Abstract:
From 1994 until 1998 I was involved in a qualitative research project in 'Takiwa School', a rural area school in New Zealand. I held a teaching position in that school during the late 1980s. My 1990s research focus was on the process and politics of the development of a parent-instigated alternative learning unit; a unit which became a 'school within a school'.
This paper reflects on my positioning within the research process and in the ensuing analysis I suggest that this positioning was neither fully objective nor fully neutral. As pre-service, in-service and post-graduate teacher education courses expand in New Zealand, more and more teachers will become involved in the research process. My intention in this paper is to contribute to the debate regarding the positioning of researchers in education. I suggest that research in education can never be fully objective or fully neutral.
