JOHN ELLIOTT

ACTION RESEARCH MODEL

By:
Husna
Najiah
Hidayah
Izzati

Who is this man?

Biography
Emeritus Professor of Education at the University of East
Anglia, UK.
A founding member and former director of the
internationally acclaimed Centre for Applied Research in
Education (CARE) at UEA.
Dean of Education from 1992-95.
Well-known internationally for developing the theory and
practice of action research in the contexts of curriculum
and teacher development.
He is a former President of the British Educational
Research Association (198990).
Recently, President of the World Association of Lesson
Studies (WALS).

 Developing the theory and practice of action

research within the broad field of education and
training, as a means of bringing about sustainable
innovation and change through engaging teachers
and trainers as active participants in creating
knowledge about how to effect change
In the mid-70s John Elliott founded a collaborative
action research international network (CARN)
which still flourishes to this day and extends
across the professions and other educational
providers.
He is also a founding editor of the Educational
Action Research Journal, which has strong links
with CARN.

John Elliott (1991) defines

action research as:
Action research is the process through which
teachers collaborate in evaluating their
practice jointly; raise awareness of their
personal theory; articulate a shared
conception of values; try out new strategies to
render the values expressed in their practice
more consistent with educational values they
espouse; record their work in a form which is
readily available to and understandable by
other teachers; and thus develop a shared
theory of teaching by research practice.

Elliott makes the point that

definitions of action research can
put a tight boundary on the full
meaning of action research.
The fundamental aim of action research is
to improve practice rather than to
produce knowledge. The production and
utilisation of knowledge is subordinate to,
and conditioned by, this fundamental aim.
(Elliott, 1991, p. 49)

Key features in John

Elliots Model
who promoted the concept of the
'teacher as researcher' (Stenhouse
1975; Elliott 1991; see also
Bartholomew 1971).
Once again, the aim was to use
research in improving educational
practice, and it would be carried out
by practitioners themselves not by
external agents.

 Elliot and Stenhouse argued that effective

curricular improvements could only come
about through being developed and tested in
the classroom by teachers; indeed, that this
was the core of a proper understanding of
teacher professionalism.
The work of Stenhouse, Elliott and others led
to the establishment of the Classroom Action
Research Network, and later to a variety of
courses designed to facilitate teacher research
(see Elliott and Sarland 1995)

A Revised Model

Although Lewins model is an excellent

basis for starting, Elliott argued that:

 The general idea should be allowed

to shift.
- it is a statement which links to an
idea to action.
- It also refers to a state of situation
one wishes to improve.
- Eg: Students are dissatisfied with
the methods by which they are
assessed. How can we collaborate to
improve students assessment?

 Reconnaissance should involve analysis as

well fact finding. It should constantly recur
in the spiral of activities, rather than occur
at the beginning.
- Eg: Students seem to waste a lot of time
in class. How can I increase the time
students spend on task?
- (a) Describing the facts of situation: (help
clarify the problem)
Which pupils are wasting time?
What are they doing when they are
wasting time?

- (b) Explaining the facts of the

situation: (critical analysis of the
context in which they arise).
How do they arise? simple
activities provided
Create hypothesis based on the
analysis.
Eg: Simple activities provided
lead students to waste their time.

 Implementation is not
straightforward process like Lewin
said, but it has to be monitored in
order to know the effects of an
action.
How both the process of
implementation and its effects are
going to be monitored?
- use monitoring techniques to
provide evidence of how well the
course of action is being

 John Elliott challenges us to review

our idea of theory as exclusively
referring to generalisable
representation of events.
Some would claim that theory must
be held separate from the agents
who wish to affect changes in
practical situations.

 Elliott claims that small-scale studies

can not only improve practical
situations, but can also lead to the
generation of theory.
In effect, Elliotts work encourages
the notion that teachers can be
enabled to create their theory of
practice through critical reflection on
their practice.

Thank you