I've just been alerted to the fact the facilitation workshops run by the Centre for Action Research in Professional Practice at Bath University are now available.
Looks like I am going to be on a steep learning curve - I have just looked up the Wikipedia definition of participatory action research.
I do like the idea of the concept of using the learning group to work together to come up with new ways of doing things and for this process to feed back into research of and for the group.
Here is a useful guide to co-operative inquiry (linked to action research).