160 Chapter 4 authority of the normative voice of the practice being explored. ‘The point is that the “normative”, to a greater or lesser degree, enjoys a privileged position in terms of a certain structural authority’ (Cameron et al., 2010, p. 63). Discussion Based on its central features, TAR seems especially appropriate for this specific study as part of an overarching research project in which a dynamic and inclusive form of action research was used. TAR is a type of action research that is holistic of nature; however, at the same time, it is profoundly theological—as Christian education is and, in this case, as DCU wants to be. It is also holistic in the sense that it includes the theological voices of practice and practitioners, brings them together with the voices of normative and formal theology, and allows new practices and new theological insights to emerge through conversations. All of these characteristics do justice to the experienced need for a holistic methodology, as argued in the introduction to this dissertation (Section 4: Towards a Holistic Research Design). The central research question requires it. It focuses on the practice of broad citizenship formation in Christian schools, as related to a culture that has rapidly fragmented. In its original design, TAR focuses a bit more on culture as secular, although it nevertheless serves the same aim—namely, to seek new ways to serve society based on theologically driven motivation. Still, a question can be raised with respect to the epistemology underpinning TAR. Brouard (2015), who led a TAR project for a Catholic developmental agency, tied it directly to ‘a theology of revelation where insight and truth is reached, not through agreement, but through listening to others, through disclosure’ (p. 28). Consequently, TAR ‘privileges an inductive epistemology where theology is revealed with others through processes of reflection and sharing’ (Brouard, 2015, p. 28). Brouard supported this epistemology by inserting a quotation from Haley (as cited in Watkins, 2011): ‘Truth is discerned through engagement with those who are other than “we” are: with the Spirit, with those Christians with whom we disagree, and with those outside the church’. Brouard (2015) connected this to Watkins’ proposal to view ‘education as a holistic enterprise’ and a Catholic theology of the person as a ‘whole person’ (p. 34). Both trace this ‘theology of revelation’ back to Augustine: ‘What is important is not telling people things, or “truths”, but rather equipping them and forming their thinking in such ways as the truth may be encountered by them’ (Watkins, 2013, p. 3). From Chapter 1 (1.1.2/1.1.3/1.3.3), it is clear that epistemology plays an important role in research aimed at combining a holistic approach with the broad citizenship and personhood formation of trainee teachers. Thus, it is of specific interest to this study how the epistemology expressed by Watkins
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