Teacher researchers in action research in a heavily centralized education system

Action research is characterized by a new paradigm of empowering teachers to monitor their own practices in a more autonomous manner with a vision of challenging and improving their own techniques of teaching through their own participatory research. Yet in spite of this apparently radical shift in the function of the teacher from the constant consumer of scientific theories to a researcher, as envisioned, the concept of action research as an in-service teacher education strategy has not received due attention in practice. For this reason, the presented case study was undertaken to examine whether the notion of action research by teachers was a viable option for in-service teacher development in a highly centralized education system. More specifically, this paper sought to answer whether teachers have any vision of what they can achieve with action research, whether there is scepticism on the part of teachers about the effectiveness and feasibility of action research as practice-based undertaking, and whether there are inherent structural problems that preclude teachers from undertaking such a role. Three English Language Teaching teachers were involved in this action research. The findings indicate that teachers, being capable of carrying out action research, were quite positive about action research and hopeful for overcoming some inadequacies in their educational environment, making it an asset for personal-professional development despite a highly centralized education system.     

Long-term outcomes of educational action research projects

The outcomes of action research are examined through the 90 projects supported by the Action Learning Project. This was an initiative that aimed for quality enhancement of teaching and learning through supporting academics to engage in action research projects addressing some aspect of courses they taught. The evaluation of the individual projects indicated that almost all were successful in introducing the promised reform or innovation and of impacting for the better upon the learning of students enrolled in the target courses. There were also longer-term outcomes associated with engaging in the process of action research. The large majority of the participants felt that they perceived the following longer-term benefits: a lasting improvement to their teaching; a knowledge of how to conduct action research; development of their capacity to monitor and reflect upon their own teaching; and better teamwork skills. About half the participants felt they had also had some impact upon others in their departments. Overall, these longer-term outcomes indicate that action research by teachers is a highly cost-effective means of enhancing the quality of teaching and learning.     

Insider action research doctorates: Generating actionable knowledge

The aim of this article is to contribute to understanding of the issue raised when executives do action research in their own organizations for doctorates. There are a number of significant challenges for those executives considering action research in their own organization, which are explored under the headings of, preunderstanding, role duality and organizational politics. The article reflects on the executive action research doctorate in terms of the engagement of the individual manager–researcher in first person inquiry, the collaborative activities with others in second person inquiry and the third person contribution of actionable knowledge to the practitioner and academic communities.     

Professional development through action research in township primary schools in South Africa

The paper examines an action research project, the Primary Education Project (PREP), located in African primary schools in Cape Town, South Africa between 1987 and 1989. The main aim of PREP was to evaluate action research as a means of improving educational processes and outcomes. Drawing on my own action research case study as the facilitator of curriculum and research development in PREP, I explore action research as a strategy for teachers' professional development. This latter concept is problematised as meaning on the one hand, narrow vocational skilling of teachers, and on the other, reflective practice. Further, I argue that the concept is value-laden and thus fundamentally political. Improvements in teachers' practice are recounted, and the teachers' first order action research and my own second order action research evaluated along a continuum from reflection to research.     

行动研究在农村英语教师专业发展中的作用

随着现代教育的不断发展,"教师即研究者"日渐成为教师专业发展方面的一个重要理念.对于农村英语教师而言,行动研究是教师及时解决自己教学上的问题,提高教育教学质量而进行的一种探索性地有效行动和方法,是教学过程中问题解决的一种特殊形式,是一个能动的、反思性的认知加工过程,具有自主实践性、理论应用性、整体合作性、动态生成性等特点.在此基础上探讨行动研究对促进农村英语教师专业素养的提升,形成专业自信,增强科研意识等方面的作用,以及英语教师进行行动研究的主要途径.     

Action research in Singapore education: constraints and sustainability

Action research has received increasing attention, especially by school leaders, as a result of the Singapore Ministry of Education’s push for greater autonomy, diversity and innovation at the school level. It is also perceived as a means for teacher professional development and professionalism. The Teachers Network, which has its own brand of action research called ‘Learning Circles’, is in support of such a view. Action research projects are not, however, without problems. In this paper, structures that pose constraints to successful action research endeavours will be the main focus for discussion.     

行动·反思·超越——英美概况课程行动研究

近年来国内外学者普遍认为,行动研究不仅有助于教师解决教学中的实际问题,也有助于教师专业发展。然而,国内行动研究主要侧重于理论介绍,实际教学情境中的实证研究较少。笔者通过亲历的教学行动研究,试图从实践的角度来证明本文中提出的假设：行动研究可以改变教师的教育教学信念,可以帮助教师在实践中通过反思寻找适当的教学策略,从而提高他们的教学技能、教学效果、反思意识和反思能力,形成教师个人实践理论,对自己从事的职业有认同感,最终实现教师的职业发展。     

Social identity theories and educational engagement

There is a large body of research in studies of schooling, particularly ethnographic case studies, which posits that collective action among students undermines engagement in school and contributes to educational inequality. In this paper I review studies of engagement from a social identity theory perspective. To what extent can collective action explain why some student groups are less engaged than others? I discuss four approaches to identifying social identity‐related problems of engagement frequently used in prior research. While researchers often find problems of engagement among low‐academic‐status students, research on educational engagement has had difficulty locating the underlying causes of inequality in student engagement. Social identity theories of educational engagement are inherently theories of collective action. I conclude that a fifth approach, large‐scale observational studies of monitoring and sanctioning, provides the best framework for identifying both the prevalence of, and solutions to, this particular source of disengagement.     

The rocky road of teachers becoming action researchers

This paper describes an action research project conducted in the course of teaching about action research. Eight doctoral students and a professor co-taught the course. We organized it to demonstrate aspects of action research and conducted our research as an example of action research methodology. We shared our proposal, data collection strategies, and beginning data analyses with our students. Our action research project thus served two purposes: (1) it helped us to study our own teaching and the emerging understandings of our students, and (2) it demonstrated action research for our students while they designed their own research proposals.     

III: Torn between Action and Reflection: some dilemmas of ‘pedagogical support persons’ in the Environment and School Initiatives Project

ABSTRACT

In 1990, a group of Slovenian researchers and teachers from eight elementary schools joined the international project Environment and School Initiatives, co‐ordinated by OECD/CERI. This paper presents some dilemmas and insights resulting from the co‐operation of ‘pedagogical support persons’ with teachers during the project, using the action research paradigm which presupposes a partnership relation and mutual learning of all involved. The paper has two parts. The first part deals with the rationale of educational support and with some dilemmas encountered, such as: What is action in action research on environmental education? How to help teachers develop initiative and self‐confidence in doing action research? (avoiding the trap of giving recipes, but also another trap of giving “freedom” where teachers needed genuine help and direct feed‐back on what they were doing). The second part is a case study of one of the Slovenian projects, illustrating the problematic nature of the relationship between action and reflection, between making others understand the underlying complexity of environmental problems and developing one's own deep understanding. The process of maturing and developing genuine communication is illustrated by quotations and interpretations from the perspective of all “three circles’: the pupil's, the teacher's and the support person's. to condemn, but not so easy to understand. I may illustrate this from my experience, but first I shall proceed with my interview.     

Action research and collaborative research: their specific contributions to professional development

The increasing complexity of the teaching profession calls for engaged professionals in their professional development. This article claims that participative types of research contribute differently to professional development. Its intent is to explore the different contributions action research and collaborative research bring. One action research and one collaborative research have been conducted involving school personnel. They have been assessed mid‐course with regard to various components of professional development, including the learning taking place, changes made to professional practices and development of the collective competencies. Group interviews were conducted and each participant produced a written summary. The results show that participants’ individual competencies are strengthened, as well as collective competencies emerging such as the development of a common vocabulary and a shared vision about the school’s mission and mathematics curriculum. Learning is more relational in the action research project, and more connected to knowledge in the collaborative research project. Tensions are also present. They deal with the need to come up with concrete results, the urgency of action, the need to be open to the unknown, a tacit agreement to expose one’s vulnerability to others, the need for interdependence and for accountability. In conclusion, researchers identify their own sources of tensions and recognize that those types of research are important situations of learning.     

Finding a voice – thinking with others: a conception of action research

The main theme of this article is that action research is about seeking a voice with which to speak one's experience and one's ability to learn from that experience. It is also about helping others (our students, our patients, our clients) to find their own voices. Action research is decentralising the production of knowledge. To begin with, the theme is given a historical context by presenting a general contrast between pluralism and managerialism, and the next section articulates the nature of action research by contrasting ‘participatory’ with ‘hierarchical’ structures of knowledge. The next phase of the argument is that an ‘educational’ model of action research (emphasizing continuous self-questioning) does not mean that action research lacks ‘criteria’. The final section makes some suggestions about action research’s inherent criteria by showing how the overall purpose of ‘finding a voice’ and of ‘thinking with others’ requires a particular formulation of the main phases of the inquiry process.     

The three Rs of action research methodology: reciprocity,reflexivity and reflection-on-reality

This article presents an exploration of the methodology of action research. It is a reflection on a study where an action research methodology used by the researcher to research and develop theory, became part of the model of professional development. In this way, the action research methodology permeated into the culture of the way people worked together. This article describes how a researcher can not only use action research methods to gather data on a development, but can also lead a group of action researchers towards a greater awareness of their own practice in their own institutions. A greater awareness of the bigger issues in education is also an outcome achieved by facilitating critical discussion on key issues. There can be action research for research purposes, action research for action purposes and action research communities that can lead to emancipatory practices in education. These are concurrent strands within action research communities.     

Boundary crossing by science teacher researchers in a PhD program

The boundaries between communities of teaching and educational research are very persistent. Boundaries can be conceptualized as sociocultural differences, leading towards discontinuity in action or interaction. Boundary crossing refers to the efforts made to establish continuity. The purpose of this article is to provide a better understanding of how these boundaries can be crossed by teachers who are also PhD students in a national PhD program for educational research in the context of science education. Sixteen teacher researchers as well as their professors and school principals were interviewed. Additionally, two stories were studied of two teacher researchers who seemed successful in crossing boundaries between the two communities. Many differences were found between the two communities, not all of them being boundaries. Specific personal characteristics - such as communication skills and flexible switching – seemed to facilitate boundary crossing, just like particular contextual factors such as school teams with open learning climates and supportive supervisors. All 16 teacher researchers contributed to better science teaching in their own practices, while eight teacher researchers had been able to share insights from their PhD projects with others.     

The political is personal: reflections on facilitating action research in gender issues in science education

Action research is emerging as a promising means of promoting individual and societal change in the context of university programmes in teacher education. However, significant gaps exist in the literature regarding the use of action research groups for the education of science teachers. Therefore, an action research group, dealing with gender issues in science education, was established within the context of a graduate course in action research at OISE/UT. The group met 14 times from September of 1992 until May 1993, and consisted of the author and five other science teachers from the Toronto area. Two of us were in the primary panel, two in the intermediate panel and two in the tertiary panel. Five teachers are female and one male. The experiences of the group form the basis of this study. A methodology of participant observation supported by interviews, classroom visits, journals, group feedback and participant portfolios provided a means of examining our experiences from the perspectives of the participants in the group. This case study examines the development of the author as a participant, researcher and facilitator of action research through a critical examination of group dynamics and power issues arising within the action research group. The results of this study confirm that facilitators should undertake their own action research within the context of their groups in order to examine their own taken-for-granted assumptions about teaching and learning. Through such reflections, we will continue to problematise the social and political aspects of science education, and make explicit how the political is personal for each of us as science educators.