ABSTRACT. As an international PhD student, I faced significant challenges navigating the complexities of the authoritative nature and regulatory power of Western-based institutional research ethics committees (RECs) while seeking ethics clearance for my school-based critical ethnographic research in my home country. This paper explores how RECs shape knowledge production, academic freedom and educational research practice, often imposing rigid ethical frameworks that are misaligned with local realities. Drawing on my experiences, I reflect on the tensions and complexities I encountered before and after obtaining ethical approval, particularly how RECs regulate international educational research. By interrogating these constraints, I advocate for more relational and context-sensitive ethical approaches that recognise power asymmetries and foster dialogic relationships between educational researchers and members of RECs.

Keywords: research ethics; international educational research; doctoral research; critical ethnography; research ethics committees

How to cite: Ibarguen-Asprilla, D. (2025). When home becomes the field: Ethical tensions in doing school-based critical ethnography as an international PhD student. Knowledge Cultures, 13(1), 7-26. doi: 10.22381/kc13120251

Received March 16, 2025 • Received in revised form March 20, 2025
Accepted March 20, 2025 • Available online May 1, 2025