ABSTRACT
In this chapter I revisit one of the major themes I addressed in the keynote talk that I gave at the 1992 CARN conference in Worcester, UK. In my 1992 talk, “Personal transformation and social reconstruction through action research” (Zeichner, 1993), I explored the idea of what it means for action research conducted by primary and secondary school teachers to contribute to greater social, cultural, political, and economic justice in a society. I criticized both what I saw as an uncritical glorification of action research because of the alleged personal and social benefits that were often implied to be inevitably associated with doing it and academics’ criticisms of teachers for not directly seeking to change the structures of schooling and focusing their efforts mainly within their classrooms. Educational action research does not necessarily promote a more humane and just school or society, and it can (and has been) used to legitimate ideas and practices that are harmful to individuals and societies. However, I argued that it is possible for teachers to do socially critical action research (Tripp, 1990) at multiple levels: in their classrooms, schools, and the society at large.
