Celebrating Research in Practice
Sandy Middleton, Literacy BC

Research has traditionally been perceived as the domain of university-trained researchers. In the past, practitioners might be invited to give feedback or make comments about the research, but generally their role was limited to that of research subjects or informants. Today, that situation is changing. A different type of research – research in practice – is on the rise in the Canadian adult literacy field.

Research in practice takes place on the ground, in the field. It opens up opportunities in classrooms, learning centres, and other community locations for practitioners and learners to ask and find answers to their questions about teaching and learning.

Research in practice requires resources, training, time and space. In British Columbia practitioners can take advantage of several initiatives which support their participation in research in practice. The National Literacy Secretariat and the Ministry of Advanced Education, through the BC Adult Literacy Cost-Shared Program, fund “research friends” who offer one-to-one assistance to practitioners in developing and undertaking research projects and connecting with research literature. As part of this project, semi-annual group training workshops provide practitioners with training in research methodologies and the opportunity to reflect andshare experiences with peers. As a result, we have a rich diversity of research in practice projects taking place in the BC literacy field, and an emerging provincial research in practice network – RiPAL-BC (Research in Practice in Adult Literacy-BC). (page 6).

In this special edition newsletter we celebrate these and other achievements. Pierre Walter of the University of British Columbia sets the stage by reminding us that research in practice shifts the ways in which knowledge is valued and created and democratizes relationships between the literacy community and the university. In the following pages we hear the voices of both practitioners and university-trained researchers who share the work they are doing to create new knowledge and bridge old divides.

On page 7, Marina Niks, a research friend for the BC adult literacy field since 1999, reflects on how her role has changed during the past four years. Over several pages, BC practitioners write about their research in practice projects: a collaborative project among veteran practitioners who are examining what makes them effective in the classroom; a participatory action research project among sex trade workers in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside; and a participatory action research project in which dual meanings of the word “agency” connect the research of two groups of students in two communities in northwest BC.