Having just returned from a conference in Paris, I find myself sitting down writing this editorial as I wait for my train to depart from Manchester airport to Liverpool. As I contemplate and look out the train window, the realisation strikes me that this amazing three-day journey is nearly over. My mind is filled with ideas, conversations and future plans, all carrying with them the potential to develop interesting scholarly endeavours. I find myself wanting to get home as quickly as possible so that I can get all of these thoughts down onto paper and start the planning process, terrified that these inspirational experiences will pass me by and I will lose sight of them. I find myself unable to keep up with all of these thoughts, prioritisation and focus is called for, but which one do I focus upon, each conversational topic becoming more and more appealing, but which holds the most value to me, in all honesty all of them matter to me, but yet I cannot accomplish all of these ideas. As the train edges it way onto the platform in Liverpool, a thought strikes me – you know what scholarship is not easy work, it is hard, it takes time, patience and commitment beyond what we do in normal everyday practice, it is highly action orientated, which carries with it highs and lows, a mediated set of tensions all in the pursuit of making a contribution and the advancement of the field.
The importance of developing a scholarly voice which seeks to foster innovative and accessible scholarly writing is of crucial importance to any research field. The ability of any scholarly publication, to develop material which engages with practical experience and action must be a key priority in the advancement of future practice and scholarship. One of the most important contributing factors for the expansion of your scholarly knowledge and field is the questions we ask, in particular the manner in which we pose questions. Our capacity to ask meaningful and insightful questions is critically more important than finding a right answer. In this sense, the creation of an academic-/practice-oriented journal material which offers to the reader the opportunity to build upon their capabilities to become more informed and knowledgeable is one of the most impactful attributes any journal can offer, to both contributor and readers.
The need for academic journals to engage with and appeal to different communities as a means of encouraging writers and readers to ask explorative questions is a challenge, but one which is of increased importance. If as a scholarly community, we are serious about developing and crafting our practice, we must be always mindful, not to be afraid to question our own assumptions and beliefs, in doing so reframing and extend the manner in which we seek meaning. The need to move beyond simple what, how and why questions, to questions which provoke and challenge such as, where, when and who, as a method of unlearning and an element of learning which connects action and knowledge. To (question/critique) unlearn, in this context, means to draw on the social dynamic tensions in the learning process, the questioning of existing practices as a means of exposing our underlying assumptions and beliefs which can restrict our ability to ask different and often difficult questions about our own assumptions and beliefs. At the most basis level, these questions involve considering thoughtfully the relevance and application of existing knowledge, by offering new insight and future debate. Connecting these question sets offers the possibility of drawing together research material which reveals the relational orientations of enacted learning. Such a practice opens up the possibility of introducing different perspectives to now we view and practise in the subject area of action learning.
In this context, the role of our own attentiveness, what it means to be reflexively aware, in our practice, as custodians of knowledge, becomes extremely important. Thoughtful inquiry requires the questioning of the relationship between ourselves, our roles as researchers, writers and editors, how we enact our relationships with our audiences and wider communities and the theories/concepts we work in a meaningful way. Through the influence of the action learning field and our community, we have come to understand the social world by creating meaning through our practice.
By doing so, we can begin to recognise the relationally responsive nature of our interactions – questioning our assumptions influencing what we say and do, but equally how others respond, while also challenging or daring to ask what is left unsaid or not asked, learning how we can work as a community to shape future relationships and expand the theoretical field in a manner which allows us to theorising in practical ways. This could mean:
The questioning of our assumptions, who we are and what is it that we want to achieve?
The questioning of what really makes sense, of how we live and experience, our own and others’ voices and conversations.
Understanding our relationship with our social world and recognising its dynamic and emergent nature
While I refer to the term self, I am conscious that I am implying an individualistic stance, rather I am recognising self, in a reflexive context which incorporates the understanding that we are selves in relation to others and thus need to consider the nature of those relationships as a collective mediated voice. The material contained in this issue exemplifies for me scholarship which demonstrates a commitment to the exploration of the research field which is accessible to readers and scholars alike, in terms of their applied focus. The material captures and demonstrates not only an articulated understanding of learning in action but also the means to which practices are oriented. The issue presents to the reader a number of articles both referred and accounts of lived practice which integrate learning through action into their work as researchers and practitioners. Based upon the contributions of the articles in this edition, they all share the ideas of how enacted learning can be employed through discussing issues, insights and implications.