Studying attitude to mathematics

Teachers' attitude to mathematics is increasingly put forward as a dominant factor in children's attitudes to mathematics. Our intention at the beginning of this study was to produce instruments for teachers to use in probing student attitudes as part of their personal professional research and development. To this end we undertook eight small studies of attitude carried out across the educational phases, which we report on here. Reflecting on them led us to challenge the very construct of attitude. We are also led to challenge the cause-and-effect model underlying much attitudinal research. We now see attitude as at best a complex notion, and we conjecture that perhaps it is not a quality of an individual but rather a construct of an observer's desire to formulate a story to account for observations. The difficulty in making attitudinal research precise, and in testing the validity of attitudinally based conjectures, lies therefore in conceptual and hence methodological issues.     

Closing the Circle: Action research partnerships towards better learning and teaching in schools

This paper addresses the call for evidence-based practice by describing an initiative in school-university partnership that has led to the establishment of a community of teacher researchers whose investigations provide the evidence upon which they make decisions to improve their teaching. This is a new way of approaching the idea of evidence-based practice, where the evidence comes through personal testimony that 'rings true'. In this mode of research the processes of research are shared so that the outcomes of the research may be disseminated through 'transferability' rather than 'generalisability'. The first part describes the partnership, which involved the adaptation of existing structures in the school (staff development) and the university (accreditation) to create a new more democratic, more productive relationship. The second part of the paper describes the work of one teacher who applied the principles from her own learning within the teacher group to her management of her students' learning in such a way that the excitement of independent learning that had been a feature of the teacher group was transferred to the students. The third part of the paper addresses the politics of such research and makes a case for including teachers' and students' knowledge of their own practice as evidence to inform policy development.     

Science education and worldview

Is there a place for Indigenous Knowledge in the science curriculum for a Zulu community in rural Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa? This article argues “yes,” based on a participative research and development project that discovered relevant science learning in a Zulu community. Among community concerns for relevant factual and performative knowledge, we found that culture and worldview are critical to community identity, to visioning educational outcomes, and to learning in school science. Cultural practices may contribute to pedagogy and curriculum; curriculum, in turn, may affirm cultural practices. Further, worldview needs to be understood as an aspect of knowledge creation. By understanding key aspects of an African worldview, science educators can contribute to both meaningful science education and community well-being. By fostering culture and worldview, a rural community can make a unique contribution to science education.     

Using ‘Fictional’ Story in Teacher Research

A deputy headteacher in a mixed comprehensive school of some 1200 students, aged 12-18 years describes her responsibilities, which include ‘continuing professional development’. She began an action research project in 1991 on how to develop not only her role in becoming more reflective in her day to day practice, but also how to develop opportunities for teachers to take time out of everyday ‘busyness’ in order to reflect on and improve pedagogical practices. She set up an action research group for teachers in school and many of the projects undertaken were validated by Kingston University, thus enabling teachers to gain a postgraduate Diploma in Action Research as part of an in-house course, in which teachers chose their own focus for development, and learnt to support and critique each other's work. As part of the methodology they used ‘story’ to help come to a focus, to put their thoughts in order, to clarify what they were thinking and to move forward their professional development. What follows is one account of how story was used to begin to develop thinking.     

Shifting the Leadership Focus from Control to Empowermenta case study

This is an autobigraphical study of my leadership role in relation to the setting up of a teachers' group of action researchers in a secondary school. The intention was to provide the conditions and support necessary within school for teachers to take ownership of the development of their classroom or management practice. The paper shows how I used 'story' as an aid to self reflection, modelling the way I encouraged teachers to use it in their action research studies.