Teacher empowerment and developing a curricular management system in municipal schools using cooperation between university and municipality in Thailand

This participatory action research project responded to the needs for educational reform and involved cooperation between Mahasarakham Municipality, which provided primary school education, and the Faculty of Education at Mahasarakham University, which played a role as academic mentor. The project aimed to improve the quality of education management by empowering teachers. In order to do so the school had to admit restricted opportunity students rather than well qualified ones. The project, which was divided into four phases, took place between 2000 and 2005. It studied collaboration between the teaching staff of the Faculty of Education who worked as academic mentors and a group of 160 teachers at seven municipal schools. In Phase 1 the emphasis was on the development of 40 model teachers from these seven schools, giving them the skills to design curricula, promote learner-centred instruction, and undertake classroom action research for problem solving. In Phase 2 this developmental activity was extended to all 160 teachers. In Phase 3 the emphasis was on the extension of teacher networks to exchange learning among these schools and to develop best practices. In Phase 4 the emphasis was on developing the curricular management system in each school to ensure and enhance quality and in order that teachers could meet national teaching standards. This would promote a positive attitude and enhance the confidence of the parents and the community in the schools because the teachers would be as qualified as those from successful government schools. The interventions used in the four phases were: workshop training, coaching, learning exchanges, clinical supervisory visits, and reflection. The results of the research and development had a positive impact on raising the quality of teaching and the curriculum in the schools and promoted educational opportunities for disadvantaged students.     

More than a master: developing,sharing, and using knowledge in school–university research networks

Postgraduate master’s programs for in-service teachers may be a promising new avenue in developing research partnership networks that link schools and university and enable collaborative development, sharing and use of knowledge of teacher research. This study explores the way these knowledge processes originating from master’s students’ research occurs in the school–university network of a master’s program embedded in the K–12 school environment of a Central Management Organization in the US. Questionnaires, interviews, and logs were used to collect quantitative and qualitative data at four time-points over a 10-month period. Data were analyzed at three network levels: school, dyad, and individual. Findings indicate that the school network context provided both master’s students and research advisors with a supportive context for collaboratively engaging in knowledge processes during research as well as after they graduated. However, the network context was not enough to build sustainable and productive relationships in the partnership network.     

Levers of Management in University-Industry Collaborations: How project management affects value creation at different life-cycle stages of a collaboration

This paper reports a longitudinal multi-case research project encompassing 38 semi-structured interviews conducted in 2011 and 2012 with four students, 12 researchers and 22 companies relating to a total of 25 university–industry collaborations. The interviews covered the collaboration type, the initiation of the collaboration and details concerning the planning of the collaboration. In addition, the interviews focused on the relationships between the people involved in the collaboration and the effects of project management. We distinguish between project management success and project success, and identify potential good practice. The paper concludes that, whereas project management success was not found to be causally related to project success, there seems to be a clearer link between project management success and ensuring effective use of resources in both companies and universities. There is also evidence that it is problematic when corporate managers think they can run research projects like lean production companies.     

Issues of agency,discipline and criticality: an interplay of challenges involved in teachers engaging in research in a performative school context

While the engagement of teachers in research about practice is becoming a prevalent feature of professional learning and career development in the United Kingdom, there is still a lack of research about the challenges of teachers raising questions in the current school setting. Drawing on the principles of teacher research, this article reports on a small-scale study based on the experience of primary and secondary teachers conducting action research as part of a development project promoted by a school alliance with university researchers working as facilitators and conducting a study about teachers performing research. Interviews about their motivations, experience and perceived outcomes revealed a singular interplay of variables influencing the way they engage in, use and share research and see themselves as researchers. We argue that management directives and contextual factors are influencing the teachers’ engagement, with attitudes oscillating between their commitment to deal with assigned projects and pursuing issues emerging from practice. Moreover, entering a research community with its agreed practices and approaches was received with reluctance, with teachers struggling to embody an enquiring approach within their demanding professional lives. Nevertheless, according to the participants, action research allowed them to listen to the children’s voices, needs and interests, and inspired the adoption of a more systematic approach resulting in pedagogy shifts and gains in motivation, engagement and attainment.     

Teacher identity development through action research: a Chinese experience

This study explores how two language teachers constructed and reconstructed their professional identities through their action research (AR) facilitated by university researchers in China. Informed by the theory of ‘community of practice’, the findings of the study show that AR exerted a transformative impact on the teachers’ identity development. Four distinctive routes of identity change were noted, namely their transformation from ‘fisherman’ to ‘fishing coach’, from ‘craftsman’ to ‘teacher researcher’, from ‘lonely fighter’ to ‘collaborator’, and from ‘housekeeper’ to ‘change agent’. Such change can be attributed to their engagement and practice in different communities of practice. However, the participants’ identity development also encountered some contextual obstacles, including the rigid school curriculum, lack of research knowledge, as well as the power dynamics between them and the researchers. Several implications can be drawn for teachers, teacher educators, and school leaders to help teachers construct a solid and robust professional identity in seeking their continuing professional development through AR.     

Blurring the boundaries: connecting research,practice and professional learning

Educational researchers can incorporate benefits for themselves and teacher participants by planning for interactions between research, practice and teachers’ professional learning from the outset of a project. However, the dual role of a researcher as a professional learning partner has rarely been explicated and theorised in studies of teacher–researcher relationships. The study described in this paper occurred in the context of early childhood education. The notion of a critical friend was extended and validated as a useful theorisation of the relationship. Four ways that I acted as a critical friend are described. The expertise, roles, boundaries and hybridity of a co‐constructed approach to research are discussed. The importance of a researcher as critical friend having research and theoretical knowledge to shift teacher knowledge and practice is argued. Implications for teacher–researcher partnerships in terms of strengthening coherence between research, practice and professional learning are suggested.     

Strategies for encouraging behavioural and cognitive engagement of pre-service student-teachers in Bhutan: an action research case study

This action research enquiry interrogates my own teaching practices in the context of new cultures of pedagogy in Bhutan. Teaching at the tertiary level for the last 11?years, I have realised that student engagement, particularly behavioural and cognitive engagement, has not been satisfactory. This motivated me to undertake an action enquiry to improve my teaching to engage student-teachers more in their own learning. The analysis of baseline survey data collected from a class of 29 final-year Bachelor of Education Primary pre-service student-teachers in a curriculum studies module confirmed three areas of concern about my capacity to encourage student engagement: lack of open communication in my classes, lack of care and concern, and inability to provide active learning opportunities. I implemented intervention strategies in my teaching to address these concerns. Ongoing data about the effectiveness of the intervention strategies were collected through observations of lessons by a critical friend and by maintaining a self-reflective diary. Post-intervention data were gathered using the same questionnaire, through interviews conducted by a critical friend with four randomly selected student-teachers and research diaries. I have noticed measurable improvement in all three areas of concern that facilitated enhancement of both behavioural and cognitive engagements of student-teachers. However, I also realise that there is still room for improvement in the areas of motivating students to change their mindset about activity-based teaching and the need for me to show more interest in their personal and professional problems.     

加强院校研究:高等学校改革和发展的必然要求

2 1世纪我国高等教育的总体环境正发生着三大变化 :市场化、大众化和国际化。随着高校办学自主权的扩大和多元化高等教育买方市场的形成 ,高等学校的改革和发展迫切需要科学的院校研究作指导。当前我国的院校研究应从建立院校研究信息资料系统 ,进行高校管理中实际问题的科学研究和培养院校研究人员等三方面着手进行     

The effects of classroom and school environments on student engagement: the case of high school students in Abu Dhabi public schools

Drawing on data from a merged data set from a student survey and a parent survey that were conducted in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi in 2013, this article uses a multilevel framework to investigate the effects of individual characteristics and the classroom and school environments on high school students’ school engagement in a modernising education system that is different from Western ones. The results of the three-level model revealed that while students’ attributes remained strong predictors of their school engagement, the social and organisational environment of classrooms and school also greatly shaped the extent to which students emotionally and cognitively engaged with their school and learning. This study provided evidence to support the interactive nature of the impact of multilevel environments on student engagement. The policy and research implications were also discussed in the empirical context of Abu Dhabi.     

Linking theory and practice: teacher research in history and geography classrooms

The impact of scholarly research in education on the educational practice in secondary school is low. Academics examine problems that teachers in school perceive as irrelevant, want to publish in peer-reviewed journals instead of disseminate their work, and aim at generalizing insights rather than improving school practice. Teacher research might be a way to link educational academic research and teaching practice aiming at furthering professionalism in teaching, improving teaching practice and extending the knowledge base on teaching and learning. Four experienced secondary school teachers systematically investigated their classes, guided by a supervisor. Their materials as well as formal and informal communication with their supervisor and with each other were analysed. Related to their research projects, these teachers reported significant changes in their understanding of student learning and their teaching. They took different perspectives on teaching, looked at alternative solutions for problems, and reflected more deeply on their own teaching as well as teaching of their colleagues. Although each of them published an article in a peer-reviewed journal, they reported difficulties with extending the knowledge base on teaching and learning. Not only did they rarely share results with their colleagues in school because they were perceived as external researchers, they also struggled with writing journal articles and coping with peer reviews. We discuss the value of situated generalization as one of the implications and discuss how teacher research could lead to a new in-between research practice, linking theory and practice, and researchers and teachers.     

Using the value creation framework to capture knowledge co-creation and pathways to impact in a transnational community of practice in autism education

ABSTRACT

Although theories around Communities of Practice have gained significant ground in recent years and have become an important focus for organizational development, there is a gap in studies that investigate what members gain from participation in these communities. This paper explains how the value creation framework was implemented in a transnational research and development project in autism education by examining cycles of value creation and drawing on two types of data identified by Wenger and colleagues. The value creation framework is a theoretically driven framework to assess social learning in communities. Participants involved in the learning space were co-researchers engaged in a process of investigating, sharing and reflecting on their practice. The paper discusses the methodological challenges and strengths of using the value creation framework, with a particular focus on how insights and interactions led to subsequent changes in the practice of the participants. This work has the potential to make an important contribution to methods and analysis in assessing social learning and pathways to impact in participatory research and development projects more broadly.     

Performativity,work-related emotions and collective research identities in UK university education departments: an exploratory study

The paper reports the findings of an investigation into academic staff perceptions of a rapidly changing research work environment in UK university education departments. The study sheds light on the emotional landscape of an environment shaped by performance-driven change. Based on an integrated triplex framework of analysis, the study addresses the complex interrelationship between performativity, work-related emotions and collective research identities. The findings highlight concerns about the emotional impact of work intensification and barriers to collective research identities. However, there is also evidence of strong motivation and a performativity that is internally and intrinsically driven. The implications for research leaders are considered, both in terms of leadership strategy and the leadership of staff in building vibrant research cultures at a time of major change in the sector in response to global challenges and opportunities.     

Partnership and recognition in action research: understanding the practices and practice architectures for participation and change

Abstract

This article is the first and introductory article of this special issue. The article gives a societist account of the principles of partnership and recognition as they are encountered and experienced in practices in action research. A societist account of practices requires a social theory for understanding practices. Therefore, the article utilises the resources of a contemporary form of practice theory, the theory of practice architectures and ecologies of practices, to lay down the foundation for conceptualising partnerships and recognition. Specifically, it introduces the theory as a foundation for the other articles in this special issue which, as a collective, examine the cultural-discursive, material-economic and social-political arrangements that enable and constrain particular kinds of partnerships and recognition that exist or evolve in site-based education development. Additionally, the article presents theoretical considerations concerning the principles of partnership and recognition that emerge as enmeshments of one another which mutually form, reform and transform practices in action research.     

Exploring features of highly productive research contexts in Asia: a comparison of knowledge production in educational leadership in Israel and Hong Kong

A recent review of research identified two Asian societies that represented “positive outliers” in the production of published knowledge on educational leadership and management: Hong Kong and Israel. These were the only Asian societies that had produced a critical mass of publications in this field in international journals over the past two decades. The current study examined the nature of the publication corpus from Hong Kong and Israel in an effort to understand factors that may have contributed to this capacity for high research productivity. The results suggested that different strategies may have accounted for research capacity development in these two societies. Directions are identified for future research.     

In-service teacher training to provide psychosocial support and care in high-risk and high-need schools: school-based intervention partnerships

This article uses a South African case study to argue that postcolonial, emerging economy societies in transition often contain schools characterised as high risk and high need. Such schools require teachers to adapt to roles other than facilitating learning, such as psychosocial support and care, and which requires additional professional development. In the absence of structured teacher professional development programmes, alternatives are required to assist teachers. The paper describes a nine-year partnership between higher education researchers and teachers in high-risk and high-need schools in three South African provinces. The participatory reflection and action (PRA) study served as platform for a school-based intervention to assist in-service teachers to adapt to their additional responsibilities. Thematic analysis was used to identify the ways in which teachers’ adaptation to high risk benefitted from the programme, and self-determination theory is used to argue for a dynamic and interconnected relationship between the teachers’ demonstrated pathways to psychosocial support and care. The article argues that in socio-politically transforming societies where need is high for in-service teacher training and formal structures for teacher professional development may be limited, partnerships between researchers and teachers appear to be useful platforms for school-based interventions to support teacher resilience.     

Teacher research in Dutch professional development schools: perceptions of the actual and preferred situation in terms of the context,process and outcomes of research

This study aims to provide deeper insight into participants’ (e.g. school principals, teachers and student teachers) perceptions of the actual and preferred situation in terms of the context, process and outcomes of practice-based research through teachers-as-researchers at Dutch professional development schools. We interviewed eight school principals, 10 teachers, and six student teachers from four professional development schools in the Netherlands. A trend displayed across all types of participants was their focus on the context dimension of research. Moreover, respondents often focussed in rather general terms on the process of conducting teacher research within the school and the content of this research. A major difference exists between perceptions of the actual and preferred situation related to the effects of teacher research on pupils’ outcomes: despite the central focus of research on pupil learning and learning results, according to participants effects on pupil level were not (yet) reached at this moment. These results suggest that in Dutch professional development schools increased attention is needed both by researchers and practitioners on the process and outcome dimensions of doing teacher research.     

Using online tools in participatory research with adolescents to promote civic engagement and environmental mobilization: the WaterCircle (WC) project

Abstract

The WaterCircle (WC) project was implemented in a school, with young adolescents, to address environmental problems. Framed in a participatory research (PR) approach, this school-and-community based intervention includes the use of online tools through which environmental problems in the community are discussed within and by a group of students. Using a quasi-experimental design, with intervention and control groups, the present study involved 361 young adolescents, in grades 7 to 9, from a public school in the northern region of Portugal. Mixed methods were used for data collection and analysis, namely based on questionnaires administered in the pre- and post-test moments, as well as on students’ discourses produced in the classroom during planned activities. Statistically significant changes on self-efficacy were found for the experimental group, suggesting that the intervention program has the potential to raise young people’s empowerment regarding environmental issues. The WC program seems to foster students’ awareness of the socio-political dimensions of environmental problems, since they were able to identify different actors in the community who should be involved in the proposed solutions. Longer-term intervention is required to foster the impact of the PR on the students’ experience.     

A seamless blend of research and professional practice: dual coupling in engineering education

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this article is to challenge the idea of incompatibility between links to research and links to professional practice in engineering education. The concept of ‘academic drift’ is introduced, both related to drift towards theory and towards research links in the curriculum. Empirical data were collected through a case study conducted at a department in a research-intensive technical university, including semi-structured interviews with academic staff and an analysis of course syllabuses. The results show that the respondents perceive no incompatibility between including links to research and including links to professional practice in engineering education. Indeed, they state that the two aspects are mutually reinforcing and overlapping. Their rationales for incorporating such coupled links to research and professional practice include increased motivation among students and preparing them for employment. In conclusion, including research in the curriculum does not necessarily lead to academic drift; conversely, the curriculum in engineering education can consist of a seamless blend of research and professional practice.     

研究区如何贡献于大学的创新活动与区域经济发展——访麦迪逊威斯康辛大学研究区主任马克·伯格

大学研究区目前已经成为了世界各国促进大学创新能力提升及其知识成果转化为商业价值的主要平台。与世界其他国家相比,美国大学的研究区无论是在创新成果的数量和质量,还是在发展模式的多样化方面,都表现出了很大的优势。通过与麦迪逊威斯康辛大学研究区主任的访谈,可以使我们更加深刻的理解大学研究区存在的意义,它是如何繁荣大学的知识创新与技术转移活动。面对高等教育系统的变化及全球化的挑战,大学研究区又将如何对这些外部变革作出回应。     

Collaborative action research between schools,a continuing professional development centre for teachers and the university: a case study in Spain

This article describes a collaborative action research project developed over the course of the 2011/12 academic year in the Faculty of Education at Cordoba University (Spain). The RIECU school–continuing professional development centre for teachers–university learning network is part of this research process. The aim is to create and consolidate a community of practice made up of continuing professional development advisers to teachers, infant education teachers, university students who are training to become infant education teachers and university teaching staff. The most relevant findings, which respond to the questions raised, are: the action research conducted indicates that teamwork between teacher, adviser, researcher and university student is an effective strategy to facilitate the acquisition of professional competences among student teachers; and student-teachers involved in the case study have evolved in their conception and approach to childhood and have had the opportunity to learn by modelling the professional conduct of their mentor teachers.