Enacting ethical frameworks in self-study: Dancing on the line between student agency and institutional demands

Abstract

Sound ethical standards are important in all research, though ethical issues and challenges differ among disciplines and fields of study. Self-study researchers engage in their research in the context of their everyday work as educators. This dual position can generate opportunities for them to draw on their fields of research while trying out their understanding by acting upon and experimenting with responsive educational practices within their contexts (Groundwater-Smith & Mockler, 2007). The dynamic existing between self-study research and professional practice is such that ethicality is always embedded in the processes of both self-study and professional practice (Brandenburg & Gervasoni, 2012; Groundwater-Smith & Mockler, 2007; Pinnegar & Hamilton, 2010; LaBoskey, 2004). Teaching is a profession that could or should be considered a moral practice, not just a collection of skills and techniques (Carr, 2000; Palmer, 1997). Researchers must engage critically and ethically with their research and educational practices, lest they develop educational practices that are unfair and undemocratic (Biesta, 2007, 2010; Carr, 2000). In this sense ethical dimensions are always a fundamental part of the self-study process.