Teachers as Researchers: A discovery of Their Emerging Role and Impact Through a School-University Collaborative Research (original) (raw)
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Teachers as Researchers: Case studies in educational research
The Teacher as Researcher: Case studies in educational research, 2014
What does it mean to be a ‘teacher researcher’? This book explores this question by showcasing examples of what teachers are doing when they act as a teacher researcher. While classroom teachers have always collected information and read to improve their teaching knowledge the concept of ‘teacher as researcher’, in the traditional researcher sense, is a relatively new concept in schools and classrooms. This book showcases how teachers from across the globe are contributing to the field of educational knowledge by acting as a ‘teacher researcher’. The central premise of this book is that when teachers act as a teacher researcher they engage in a powerful professional development strategy: one that increases their individual and collective teaching capacities, which in turn, engages them in school reforms and innovations which enable teachers to deal with short and long term educational challenges.
Teachers As Researchers and the Development of Teacher Professionalism
2011
The engagement of teachers in research has long been advocated as a potential way to develop teacher professionalism (Cochran-Smith & Lytle, 1993, 1999; MacLean & Mohr, 1999). However, it is still a rather new concept to teachers to conduct research in a classroom setting in Hong Kong. In this paper, the influence of a school-university partnered project on the development of teacher professionalism has been examined. The project aimed to promote collaborative IPjBL. Four local primary schools have participated and specifically these teachers from four different subject areas – Chinese, General Studies and Information Technology teachers and teacher librarians. With the aid of Web 2.0 technologies, they have worked collaboratively in equipping their students with various knowledge and skills across disciplines by implementing IPjBL. It has been found that the school-university partnered project enhances the development of teacher professionalism. The culture of teacher-as-research h...
Teachers as researchers in a major research project: Experience of input and output
Teaching and Teacher Education, 2009
Teachers have long participated in collaborative research. However, they have generally had direct stakes in the outcomes. Teachers in the Early Professional Learning (EPL) Project used their insider status to gather data not directly related to their own practice. Lessons for integrating a group of teacher-researchers into a major project are discussed. Some of these are practical, but also cover their unexpectedly experienced initial isolation within the project team, that has relevance for both forming and theorising communities of enquiry. An outline for a new concept of teacher-researcher begins to emerge that may influence the direction of educational research.
Opinion Article Teacher-research: Agency of Practical Knowledge and Professional Development
Journal of Language and Education, 2020
Educational research has generally attracted negative criticism for its generalisability, contextual independence, and inadequacy in addressing teachers' practical problems in their unique educational settings. Moreover, as classrooms are always complicated environments, teachers are therefore encouraged to become active researchers of their own classrooms in order to maximize their instructional performance and provide optimal learning opportunities for their students within their particular context. To promote teachers' self-inquiry into their own practices, this paper will first define what teacher research is, followed by arguments for its need and significance in the teaching profession. Suggestions to help teachers become engaged in classroom inquiry are provided after commonly reported difficulties are reviewed. This paper is expected to provide considerable insights for classroom teachers as well as school administrators in their search for practical, concrete, and contextually-rich knowledge.
Professional Development in Education, 2020
A prominent phenomenon in education in Europe and internationally is the demand for research-based education, which is also the case in Sweden, the context of this study. Therefore, greater academic demands have been placed on teachers, which can present a distinctive challenge for teachers who were educated when teacher education prioritised practical teacher training rather than academic training. Therefore, it is especially important to explore what and how experienced teachers learn and develop when moving towards a research-based education. The theoretical framework builds on communities of practice and social learning. The empirical data consists of written reflections from 50 teachers in preschool, compulsory and upper secondary school, who participated in action research projects that aimed to help build research-based education. The findings show that the teachers’ professional learning entailed changes in the ways they think, act and relate to others in three areas: teaching, research and collaboration. The study offers insights into the importance of a professional development process being based on a bottom-up perspective, collaborative, context-specific and integrated in teachers’ work. Lastly, the study points to the benefit of engagement on multiple levels – principals, lead teachers, teachers and researchers – to achieve lasting success in building research-based education.
Professional Development in Education, 2020
A culture of inquiry in schools, where teachers work collaboratively and inquiry based, can contribute to the quality of education. It is assumed that teachers of research-intensive teacher education programmes can play an important role in creating such a culture. Little is known, however, about how these teachers function. This case-study research investigates how primary school teachers of research-intensive teacher education programmes in the Netherlands contribute to a culture of inquiry and which factors influence this. In five schools semi-structured interviews were conducted with a teacher and her/his school leader. Also school policy documents were analysed and team meetings were observed. The teachers contributed to a culture of inquiry in their schools in three ways, by 1) initiating collective critical reflection on school policy, 2) sharing knowledge with colleagues and 3) initiating innovations. According to the teachers, self-efficacy in collaboration with colleagues in inquiry-based working and a formal research position in the school facilitates the contribution they can make to a culture of inquiry.