Using action research to solve everyday problems in classrooms – a position paper

Abstract

Recent national and international reports have shown that South African education is not up to standard. Some of the problem areas are the low levels of literacy and numeracy among South African learners as listed in the local media. Instead of leaving it to academics and politicians who are not part of everyday educational practice, to find solutions to the literacy and numeracy problems this article suggests that the educational practitioner should become a research protagonist by engaging in classroom-based action research. Consequently, the objective of this article is to show how a pragmatic approach, utilising the attributes of action research, could be a viable option for conducting research from grassroots level, rather than engaging in traditional forms of research. Based on a literature study, a number of aspects of everyday educational practice are identified and matched with action research attributes to demonstrate its viability for pragmatic classroom-based research. It is suggested that educators become the leaders of such a pragmatic research process, with academics acting as associates and advisors.