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In an increasingly complex and challenging profession, the need for teachers, administrators and school systems to become involved in professional development activities is ever present. Action Research in South African Education: A Critical Praxis is a culmination of varying reflective accounts Professor Makoelle made as a teacher, an academic and a devoted action researcher. The book delves into his beliefs, attitudes and conceptions about the evolving discourse of Action Research in education and how it could be operationalised in varying educative contexts. The conversation fosters openness toward new ideas and learning new innovations, as well as giving teachers ownership of effective practices. It ultimately provides teachers with the necessary skills, knowledge, and focus to engage in meaningful inquiry about their professional practice.

Lost in Practice offers a further development of the notion of Nordic educational action research (as described in an earlier volume, Nurturing Praxis, in 2008), aiming to deepen and enrich understandings of the Nordic educational tradition and its various practices. It explores Nordic traditions and theories, such as Bildung, practical knowledge regime and translation theory, with the aim of furthering a seminal conversation between practice theory and action research. Furthermore it illuminates the use of these theories in the context of Nordic countries by presenting a number of case studies on professional development practices, in which specific forms and arenas for enhancing dialogue and meaning making are in focus. The practices of study and research circles, peer group mentoring and dialogue conferences, as developed in the Nordic countries throughout the 20th century, are presented and discussed, both in terms of established traditions and of practices of collaborative development. The book also reflect on the “regional” traditions and educational practices in the Nordic countries are reflected on in the third part of the book. The volume addresses teachers at all levels in the educational system, particularly those who are interested in understanding educational action research and furthering collaborative forms of professional development, based on insights from different traditions for understanding and furthering the development of educational practices without getting lost.