| This study focuses on educational innovation within a historically black South African university. Two particular innovations are studied: attempts to transform the institution's Faculty (School) of Education during the mid-1980's; and the attempt to introduce and institutionalize a Masters programme in Action Research from 1986. While these innovations are studied as historical phenomena in their own right, they are also presented as case studies of educational innovation, in order that they might illuminate, and be illuminated by, the existing literature and discourse regarding the theory and practice of educational innovation. The theory and practice of Action Research as an approach to educational innovation, and to researching it, is also key to the study.;The thesis argues that more "insider research" is needed into the dynamics of innovation, and is presented as an example of how such investigations might be conducted and reported, using historical and ethnographic research methods in a collaborative context. It argues that "top-down" forms of educational innovation are less likely to succeed than those which involve all participants as fully as possible, and that more inclusivist approaches to innovation are also more ethically defensible in terms of their potential to empower all the participants politically, professionally and personally. Finally, the thesis argues, and seeks to demonstrate, that Action Research constitutes an important inclusivist strategy for conducting, investigating and reporting educational innovation. |
