Reflections on the research process: emancipatory research or emancipatory zeal?

As a teacher educator the author believed that she could guide, organized by an emancipatory research stance, a particular group of pre-service teachers in critically reflecting upon and interrogating pre/mis-conceptions about their future teaching in relation to media representations of education. She believed that as a result of their interactions this group of pre-service teachers would learn to challenge the varied layers and multiple interpretations that media representations of education engender. However, looking back through the data, questions concerning her role in the emancipatory process arise: did she somehow force her critical stance upon this group of pre-service teachers or did she allow them the space to negotiate with these images in relation to their group discussions? In this paper, she reflects on her emancipatory research practice within the context of working with this particular group of pre-service teachers.