Worldwide perspectives on action research in education

In the contemporary world, technology creates instant access to information and communication, and social life is increasingly impacted by global economic forces. This chapter seeks to present interpretations of ways that action research can provide the means for an enterprise. Ernie Stringer uses a developmental framework to describe how levels of participatory action research from the personal to the global were used as the basis for instituting the development of a national educational policy in East Timor. Bob Dick provides insight into the growth of action research within a wide range of international contexts, in the process revealing how educational action research has influenced the continual development of the field. Jack Whitehead extends our understanding of the ways in which a focus on lived experience enriches processes of inquiry, demystifying the disembodied politics often involved and empowering participants to contribute to the global flourishing of humanity.