ABSTRACT
This chapter explores issues for action research consultants who work with a range of clients over a sustained period of time but whose interventions are relatively brief and temporary in relation to their working lives. Whilst each of these clients may have a common purpose (i.e. improvement of practice), they may also have different notions of how this may be achieved. The clients in this case are teachers, teaching assistants and head teachers engaged in inquiry-focused work within schools which is part funded by a government agency. They thus have multiple accountabilities for their work, i.e. to pupils, parents, colleague professionals and the network funding agency. These multiple accountabilities, together with the additional commitments and work caused by their (voluntary) participation produce inevitable tensions and dilemmas. The role of the consultant is, therefore, more complex than would be the case in a more normal consultant-client relationship. Whilst, as in more normal relationships, the consultants must be trusted by all their clients, appreciate the complexity of context for the action research and exercise a range of skills, they must also hold and display a clear set of ethical principles within a particularly complex accountability setting.
