Participatory action research and the quest for teacher educator community solidarity

Abstract

Desiring to overcome sharp feelings of disconnection, a year-long participatory action research seminar involving both clinical and tenure-track teacher education faculty was formed. Working in teams with tenure-track faculty support, clinical faculty set research questions but they were reluctant to assume project leadership. In part, because of intensifying pressures associated with impending program accreditation, the projects languished. Nevertheless, the boundaries separating the two faculties and communities of practice softened, and friendships were formed and strengthened. Drawing on insights from positioning theory and Wenger's research on communities of practice, the authors conclude that friendship may be a precondition for re-imagining the established relationships and understandings that currently fragment teacher education