Fourth, I could find only one account of teachers’ action research that is
informed by an explicit learning theory and designed to test and develop the use of
that theory as a pedagogical tool (see Tan 2014, 411–427).
Finally, there were a number of articles that theorised about the nature and form
of action research. They provide a theoretical resource for resisting the transformation
of educational action research into a form of technical rationality (see Gale, Turner,
and McKenzie 2013, 549–564; Hammond 2013, 603–618; Gibbs 2014, 428–440).
I must conclude that the potential of educational action research to resist the
encroachment of technical rationality into the field of education is currently rather
restricted. Although there is considerable evidence of global spread and a sharing of
aspects that tend to support the integrity of praxis as a space for virtuous action,
educational action research shapes up in ways that are limited in this respect. The
creation of sustainable spaces for virtuous action will need to be supported by the
systematic presentation of findings across different action contexts, in the form of
practical hypotheses to test, and the use of learning theory to inform the quest for
virtuous action through action research. It is to these matters that I now turn.