school shared my vision of the importance of life skill
education for the school going children and could relate to my research perspective. I was
excited, as not only was the school keen to include me as a teacher in their school but they
also promised to extend their full co-operation to see the research to the end.
Organisation of data collection: time and length of the drama class

As a drama teacher I taught ten children who were studying in the fourth standard
(n=5) and fifth standard (n=5) for twentytwo months. The drama sessions were generally
an hour long and held on Saturday. However, I had to maintain a flexible schedule given
that during the examination time, sports days and school trips the students could not attend
the drama classes. To make up for the lost time, I designed some of the classes in a
workshop format during the Diwali, and summer holidays and met the children
consecutively for three or four days. These particular classes were held for three hours each,
a longer period compared to the normal format of one-hour classes.
Ethical issues in data collection

From the inception of this research I was extremely particular to carry out an ethical
inquiry and therefore gave serious thought to all ethical aspects this study would entail. As
teacher-researchers, my primary responsibility was to my students. All the activities in this
research fall within the everyday decision-making of a drama teacher and belonged to the
process of good teaching. At no times were the students at any psychological or physical
risk.
An action research is considered ethical if research design, interpretation
and practical development produced by it have been negotiated with all
parties directly concerned with the situation under research
(Altrichter, 1992: p. 48)
At the onset I discussed my research, ethical issues and the principles guiding my work with
47
the Principal and the resource co-ordinator of the HRD department of the school and gained
their approval.
I hold the view that the participants and subsequent others in a research should be
enlightened with the way the observations are going to be recorded, the methods of data
collection and analyses and the way it is going to be presented (Winter, 1996). I therefore
explained each aspect of my research in detail to the parents and class teachers in a meeting,
which was also attended by the Principal, the Resource Coordinator and the
SENCO.
I suspected that most of the parents would be unaware of drama-in-education and
teacher-research. Therefore I explained my methods of teaching and researching and the
importance of life-skills to them. I additionally discussed issues concerning confidentiality
and protection of anonymity of students, teachers and parents.
Before I met the children, I met the parents of each child individually. In the second
meeting with the parents I reiterated my discussion on ethical issues such as anonymity and
assured them of confidentiality. As participation in the class and research was voluntary the
parents were given an opportunity to withdraw. Additionally, I confirmed autonomy by
allowing them to decline to answer any questions they felt were intrusive, violated their
privacy or were sensitive in nature (David, Edwards and Alldred, 2001). Since all the
students were legally under-aged, I obtained formal consent from their parents.
Concerning the most important actors in the research the students, I discussed the
concept of researching and life skills education in the first class (Chapter 5, p161-2.). My
educational values corroborate negotiated learning and dialogic education (Freire, 1970:
p.74) thus the children were given as much choice as possible about how and in what way
they chose to participate personally in the classes (Thomas and OKane, 1998; e.g. Chapter
5, p.106). Gaining their consent was not a single event but a continual process at each stage
of their involvement (e.g. Chapter 7, p.222) Thus I believe their choices were free from any
kind of coercion of parent, school or me.
Names
48
All the children in the study have been given pseudonyms (Appendix 1). From the
beginning of the research to protect their anonymity, I had worked with codes; Child-1,
Child-2, which, with the passage of time became C-1, C-2. However, every time I read my
transcripts, journal or analytical notes, I experienced a sense of distance and of
contradiction. This was because I had used codes like C-1, C-2 to name children who were
real. I reflected on the idea that if as a teacher and the writer of this text, I could not see
the children in my writing how would my readers see them?
I went back to my journal and re-read the initial description I had sketched of them.
I had to think of a way to name the children and at the same time protect their anonymity,
besides that I did not want to name the children just on a whim.
In a journal entry (Appendix 2, p.2) I had described Child-2 like the wind. Thus I
named Child-2 Samir, which means wind in Hindi. Following the description of Child-9
from a journal entry of Class 4 -2.2.2002 (Appendix 3,p. 12-3) I named Child-9 Sarla,
which means uncomplicated. By naming the children from my vignettes, I believe I have
retained their identity and at the same time I have maintained confidentiality.
Data Collection
The following data collection techniques have been used in this research I name them in
order of their appearance not importance: tape-recording of interviews and lessons,
photographs, journal entries, questionnaires and interviews.
Tape recording
All the recording methods used for data collections like audio taping and
photographing were highly visible and became a part of my classroom routine. The students
were aware that I taped the class and often asked me to rewind so they could hear what they
said.
The tape recorder proved to be important tool in my research (Patton, 1990). During
the semi-structured interviews with the parents, class teachers and SENCO, it allowed me
the luxury of taking in volumes of information, while fully participating in the discussion. I
49
even taped all my drama classes, which facilitated gathering of accurate data and offered an
effective starting point for further investigation (Hopkins, 1985).
One of the limitations of audiotaping is that it does not record non-verbal cues, such
as facial expressions and body language. However, I overcame that difficulty by writing my
impressions in the journal and in the margin of transcripts. As far as possible, I transcribed
the tapes immediately so as to not forget anything. Moreover I transcribed the original
grammar, vocal pattern, broken phases repeated words, pauses and responses to facilitate
effective analysis (Saldana with Wright, 1996).
As a general rule, after transcribing the recordings I always rechecked by listening
to the tape again to make sure I had made a correct transcription. This was a strategy
adopted to overcome transcription errors and to maintain a high degree of accuracy in the
transcription process (Patton, 1990; Easton, McComish and Greenberg, 2000).
The use of recording the children served another purpose besides being an
aidememoir. The children enjoyed listening to their own voice and consequently the
taperecorder served the purpose of a teaching tool. Often during the class I taped their
speech and replayed it to enable them to hear themselves. This is particularly useful when
concepts and ideas are difficult to understand. My students were not experienced listeners
and could not hear their own speech. When they heard the recordings they realised that
they mumbled while speaking and their speech was sometimes unclear. Thus they learnt to
speak clearer and vocalize with more confidence after hearing themselves.
Photographs
Photographs substitute as illustrations suggests Walker (1994). However, the power
of photographs to engage thought and extend imagination is often neglected. Through the
use of photographs we can demonstrate and discover relationships (Prosser, 1998). The
tangible details presented by photographs can also communicate feelings and emotions that
occur during our teaching and during our interaction with the students and the interaction
between the students themselves.
Researcher generated images are widely used as visual records or as a visual
diary (Prosser, 1998, p. 116). However, I wanted to move beyond that, as I believe
50
photographs had the ability to perform a more multifaceted role in my research.

Photographs have been used in this research to provide complex information about the
students and about my teaching, as evidence to validate my research data, to stimulate
discussions, to encourage participation in reflective thinking and as an aide-memoir.
As events in the class would be ambiguous to someone outside the field of teaching
or researching I photographed my class activities myself, except when the students
themselves photographed the class. Firstly, a photograph taken by an outsider may or may
not have anything to do with the original meaning of the event in class. Secondly, an
outsider may or may not be attuned to the comfort level displayed by the subjects.
Thirdly, the childrens behaviour may alter in the presence of an outsider.
The third point was validated in the fourth class (2.2.2002) when I had invited the
SENCO to tea with the class, the children stopped working. This pattern was often repeated
when their school teachers at different times walked into the class to watch the proceedings.
The children often just stopped whatever they were doing and only continued when the
person in question had left the room.
I have used, what I think is a conservative approach to photography, in that I used a
simple, flashlight camera with fixed lens allowing only wide angle and close-up shots.
There are two reasons for using such a simple approach.
The choice of the types of supplies and equipment can make a difference to the view
of the world a photograph can offer (Prosser, 1998). As the direct use of natural light was
not always possible in the class I used a flashlight. However the use of any artificial light
besides the use of the flashlight would have become cumbersome and unfeasible. More
importantly I did not want to alter the images recorded and wanted to view them as they
were. To me it was important that my research photographs have a ring of truth. This is
the same reason I did not use extra lens, filters or different angles while photographing the
children
As a teacher-researcher I did not want complicated instruments to take me away
from my teaching. Even though I tried to balance my roles as a teacher and a researcher, the
teacher always took the priority and I can honestly say there was never a moment when I
held up the class to collect visual data (e.g. Appendix 2, p.3). Although initially the act of
51
photographing did disrupt the class, gradually they accepted the act of photographing as a
classroom feature. Subsequently the process of photographing stopped disrupting the class.
Commonly photographs are used to provide a record that is necessarily selective
but nevertheless objective (Walker, 1994, p.79). The implication that photographs can be
objective played a critical role in my research. For example, the school had a problem with
a students, Mukul, attendance in the new academic year 2002-03. His attendance in Cycle
1 was regular; it was only in Cycle 2, which took place in the first three months of the new
academic year that he had become extremely irregular. The school authority took up the
matter of attendance with Mukuls parents. His mother revealed that Mukul avoided
attending the class as his peers often teased him as he had been detained in the fifth grade.
Mukul probably meant normal school class and not the drama class. However, his mother
used it as an excuse for his lack of attendance in the drama class.
Observation of the childrens behaviour as a group and their behaviour with others
in the class was an important part of my research design. Thus I was surprised by the
discrepancy between the parents explanation for her childs irregularity, his behaviour in
class and what he said about his peers behaviour towards him. After deliberately
scrutinising all the photographs of the previous classes I noticed that in all the photographs
of Mukul he was usually in a group, smiling happily and cheerfully involved in the class
activity. Using these photographs I could present the school Principal and the parents with
concrete evidence that the child was actually enjoying the drama class.
I think unlike journals and diaries that are regarded as personal and private
documents and could have subjective views, which are rarely shared with others, visual data
like photographs are easy to share (Kanstrup, 2002). After a discussion with the SENCO
and the school resource coordinator, the school determined that it was his schoolmates,
during regular school time that teased him as he was detained, and that was one of the
reasons he avoided school.
Photographs are capable of generating surprise as they are not just about the thing
they portray but also about the way in which we make sense of them. The way the camera
sees is sometimes different from the way we see. The images formed aid as an instrument
for recovery of meaning. They not only offer a richer, new way of telling (Berger and
Mohr, 1982), but also are capable of recording and retaining the distinctive posture,
52
expression and demeanour of the people portrayed (Wiedel, 1995: p. 89-90). The asset of
photographs is in its potential of facilitating re-reading. They slow down (Fasoli, 2003)
activity and provide unchanging moments that are visible for repeated reflection.
Photographs were also used in this research as teaching tools. Just as the children
heard their recorded voices, they also saw their images as photographs. These images were
especially useful as a stimulus for discussions and reflections. For example when Manni,
Chandani and Sarla did a role-play with their backs to the class, they not only whispered all
through but also huddled in the corner (Chapter 5, p.135). Their play made no sense to the
rest of the students. In the following class when I showed the children the photographs, the
three girls could understand what their play looked like from our point of view.
Photographs as data belong to the specific social system, an argument, and a way of
explaining words (Berger and Mohr, 1982) as photographs potentially allow for multi-level
interpretation at a distance (Prosser, 1998: p. 11). In this manner the photographs can work
with the text to enlarge each other (Prosser, 2000: p.7) and additionally enhance the
trustworthiness of the research findings.
Journal entries
From the beginning I was meticulous in compiling and updating my research
journal. There were some days when immediately after a class was over, I sat in my car and
wrote my thoughts. I did this to document my thoughts about an incident (reflectiononaction) when they were fresh in my mind. Later, when I gained the childrens confidence
I even audio-taped my thoughts during class hours. They often saw me talk into the tape and
ignored me and continued with the role-play they were involved in.
These acts of immediately recording and writing journal entries proved to be
invaluable to my later analysis as these reflections facilitated in transporting me back to the
class in question, they helped me to relive my class.
As my research progressed my journal entries became less formal and were not
limited to a designated diary but were written on scraps of paper, the book I was reading at
that moment and on hotel stationery when on tours. These notes were filed and later
53
incorporated into my journal. I also drew sketches of the children when I could not
photograph them.
Additionally the children kept diaries to record their learning (discussed in detail in
Chapter 6, p.181). These diaries were eighty page notebooks, which I had bought for them.
These diaries where they wrote down names of emotions as they learnt, served as an
aidememoir to the children and later helped me in my assessment.
Questionnaires
I made the use of questionnaires, students self-assessment sheets and work sheets in
my research. Even though they were given different names they serve the same purpose,
that of self-administered questionnaires in that they are a formulated series of questions to
be filled by the respondent.
Questionnaires and interviews were used in my research to enable problem setting.
Problem setting suggests Schon (1983, p.40) is a process by which we define the
decisions to be made, ends to be achieved and the means which may be chosen. Setting the
problem enabled me to compose my plan of action.
Questionnaires, in their search for objectivity are pre-structured according to an
agenda of interests closer to that of the researcher than the researched (Schostak, 2003).
This view is in sync with my first set of questionnaires. My interest was in getting to know
the children from the parents and the teachers point of view, to learn more about their
behaviour at home and in school.
Given that teachers are used to doing worksheets and are able to follow the intricacies of
the language without much help I opted to use a multiple-choice questionnaire
(Appendix 6). This questionnaire was based on the Bristol Social Adjustment Guide (Stott,
1987).
The teachers opined that the questionnaire was easy to do as it captured a range of
responses and therefore gave a fair amount of choices in behaviour patterns. It also
facilitated identifying of the exact behaviour in the child. Besides all this, the questionnaire
was quick and easy to answer, as they did not have to struggle for words. Additionally, the
54
Principal and the resource room supervisor studied the questionnaire and thought it was
effective as it covered a wide range of issues. Since a multiple-choice questionnaire seldom
gives more than crude statistics (Cohen, Manion, and Morrison, 2000) and keeping in mind
the respondents could interpret these words differently in their own context, I explained the
questionnaire thoroughly and gave the teachers an option of writing about behaviour
patterns that were not listed in the sheet
The parents questionnaire (Appendix 7) was designed on the behavioural
observation sheets used by the special education school where I studied for my diploma.
I specially designed worksheets for the children to complete (Childrens Worksheet
Appendix 8). These worksheets initiated the children into the process of self-expression.
Five sheets comprised the package: My Friend, My Teacher, My Mother, My Father, and
My Brother/ Sister. These worksheets helped me to gain knowledge of their world as they
see it.
These worksheets had a space at the bottom for the children to draw. The drawings
helped me to gain a better understanding of the children by studying their drawings
(Yamamoto, 1972). Thinking and art are closely connected (Vygotsky, 1971) and visual art
is a source of visual thinking suggests Arnheim (1969). I think children who are visual
learners may be able to express themselves more deeply in drawings (Gardner, 1983).
Interviews
Cannell and Kahn (1968) define a research interview as a conversation between two
people for the specific purpose of obtaining research-relevant information. A data collection
technique such as interviewing can result in enormous amounts of information being
collected by questioning people directly. Interviews are an important part of any action
research project as they provide the opportunity for the researcher to investigate further, to
solve problems and to gather data which could not have been obtained in other ways
(Cunningham, 1993: Patton, 2001).
I have used structured, semi-structured interviews and un-structured interviews
throughout my research. A structured interview is highly standardised and formalised
(Robson, 2002). The interviewer has a list of questions and is used when the same
55
information is required of each subject. Semi-structured interviews are also called a guided
interview (Robson, 2002). Although the interviewer has a list of themes or questions that
are to be covered, semi-structured interviews allow the respondents considerable freedom in
their responses. The aim of an unstructured interview is for respondents to describe their
observation of the situation, without any set questions or interview schedules. The
interviewee is allowed to inform, opine and express beliefs he/she wishes with minimal
prompting from the interviewer.
Patton (2001) suggests that interviews may have structured and un-structured
sections. The first parent-interview had a structured and a semi-structured portion.
However, it was more in common with a structured interview in that the same sets of
questions are given in the same order to each respondent and the same information was
required of each subject
The subsequent interviews with the parents took the form of semi-structured
interviews and played a significant role in my research. The reason for this is even though
their contents were organised in advance they were open enough to allow freedom of
modification as the interview preceded.
The SENCO interview was in the form of an unstructured interview. The aim of the
unstructured interview is for respondent to describe his/her perceptions of the world
(Patton, 2001; Robson, 2002) The interview itself normally takes the form of a conversation
and is often undertaken when the research is in an area where little is known about the
subject as it enables the researcher to develop an overall picture of the subject (Robson,
2002).
To increase the credibility of the interview schedule, questionnaires and childrens
worksheets, my validation group, who are experts in the field of psychology and psychiatry
in India, reviewed them and their suggestions were applied.
The primary advantage of structured interviews is that they are easy to administer
and analyse. There are, however, negative aspects to using structured interviews such as
important areas can be neglected and/or responses cannot be probed. Even though the
second page of the Parents questionnaire (Appendix 7) had a simple yes/no format I
encouraged the interviewees to respond in their own way without being restricted by a
56
yes/no answer. This allowed the parents the opportunity to explain their responses in detail.
After I covered all the questions I asked the parents if there were any topics they wanted to
discuss besides whatever we had already talked about.
Secondly, if the respondents feel they are being compelled to answer a question they
may not respond honestly. Before starting the interview I had informed the parents that they
could decline to discuss any issues that were uncomfortable. Additionally, as I felt the act of
tape-recording might inhibit the interviewee and spoil the atmosphere or that they may
become embarrassed at being tape-recorded (Lincoln and Guba, 1985; Edwards, 1994) I did
not use the audio tape-recorder to tape the first meeting with the parents.
However, I found listening to them, observing them, taking down notes and filling in
the questionnaire simultaneously a difficult task and decided that I would definitely obtain
their permission and tape future interviews. Hence all the subsequent interviews, even
informal conversations were taped, thus enhancing the effectiveness and accuracy of my
data.
What does a researcher do when she is asked to take the seat of the respondent? In
Class 45-16.8.2003 (Chapter 5, p.161) my student, Sarla wanted to interview me. I was a bit
taken back by her request. I think in situations like this, if the researcher is alert and can use
her skill on the spot (reflection-in-action) the direction of the research can change. The
'artistry' of reflective practice according to Schon (1983, p. 50) refers to the close link
between expert action and understanding, which occurs whenever we deal sensitively and
effectively with 'situations of uncertainty, instability, uniqueness, and value conflicts'.
As a piece of data, this interview was extremely illuminating because when I
responded to my students questions I learnt how they saw their drama teacher and their
drama class. Moreover, I learnt about how they saw the class as a research and its role in
not only their learning but also my learning. Importantly, reflection-in-action during this
interview and the analysis of the transcript enabled me to change the focus of my study.
Data analysis
57
Miles and Huberman (1994) point out, the strengths of qualitative data rest very
centrally on the competence with which their analysis is carried out (p.10). In my research
data collection and analysis processes was concurrent (Glaser and Strauss, 1967). Seidels
(1998) model explains the basic process of qualitative data analysis. The model consists of
3 parts that are interlinked and cyclical: Noticing, Collecting, and Thinking about
interesting things. For example new analytic steps inform the process of additional data
collection and new data further inform the analytic processes.
I believe a good qualitative analysis often requires access to a full range of
strategies of both inductive and deductive reasoning processes (Schwandt, 1997). Inductive
reasoning uses the data to generate ideas, whereas deductive reasoning begins with the idea
and uses the data to confirm or negate the idea.
Deductive reasoning can be seen, for example, in the analysis of emotional
understanding where I began with a theoretical grounding and took directions from explicit
study questions and used a predetermined set of steps to confirm learning or the lack of it.
Analysis occurred as an explicit step in conceptually interpreting the data set as a whole,
using specific analytic strategies to transform the raw data into a new and coherent picture
of the phenomena being studied (Schwandt, 1997).
Thematic or pattern analysis has been a natural and frequently used methodology for
organizing raw data of interview contexts in a variety of disciplines such as educational
research. My data such as the interviews, questionnaires, self-assessment sheets, and
creativity scales were analysed using thematic analysis.
Analysis begins with the identification of the themes emerging from the raw data, a
process sometimes referred to as open coding (Strauss and Corbin, 1990). During open
coding, the researcher must identify and tentatively name the conceptual categories into
which the phenomena observed would be grouped. These categories, created when a
researcher groups or clusters the data, become the basis for the organization and
conceptualisation of that data suggests Dey (1993). Categorizing is therefore a crucial
element in the process of analysis (Dey, 1993: p119) but how categories are defined ... is
an art Little is written about it (Krippendorff, 1980: p.76).
58
The conceptual categories I was looking for in Cycle 1 were defined by the
secondary characteristics of a child with SpLD, as my lesson plans had to be designed to
address the social behavioural problems a child with SpLD may face. I studied and
restudied the raw data to develop detailed knowledge of the children. From the list of
tentative categories I grouped the data. I selected verbatim narrative to link raw data to
categories and wrote theme statements for each participant and integrated findings about
each child to make character sketches of the children (Appendix 2-5). The first character
sketches also served as an indication of the pre-learning level of the children. Besides
knowing each child as a separate entity I had to understand the group as a whole, which I
did by evaluating the group as one unit (Table 7, Chapter 5, p.120). I did this by comparing
the commonalities and differences in the students from the collected data. I did so as I
wished to address the needs of the individual student and at the same time I wished to see
the students as a group to design an effective life skills enhancement module.
Drama is about the meaningful experiences of the actors and their reflections on
them. Discerning and locating individual voices of the students in the class transcripts, as
opposed to linking them, helped maintain differences between the children. Additionally the
transcript of all the drama classes cannot always be cut up or aggregated. These processes
shift data analysis away from traditional coding, which implies fitting a person into a preexisting set of categories. Importantly, I was interested in explaining how something
operates (explanation) and why it operates in the manner that it does
(interpretation). As I drew on such data, inductive reasoning enabled me to generate ideas.
Doucet and Mauthner (2001, electronic source without page numbers) suggest that
the foremost aim of data analysis is to learn from and about the data; to learn something
new about a question by listening to other people. As I gathered data of my students
experiences in the classroom, I became aware of the unexpected. If we do not listen to our
respondents, data analysis risks simply confirming what we already know (Chenail, 1992).
This defeats the point of doing a study in the first place because then in no way has the
respondent changed our view or understanding.
Patchwork text
59
I believe that the data, which have been painfully collected, should "be the
star in the relationship. By this I mean the main focus in qualitative
research is the data itself, in all its richness, breadth, and depth. When all is
said and done, the "quality in a qualitative research project is based upon
how well you have done at collecting quality data. So, it only seems natural
that when it comes time to present "the fruits of your labour, you should
make
every
effort
to
feature
the
data
in
your
presentations.
(Chenail, 1995, electronic source without page numbers)

The varied perspectives of my data and the multidimensionality of my research
required an imaginative form of writing. By imagination Winter Buck, and Sobiechowska
(1999) refer to the creative ability to shape experience into artistic form (p.1), suggesting
that it should play an important role in professional learning and writing.
A patchwork text is the tool I have used to re-present my star (Chenail, 1995).
Each piece of data, analysis of that data and the writing of it and as well each chapter make
a point on its own and also contribute to the entire research, which is similar to the concept
of a patchwork (Winter, Buck, and Sobiechowska, 1999).
The overall fabric of a crazy patchwork (Parker, 1991, p.34) is often planned from
the beginning and has segments, which usually have a shape and texture of their own. I
have used the crazy patchwork method in a similar fashion and incorporated stories, my
personal experiences of the past and during the research, dialogues, quotations, transcripts,
poems, photographs and also drawings to make up one complete unit.
The plan of constructing a patchwork text lends itself to being built up over a period
of time (Winter et al, 1999). This enabled me to draw on the all my writings from the
beginning of my research. The circular process of writing my reflections and in turn
reflecting on my writing, re-reading and understanding my reflections and re-writing it
again helped me to gain a deeper understanding of my work which ultimately facilitated my
growth as a teacher, a writer and a researcher.
In the process of my growth as a teacher and my gain in confidence as a writer I
realised my work was centred round my students. The voices of my students reverberated
loudly in my mind, sometimes so loudly that I felt the need to express their voices over
60
mine. As patchwork is a multi-voiced text (Winter et al, 1999) the stories in this thesis are
also stories told by the other participants. I am just a medium through which their stories are
produced as text.
The question whether the stories in this research are fictional needs to be answered
at this point. The term fiction is sourced from the Latin word fingere (Winter et al, 1999),
which means to shape or to mould. Considering this I could look at the word fiction with a
different perspective. The emphasis of my writing sifted from is this narrative true? to,
Is this narrative shaped and moulded in such a way that it is trustworthy? (Winter,
2002: p.145). The researcher suggests Whitehead (1989), must have the intention to be
truthful and that suggests authenticity.
All the stories in this research are based on fact in that they were shaped from
experiences and stories told during the class hours or from my experiences. I think that the
reliability of my narratives should not be judged by objective criteria but should be judged
by the way in which they appear authentic and trustworthy and my motives for using them.
Debating about truth and fact Lee (in Rolfe, 2002: p.100) asks of truth, of fact, often raised
about autobiography. If dates are wrong, can the book still be true? If facts err, can feelings
be false?
Narratives
A decision to cut up the transcripts was a difficult moment in my research. After
spending so much time and energy with my students and my teaching and thus collecting
volumes of data it was becoming impossible to, on one hand use all of it and on the other to
discard it. Each tiny bit of lived data and data analysis was extremely important to me. I
therefore had to a find a method of representing as much data as I could in my research.
In the initial stage of writing I proceeded to break off the transcripts, cutting and
assembling like film editors do (Winter, 1999) as it came naturally to me considering my
background in performing arts, films and television. Often in the middle of my cut I would
see a close-up. It was when I made many jump cuts in the direction of Nihar and when
close-ups of Sarla, Nihar, Lali and Chandani begged to be used that I fell back to using
narratives.
61
Van Manen (1977) supported the researcher who wrote his/her report like an author
who writes from the midst of life experience where meaning resonated and reverberated
with reflective being. All my stories are not autobiographies, biographies or personal
accounts; some are the combination of fact and fiction. Polkinhorne (1997) suggests that
by changing their voice to storytellers, researchers will also change the way in which the
voice of their subjects or participants can be heard (p. 3). The ingenuousness of narrative
writing helped me provide an insight to my work, which stretches beyond the reach of a
scientific account (Tierney, 1997).
Narrative is a device that has been described as a think scene by Fitzgerald and
Noblit (1999, p.175) through which they suggest researchers show, not tell their data.
Furthermore narrative could be developed to understand and communicate ones practice
and/or reflect upon it (Evans, 1998; Bleakley, 2000).
In narrating both the incidents one on 9.11.2001(Chapter 4, p.73), and the second in
Summer 2002 (Chapter 8, p.232) I have experimented with autobiography. They were well
remembered events (Clandinin, 1992; Carter, 1993) and had made a tremendous impact on
my thinking and development. Writing the memoirs with a documentary approach allowed
me to explore my personal history and my values (Connelly and Clandinin, 1988). They
were initially written as journal entries as I sought to capture my thoughts and feelings and
record them at the time they happened. In addition to the explicit meaning of both the
stories, 9.11.2001, New York, and Summer 2002, I have tried to conform the importance
of reflection-on-experiences in an action researchers life.
These narratives are my rendezvous with meta-thinking or thinking about thinking,
they include not only the description of actions and events but also the actors reasoning and
motives (Sarbin, 1986). Personal writing suggests Chambers (2004) facilitates reflection
and learning (also see Johnson, 2001); it helps the writer to understand themselves and
others. It is a device that enhances qualitative research by opening new avenues of
thought (Taggart and Wilson, 1998: p. 164). Clandinin (1992) talked of the storied nature
of our lives and the sense we make of them through reflection on the stories.
The stories: Two stories and Nihar (p.253), Nihars story (p.268), A flicker of
colour (p.214) and In which Sarla becomes the magician (p.230) are multi-voiced texts
and were constructed around the extensive data I had collected on audiotapes during class
62
hours. In these stories I have tried to show the development of the children over time in a
narrative. Ely, Anzul, Friedman, Garner, and Steinmetz (1991) advise:
your job is to create a text in which the person or persons you learn about
come to life. This means that you have a tremendous responsibility to be true
to their meanings. The written presentation is of crucial importance: in a
deep sense, what one writes is what happened and what was learned. (p.67)
Reflection on practice through the medium of a creative form of writing has been
established (Winter et al, 1999; Bolton, 1999a). Creative writing suggests Bleakley (2000)
is more compelling than descriptive or functional writing. It offers a way of assessing tacit
knowledge and a range of expressions that are excluded in a report informed by numerical
rendering of human experience (Taylor, 1996: p.39). Stories, recommends Carter (1993)
are a way:
of capturing the complexity, specificity, and interconnectedness of the
phenomenon with which we deal and, thus, redress{ed} the deficiencies of
the traditional atomistic and positivistic approaches in which teaching was
decomposed into discrete variables and indicators of effectiveness (p. 6).
Through my narratives I have tried to re-create my classroom, my students, my
lessons and additionally my learning. I hope the energy of my classroom will reverberate
through out my work and the excitement my students and I experienced during the research
will also be experienced in the reading of it. All through the research I have tried to write in
a language that would be comprehensible to teachers with the hope that they would be able
to understand my experience better. At the same time I have tried to strike a balance and not
alienate my readers who are researchers or psychologists.
63

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review our current practice,

identify an aspect we want to improve,

imagine a way forward,

try it out, and

take stock of what happens.

monitor what we do,

evaluate the modified action,

In the first stage understanding of a problem is developed and plans are

Then the intervention or action is carried out.

During and after intervention, observations are collected in various forms.

Data is reflected on and revisions are made on the initial plan.

I was concerned about the way I taught.

I was interested in identifying the potential of drama as an innovative method to teach

Define my professional concern.

Set my values in relation with my concern.

Remember that action research is a learning process.

Organize my work in series of spirals of action and reflection.

Undertake my research rigorously and systematically.

Make it a visible process.

Teachers are not trained to use quantitative checklists used by psychologists.

Statistics are extraneous to drama-in-education.

The children I was teaching were weak in English.

9/10 children had slow speech and language development.

(Green, 1999: p. 107)

everyones point of view will be taken as a contribution to resources for understanding;

theoretical understanding and transformation, in the ensuing section Living educational

It is reflection-ON-reflection-in-action (Schon, 1987: p. 4) that is an intellectual

Why was the incident exceptional?

What made it noteworthy?

What did we learn from it?

How could we have dealt with the situation differently?

True knowledge is dialectical and is based on interplay of question and answers

I am deeply critical of anti-dialogical banking education (Freire, 1970: p.74), which is

Without dialogue there is no communication and without communication, there can be no

Living educational theory

Importantly, I believe the needs of my real students cannot be resolved purely by

When the researcher asks questions: How do I improve my practice? How do I

The emergent paradigm of my research

The process of understanding, learning, and teaching educational drama cannot be

How can I improve my practice?

Organisation of data collection: time and length of the drama class

Ethical issues in data collection

photographs had the ability to perform a more multifaceted role in my research.

(Chenail, 1995, electronic source without page numbers)

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