Going against the grain? Exploring EdD students’ engagement with arts-based research

Clark, Tim; Dobson, Tom

Abstract

Despite growing interest in the potential value of arts-based research (ABR) for educational inquiry (Siegesmund & Cahnmann-Taylor, 2018), limited consideration exists regarding its accessibility, and relevance, to practice-based professional doctorate in education (EdD) researchers. This is significant, given the potential for conflict between ABR’s affordances for social impact (Dobson & Clark, 2024) and institutional regulations and structures which may restrict the creative potential of practice-based research (Vaughan, 2021). In response, this study explores the contexts, motivations and challenges surrounding a group of EdD students’ experiences of engaging with ABR in their studies. Applying Glaveneau’s (2013) 5A’s model to position creativity as ‘embedded in social relations’, the study utilised narrative interviews and group action learning (Revans, 1982) to explore the methodological decision-making of 9 EdD students using ABR across 2 post-1992 universities in England. Its findings illustrate the complex entanglement between the related audiences, artifacts, actors, actions and affordances and the significance of enabling resistance to academic ‘hierarchies of legitimacy’ (Vaughan, 2021).

• Presentation Conference Type: Conference Paper (unpublished)
• Conference Name: SRHE International Research Conference
• Start Date: Dec 2, 2024
• End Date: Dec 6, 2024
• Deposit Date: Dec 5, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Dec 6, 2024
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/13511976
• Publisher URL: https://virtual.oxfordabstracts.com/event/41722/submission/20