The name is quite clear. Action research is research in action! Action research addresses questions that teachers and librarians might have about specific practices and helps them to develop practical solutions and strategies. Action research is based in practice and not separate from it.
So many of us are completely intimidated by the thought of doing research! But there is no need to feel this way. Action research is designed for practitioners, and is integrated into practice.
We are very fortunate to have this opportunity to interview Canadian action research expert Judith Sykes for this edition of CSL Journal.
Judith has been a teacher, teacher-librarian, district school library specialist, and elementary school principal for the Calgary Board of Education in Alberta. She was the provincial school library manager for the Alberta Ministry of Education, leading the School Library Services Initiative 2008-2012. Judith was the project coordinator and a contributing writer for Leading Learning: Standards Of Practice For School Library Learning Commons in Canada when it was first published, and continues as co-chair of CSL’s Leading Learning Committee. She also serves on the CSL Board of Directors. Judith has published several books about school library practice, including two that deal specifically with action research approaches.
CSL Journal: What are the key characteristics of action research?
Judith Sykes: Action research is a cyclical process. Its key characteristics involve the collaborative and systematic collection of data based on a critical or “burning” question formulated by the researcher followed by analysis and synthesis of the data to design and implement an action plan. Research and literature in the field are explored, and considered in alignment with the data. The results of the action plan are reflected upon and usually lead to more questions prompting a return to the process.
CSL Journal: Why is action research important in education?
Judith Sykes: Action research is important in that it is a reflective, data based, cyclical and collaborative process that will enable educators to develop site-based, relevant strategies and plans to impact their student learning demographics through their programs and services. The process begs practitioners to consider if what they are doing is working? not working? what can be done next? and what insights do others offer?
CSL Journal: Why is action research particularly important for school libraries in Canada?
Judith Sykes: As many school libraries in Canada face decline in staffing and resources, action research is particularly important in that it creates a growing body of knowledge focused on impacting student learning through the library learning commons (LLC). Action research provides models for others to examine, compare to and learn from as well as to replicate. Since action research is site-based practitioners can customise models, learnings or replication studies in their own schools in any part of the country. Processes, challenges, possibilities and successes are shared in discovering what LLC programs and resources are best needed to support each student’s learning through site-based data, rather than seeing school libraries decline.
CSL Journal: This year we are celebrating the fifth anniversary of the release of Leading Learning: Standards of Practice for School Library Learning Commons in Canada / L’Apprentissage en tête: Principes relatifs à la transition de la bibliothèque scolaire vers le carrefour d’apprentissage au Canada. Let us start by saying congratulations to you in particular, the Leading Learning project coordinator and a contributing writer. Can you explain the potential of Leading Learning as a framework for action research?
Judith Sykes: Thank you for the congratulations! I can’t believe it has been five years since I had the privilege of working on Leading Learning with an amazing group of colleagues from across Canada. Leading Learning is the perfect framework for action research due to its compilation of indicators in each standard that are inherent to successful student-centred LLC. The researcher will be able to use the standards and indicators to either set out an action research journey if they haven’t yet pinpointed something for their quest, or find an indicator closely linked to their critical question to explore. The phases of growth for each indicator enable the practitioner, as researcher in this case, to map out and measure action plans. Additionally, each indicator will have one or more exemplars to help the researcher see the indicator working “in action” and many exemplars provide contact to others working on the same topic.
CSL Journal: How should school library practitioners decide on what they want to explore through action research?
Judith Sykes: I would encourage the school library practitioner to begin with a topic that they are curious or passionate about, a question or issue that “nudges” at them as they engage in their daily work. It can involve a challenge such as how to support all of the student’s needs through the school library program and resources or how emerging technology affects student learning. It can nudge at the practitioner as daily interactions occur, or a question or comment from a student, teacher, administrator, parent or school library colleague might lead to an action research exploration that can be studied on hand, everyday. And that affirmation for the critical question or “nudge” could be found in Leading Learning.
CSL Journal: We often think of action research taking place at the school level, in relation to specific instructional strategies. In your books you point out the potential to use action research across school districts and provinces. Where do you see this broader approach being particularly useful?
Judith Sykes: I see the broader approach of action research as very useful in working towards equity of access for students in districts or provinces to great school libraries, both physical and virtual, as defined by best practice evidenced in the alignment of local educational mandates and LLC standards. These include constructivist learning experiences, a focus on globalization, creating practitioner communities of practice, schools mentoring schools, sharing resources, and collectively influencing educational practice and policies. I highly recommend school districts and provinces designing collaborative action research projects around LLCs and student growth and achievement. A growing body of sources makes models possible and available, such as district and provincial models shown in Leading Learning and the CSL TMC Research Archive.
CSL Journal: As you know, CSL’s Treasure Mountain Canada Research Symposium (TMC) actively solicits action research reports from school library practitioners. When approached, many people express some apprehension about their ability to carry out valid research. What is it about the concept of conducting original research that intimidates people? How would you encourage people to take the step and engage in research in their own practice?
Judith Sykes: Practitioners often think of research as time consuming, part of university study or non-relevant to the day to day challenges of school. Yet knowing or conducting research is not just for degree work, it is now accepted as being at the centre of school improvement and a noted professional development activity. Part of engaging in action research is that it asks practitioners to reflectively and strategically use what they are already doing day to day – engaging with students, colleagues, perhaps taking courses or workshops, reading books, journals, web sites, belonging to associations, networks, or going to conferences – and consider if all of the time and effort they are putting in is furthering the student learning goals of their school. If action research shows that daily efforts are successful in impacting student learning it provides a mechanism for celebrating and growing these results. If research shows that student learning is not being impacted as much as hoped, action research processes help practitioners set and implement pertinent or “smart” goals and actions to facilitate future student learning impact. It provides an objective process to facilitate professional growth rather than avoiding issues and then seeing the school library decline in staff or resources. It is also quite enjoyable once you get into it!
Time is certainly part of intimidation to do “yet another thing”, and time issues are not just happening in schools but across our lives and occupations. What do time pressures say about our culture and about the school culture? More importantly, how is this pressure affecting students? I would encourage practitioners to examine how their day is spent – which LLC activities they do that have the most positive impact for students. I would encourage them to Inform their principals of their LLC activities – the principal can offer ideas and support for action research and time to facilitate collaborative practice through common planning periods and flexible LLC timetables. Most school districts in Canada require teachers to provide an annual professional growth plan. What better way than to focus the professional growth plan on action research to impact student learning? Action research can also be a wonderful collaborative endeavor and involve an entire LLC team or team of colleagues. Take advantage of the many online tools available to support action research such as the CSL Toolkit.
CSL Journal: In The Whole School Library Learning Commons: An Educator’s Guide you place research, including action research, as one of the key understandings in library learning commons development, along with mentoring, accountability and community (MARC: Mentoring, Accountability, Research, Community). You wrote about these key understandings in an article for CSL Journal in the spring of 2017. Demonstrating accountability is often viewed as a particular challenge. Could you comment on the relationship between action research and accountability?
Judith Sykes: Action research has the greatest impact on student learning when aligned with school, district, policy and standard goals/outcomes because schools are accountable to these mandates. If LLC action research is too far removed from accountability measures administrative and teacher support will be a challenge. Action research needs to be built in to collaborative school development planning so that colleagues understand and incorporate the impact the LLC can have on achieving school and system goals together.
CSL Journal: Are there some burning questions for school library practice that you think need to be explored more deeply through action research?
Judith Sykes: I have always believed that the following types of burning or critical questions need to be addressed in schools and can be well addressed through the action research process.
- Understanding the library learning commons – what are the desired elements of a library learning commons? From the literature? In our school?
- What needs to change in our school library? Why?
- What are the most important contributions of our school library to teaching and learning?
- How will we get there – short range, long range? Who will we discuss and engage in this with?
- What new models can we explore or demonstrate?
- How will we know we have been successful? What could be observed?
- How will we gather evidence, measure success and share that our LLC goals impacted student learning?
CSL Journal: You’ve clearly made a strong case for the importance of action research in school library practice. Now we’re going to ask you to put on your mentoring / coaching hat and offer some words of encouragement for people to become researchers themselves. What advice would you give to those who are thinking about taking the plunge?
Judith Sykes: Engaging in action research will help practitioners grow and move their practice forward. They can help other educators and students implement action research as an important problem-solving and growth tool. I once asked this question of Keith Curry Lance and loved the response – “… as the Nike ads say, JUST DO IT!…He has never heard of anyone doing it and regretting it”. (Sykes, 2013, 24)
CSL Journal: Thanks so much for your insights into action research, Judith. CSL is a research and education organization, and as such has much vested in encouraging school library professionals to engage in research. There is so much to learn about effective practice in the school library learning commons, particularly in the Canadian context. We encourage our readers to take their own action, and JUST DO IT!
Books by Judith Sykes
The Whole School Library: An Educator’s Guide. Libraries Unlimited, 2016.
Conducting Action Research to Evaluate Your Library. Libraries Unlimited, 2013.
Action Research: A Practical Guide for Transforming Your School Library. Libraries Unlimited, 2002.
