I am a teacher; I am also a ‘newly minted’ education researcher… and I think the latter very much supports and enhances the former. I am currently considering applying for a position in my school that brings education research into the ‘everyday life’ of teachers and students… but I am very wary of the baggage associated with ‘research’ amongst many teachers. I digress from my letter of application to some reflection on why I think all teachers need to be researchers.

Firstly, most teachers do not generally live in the same professional space as researchers, and much education research is often viewed by teachers as irrelevant to immediate practice. There is a disconnect between much education theory and practice, with research often being viewed as flying “off into the blue skies of ‘theory for theories sake’”.[i] This perceived relationship promotes a gap between the production and consumption of research findings. Reimer[ii] suggests this gap is due to perceptions relating to the ownership of research:

as long as college faculty members are the (almost) sole producers of research, and school teachers and administrators are expected to be (almost) entirely consumers of research, the gap will remain, and no attempts to persuade or intimidate school people to use research more than they do will be effective.

Kincheloe[iii] argues that “teachers must join the culture of researchers if a new level of educational rigor [sic] and quality is ever to be achieved”. In this I am suggesting that teachers then need to know how to ‘research’ in a manner that is authentic, and with this, effectively (accurately) interpret and critique research findings with regard to their applicability to their site and specific context.

How do we get teachers to enter the research space and engage with education research? How do we ‘smooth the gap’ in the ownership of research?

Enter, action research.

Action research sees theory and practice as interdependent and complimentary phases of a change process aiming to develop practical knowledge of a context or situation. It begins with everyday experience, and is concerned with the development of actionable knowledge, rather than academic theory. Developing such knowledge requires democratic, collaborative and inclusive engagement with all participants through shared practical and theoretical discourse and reflection. Reason and Bradbury[iv] state that action research is:

only possible with, for and by persons and communities, ideally involving all stakeholders both in the questioning and sense-making that informs the research, and in the action which is its focus.

This process informs change, and at the same time is informed by that change. Practitioners of action research link practice and the analysis of practice into a productive and continuously developing sequence, which link researchers and research participants into a single community of interested colleagues.

Action research pursues a flexible and cyclical process that alternates action with critical reflection. It is a dynamic process in which the situation of the context changes as a consequence of deliberate intervention; emergent processes are not seen as distractions, but as central to the research process. Reason and Bradbury[v] see it as a “living process” which cannot be predetermined; rather, it changes and develops as communities deepen their understanding of the issues under investigation. It draws upon many ways of knowing through this process whereby new communicative spaces in which dialogue and development can flourish. Through collaborative dialogue, all views are taken as a contribution to understanding the situation, and various accounts and critiques create plural structures. Becoming aware of our perceptual biases through reflexive critique, and submitting them to dialectic critique, provides a way for greater understanding of a context.

Perhaps more than any form of education research, action research can shift the ownership of research solely from the academic community. It can generate research findings that directly relate to the problems teachers face, and is concerned with teachers critiquing their own practice with a view to applying understandings gained to improve future practice. It can empower teachers in that it allows them to research into their own pedagogical choices within the classroom that specifically work to meet the needs of all involved. This makes such research more persuasive, authoritative, relevant and accessible to teachers. The locus of control is in essence returned to the classroom level, thereby enhancing the applicability and effectiveness of research.

Action research has the potential to greatly enhance teaching practice as teachers adopt critical stances on education matters. Cain[vi] argues that action research is “a natural extension of a teacher’s professionalism, one where reflection and development of one’s practice is crucial” – not an addition to it. Research by teachers for teachers affirms the professionalism of teaching by giving teachers a voice in their own professional development.

As action research can provide context-specific professional development, it can be bound to sustainable improvement in teaching and learning. Sustainable improvement requires the continued critical examination of practice between teachers and their knowledge, beliefs and actions. It relies on teachers engaging in dialogue with other teachers about their perspectives and reflections on an issue, and their theories and justifications on action. Robinson and Lai[vii] argue that this is “more likely to foster significant and worthwhile improvements to teacher practice than attempts to disseminate academic research and theory to practitioners”. Such a culture of inquiry is necessary if sustainable improvements to specific contexts and situations are to be made. Zuber-Skerritt[viii] sees this level of inquiry as essential to successful organisational development today:

I believe that in the next five to ten years, action research will become one of the most appropriate methodologies in professional and organisational development, and the most relevant to all sectors of society, because of the increasingly rapid change under way in all spheres of life. Organisations will no longer be able to rely on external experts and knowledge recorded in books, which is anyway too quickly outdated. Organisations will have to rely more and more on the collaborative abilities of their own people to solve problems swiftly, to network, and to anticipate change.

Through action research, teachers challenge positivistic standards and move away from a ‘this is what the expert researchers have found – now go do it model’, to one in which they explore and attempt to interpret the learning processes of their classrooms, and analyse and contemplate the power of each other’s ideas to uncover best practice.

Ultimately, action research can provide a powerful model to support growth in the understanding and awareness of one’s own practice and context through critical and informed reflection. Perhaps by becoming researchers ourselves, we can begin to understand the nature of research all the more. Maybe this is the best space to start encouraging teachers to see the value of research – encouraging them to becoming researchers themselves? We always say that the most effective way of learning is by doing…

Back to the application…

[i] Green, L. (2010). Response. British Journal of Music Education, 27(1), p. 89

[ii] Reimer, B. (1992). An agenda for music teacher education, part II. Journal of Music Teacher Education 1(2), p. 10

[iii] Kincheloe, J. L. (2012). Teachers as researchers: Qualitative inquiry as a path to empowerment. Routledge. p. 18

[iv] Reason, P. & Bradbury, H. (Eds.) (2008). Handbook of Action Research. Sage.

[v] ibid.

[vi] Cain, T. (2008). The characteristics of action research in music education. British Journal of Music Education, 21(2), p. 284

[vii] Robinson, V. M. & Lai, M. K. (2006). Practitioner research for educators: A guide to improve classrooms and schools. Prentice Hall. p. 189

[viii] Zuber-Skerritt, O. (2009). Action research and action learning: Songlines through interviews. Sense Publishers. p. 49

Photo credit: Pixabay – Alexas Fotos