Rethinking Educational Practice Through Reflexive Inquiry Essays in
Susan Groundwater-Smith is one of the most influential voices in the world of educational practitioner inquiry. The convener in Australia of the Coalition of Knowledge Building Schools, she is a staunch advocate of innovative methods of practitioner inqui
- PDF / 2,747,029 Bytes
- 266 Pages / 439.37 x 666.142 pts Page_size
- 16 Downloads / 205 Views
Series Editors
Christopher Day Judyth Sachs
For further volumes: http://www.springer.com/series/7908
Nicole Mockler • Judyth Sachs Editors
Rethinking Educational Practice Through Reflexive Inquiry Essays in Honour of Susan Groundwater-Smith
1 3
Editors Dr. Nicole Mockler University of Newcastle Ourimbah, New South Wales Australia [email protected]
Judyth Sachs Macquarie University Sydney, New South Wales Australia [email protected]
ISBN 978-94-007-0804-4 e-ISBN 978-94-007-0805-1 DOI 10.1007/978-94-007-0805-1 Springer Dordrecht Heidelberg London New York Library of Congress Control Number: 2011925927 © Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2011 No part of this work may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher, with the exception of any material supplied specifically for the purpose of being entered and executed on a computer system, for exclusive use by the purchaser of the work. Printed on acid-free paper Springer is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com)
Foreword—An Example to Us All
Susan Groundwater-Smith would not see herself as a model, but to many, including myself, her professional life is an example of how apparent opposites can be brought into harmony and productively harnessed in the service of education. This book reflects not just the scope of her writing and teaching over 40 years and the influence she has had on teachers and researchers from many different backgrounds and countries, but also the ways in which she has acted out in her own life and work the qualities she seeks to encourage in others. Most noticeably, she takes an inquiring approach to any problem, refusing to accept uncritically accepted views or easy answers. In this sense, she has sometimes seemed a maverick, willing to break educational ranks, ask awkward questions about educational theories, policies and structures and take daring initiatives. Yet she has shown great skill, in the course of varied projects, in working within these structures and using them to the advantage of students and teachers. Always ready to challenge the nature of professional knowledge and learning, and the theory and practice of practitioner inquiry, she has encouraged others to do the same. Yet, despite an innovative and in some ways unconventional approach to learning and teaching, she is also deeply conservative in demanding of herself and others a high level of intellectual integrity and conventional academic standards. The uncompromising nature of this stance is tempered for learners and fellow academics by the fact that she values the questioner as much as their questions. As a result, she has been able to marry the theoretical and the practical in both her writing and her teaching, and to command the respect of practitioners at all levels of the educational system. Many of the following chapters attest to her influence in reconcil
Data Loading...
