Autoethnography As a Tool for Research-Practice Partnerships: Facilitating Self and School Transformation

Background: A research-practice partnership (RPP) is a collaborative, long-term partnership between researchers and practitioners. Autoethnography is a form of qualitative research where researchers recount stories of their personal experience to reflect on and better understand the wider cultural, social and political world around them. Autoethnographies and RPPs share a commitment to using research to support transformation of self and society through critical reflection and action-taking. Autoethnography enables participant-researchers to deeply reflect on racism in their school and ways to partake in anti-racist work at individual and school levels. The vulnerability and openness required to engage in collaborative autoethnography coincided with the time intensive trust building processes inherent to an RPP. In this paper we demonstrate that collaborative autoethnography can serve as a useful tool for studying and transforming school culture through the development and implementation of a research-practice partnership with teachers and administrators in a middle school.

Method: This paper outlines an adapted collaborative autoethnographic approach to doing an in-depth exploration of anti-racism and racial equity work in a middle school. Participant-researchers engaged in critical reflection that challenged colorblind attitudes and ways of thinking, and supported self and school transformation. We describe the core elements and application of our collaborative autoethnographic approach in our university-school RPP. There are seven core elements: (1) facilitators, (2) participant-researchers, (3) relationship development, (4) methodological training, (5) materials and resources, (6) ethical considerations, and (7) integration into the larger RPP.

Results: Through reflective writing and analysis of collaborative autoethnography, facilitators and authors better understand and improve relationships, reduce prejudice, encourage personal responsibility and agency, raise consciousness, and promote cultural change. Combining reflection and critical dialogue with facilitator probing and interactive interviews helped participant-researchers be more conscious of the possibility of racial equity in their school and what is needed to make that happen. Collaborative autoethnography is also an opportunity for authors to give voice to a previously undiscussed experience. Participant-researchers reported self-transformation through the process. They saw the writing process as an outlet to reflect on the larger contexts of COVID-19 and BLM uprisings, connecting these events to their own lives and roles in the school. The timing of our project also highlighted how autoethnography can be a useful tool for understanding complex and unprecedented moments as they unfold in real time. Autoethnography created space for participant-researchers to reflect on the quickly evolving school culture and climate linked to these larger events. Finally, participant-researchers expressed a willingness to be open and vulnerable. Participant-researchers wrote about conflicts and tough interactions they had with other participant-researchers, students, co-workers, and supervisors. In doing so, they revealed biases, uncovered difficult truths about themselves and their behaviors, and shared unfavorable behavior from their peers and superiors. Limitations are also discussed.

Implications: As a practice tool, collaborative autoethnography provides many benefits for participant-researchers. The use of autoethnography as a tool for studying culture and culture change holds much promise for research and practice.