Action Learning and Action Research Journal

ALARj Vol 31 No 2 December 2025 - Cover and Table of Contents

Yedida Bessemer — 2025-12-29

Cover and Table of Contents for ALARj Vol 31 No 2

Editorial

Yedida Bessemer — 2025-12-29

Editorial for ALARj Vol 31 No 2

A contextually adaptive data collaborative using action design research

Emmanuel Candido Soriente Santos — 2025-12-29

This paper explores attributes of a successful data innovation project, which challenges the conventional focus on technical feasibility by highlighting the paramount importance of data intelligibility, relevance, and utility in a socio-technical system. The South Australian (SA) data linkage project in the Business Longitudinal Analytical Data Environment (BLADE) is the first of its kind in Australia where a State government has linked business-related administrative data with Commonwealth data. The data linkage has created a new data asset that opens new opportunities for users in producing policy insights. This study sought to show the impact of this innovation using action design research. An important lesson learnt was that collaboration with partners and stakeholders, particularly the end-users is key to fostering a socio-technical system of co-evolution that mutually informs the other process to avoid adverse unintended consequences. This is even more important with the emergence of artificial intelligence and machine learning.

Action research and transformative learning in cross-sector healthcare collaboration

Heidi Lene Myglegård Andersen — 2025-12-29

The growing number of elderly patients with multiple chronic conditions places increasing pressure on healthcare systems. Despite reforms, fragmented communication between hospitals, municipalities, and general practitioners still compromises continuity of care. This paper reports findings from the Danish Virtual 4-Meetings (V4M) project, an action research initiative aimed at improving transitional care for patients with multimorbidity through structured, digitally supported collaboration.

Grounded in participatory and critical action research, the study involved patients, relatives, hospital staff, municipal healthcare professionals, and general practitioners as co-researchers in iterative learning cycles. Data from workshops, virtual meetings, interviews, and field observations were thematically analyzed.

Findings show that the V4M model fostered shared learning, mutual understanding, and trust across sectors, transforming everyday tensions into opportunities for innovation. The study demonstrates how digital facilitation, and participatory reflection can drive sustainable, cross-sectoral integration in healthcare.

It takes a village: Developing action researchers through a transdisciplinary peer-learning collaborative

Keith Heggart — 2025-12-29

This paper reports on the Participatory Action Research (PAR) Collaborative, an innovative Higher Degree Research (HDR) student development program established in 2023 at an Australian university. The initiative explored ways action research training can be integrated into HDR programs and provided a cross-faculty forum for training and peer exchange. Activities included monthly sessions, expert presentations, peer reading groups, and an online course covering action research theories, ethics, and practical challenges. This paper presents an analysis of the first two cohorts’ experiences. Participants highlighted the benefits of peer learning across faculties, access to multiple informal supervisors, and increased confidence from hearing successful student stories. The findings indicate that while action research training is both feasible and valued, it requires dedicated resourcing and institutional support. Effective implementation appears to depend on cross-faculty collaboration and a diversity of student experience levels, suggesting potential for new models of HDR supervision and development across disciplines.

Enhancing EFL teacher participation in an asynchronous online forum: Integrating the Delphi technique with emancipatory participatory action research

Stuart D. Warrington — 2025-12-29

This paper reports on an emancipatory participatory action research (EPAR) project with four Japanese EFL teachers who invited me to establish, initiate, and co-moderate an asynchronous online forum to sustain teacher development disrupted by COVID-19. Despite valuing visible engagement, forum contributions remained limited. Using participatory research principles, the initiative sought to identify barriers to visible involvement and co-develop pathways toward awareness, empowerment, and renewed engagement. Innovatively, an adapted Delphi technique was integrated within EPAR to enable iterative, anonymous reflection across three cycles of participant observation. This novel synthesis uniquely addressed power imbalances as a means to foster equitable voice sharing and collective dialogue. The findings showed emergent shifts toward critical consciousness among a few participants, suggesting redistribution of communicative power enhances participation. The study offers practical support for online teacher communities and extends EPAR’s application in EFL contexts

Book Review - The politics of action research: A story telling inquiry

Yedida Bessemer — 2025-12-29

The article provides a book review of Hill, G., & Rixon, A. (2024). The Politics of Action Research: A Storytelling Inquiry. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. Hill and Rixon’s book expands the discourse beyond method into meaning, identity, and power. Its storytelling methodology reveals action research not as a neutral technique but as a political practice rooted in collaboration, ethical commitment, and reflective transformation.

Membership information and article submissions

Yedida Bessemer — 2025-12-29

ALARA membership information and information on article submission.