In 2003, I began a longitudinal study into the purpose of education. The process of my investigation included getting involved in new innovations as they were introduced to our school board. As I looked deeper into the purpose of schooling I discovered some startling things about how and why systems of education, through the apparatus of…

This paper explores how a youth-adult team's partnership shaped their participatory action research (PAR) on youth engagement in educational change. Findings revealed that their experiences of partnership shaped their research by: 1) enhancing their relations with participants; 2) improving their capacity to navigate research complexities; 3)…

Participatory action research (PAR) lacks concerted attention to what makes youth-adult teams feel like genuine partners. This paper explores our youth-adult PAR team's experience of what made us feel like partners during our five-year study of youth voice in educational change. Our findings reveal that we felt like research partners when our…

This article describes the first two years of an ongoing, collaborative action research project focused on the troubled recess environment in 4 elementary schools in southern Ontario. The project involves an iterative, dynamic process of inquiry, planning, action, and reflection among students, teachers, university researchers, university student…

This article presents an action research project focused on improving physical education (PE) for adolescent female students. One university researcher, three male PE teachers, and 13 of their most disengaged female students participated in the one-year, two-cycle, action research project. The process and results are offered so that future PE…

This participatory action research study engaged classroom teachers, special education teachers, teacher assistants, and a principal in examining and resolving role issues within inclusive classrooms. Analysis of data from multiple sources revealed three predominant findings: (a) when teachers were confronted with role problems, they identified an…

This paper describes a research-based approach to creating a collaborative means for seeking educational change to benefit ESL learners and their teachers. We used a teacher education course as a boundary-spanning space for the sharing of expertise among teacher educators and pre-service and in-service teachers. The initiative involved the…

This article presents the author's keynote address delivered at the "North Eastern Ontario Education Network 2011 Research Carousel: Evidence in the Classroom--Affecting Student Achievement at the Grassroots Level." In this address, the author first discusses teachers and learning in the literature on adult and professional learning.…