Practitioner Research and Professional Development in Education

This book aims to support and prepare practitioners to undertake small-scale inquiries and research investigations. The processes of research and inquiry-based learning help teachers come to terms with the complexities and challenges of teaching as their responsibilities widen to include the notion of the teacher as researcher. This major shift in responsibilities has focused on teachers using and doing research, with a particular emphasis on examining how teachers' research can impact on teaching and learning. This emphasis is clearly related to the drive to raise pupil achievement and to related areas such as monitoring progress, performance management, inspection and collegia. The idea for this book grew from the authors' teaching experience and day-to-day professional work with teachers and others in the caring professions. The book aims to open up forms of research for practitioners so as to develop critical appraisal and analysis skills appropriate to professional contexts. It will suggest activities and give support for doing and evaluating teaching by using authentic examples of teachers research into professional issues. It aims to stimulate and promote teachers' narrative writing and autobiographical approaches to researching their professional lives. It also tackles quantitative data management and analysis procedures that are relevant for teachers and other professionals. Following a preface and foreword (Stephen Newman), this book is divided into the following sections: (1) "Research Traditions in Education" (Introduction; Two Crude Traditions; Two More Subtle Traditions; Reflecting Reflection; and Notes); (2) "Researching Professional Development" (The Political Context for Teacher Research and Development; Your Professional Development; Interrogating the Value of Professional Development Activities You Have Experienced; Controlling Your Professional Development; Teacher Researchers; and Further Reading); (3) "Professional Identity: Who Am I? What Kind of Practitioner Am I?" (The Moving Image; Exploring Your Professional Development; Telling Your Story; Summary; and Further Reading); (4) "Identifying an Area for Research" (Introduction; The First Moves; Individual Ways of Approaching Research; and Concluding Remarks); (5) "Finding, Reviewing and Managing Literature" (Types of Literature; Managing Literature; Searching for Literature; Reviewing Your Literature; and Further Reading); (6) "Which Research Techniques To Use?" (Research: What Research?; Reflective Writing, Diaries, Logs and Journals; Biography, Stories and Fictional Critical Writing; Observation; Interviewing; Analysing the Data from Interviews; Using Questionnaires; Conclusions; and Further Reading); (7) "Critical Friendship, Critical Community and Collaboration" (The Lonely Researcher?; How Does Critical Friendship Work?; Critical Community; Mentors as Support for Research; and Further Reading); (8) "Qualitative Data Analysis" (Introduction; The Broader Picture; Techniques for Analysing Qualitative Data; and Further Reading); (9) "Quantitative Data Management, Analysis and Presentation of Questionnaire Surveys" (Introduction; Data Management and Coding; Data Analysis; Data Presentation; and Further Reading); (10) "Writing Up, Reporting and Publishing Your Research" (Writing Up: Genres, Purposes and Audiences; Legal and Ethical Considerations; Writing for a Report; The Research Process; Writing for Publication; Using Literature; The Process of Writing; Pen-Portraits: An Alternative Genre of Writing; Concluding Remarks; and Further Reading); and (11) "Evaluating and Disseminating Research" (The Professional Agenda; The Mechanics of Evaluation; and Concluding Remarks). The following are also included: (1) "Resources for Research" (Harvard Referencing: Questions and Answers; Summary Report from the Friars Primary School: "Improving Literacy: Intervention for Low-Achieving Pupils"; and Further Reading); (2) References; and (3) Index.