Session Information
Contribution
Research undertaken in a vibrant research culture has always been an essential element of academic life, but Higher Education Institutions established as colleges of teacher education and now incorporated as university departments face particular challenges. Throughout Europe there is recognition that in the past teacher education institutions have not made research a central focus (Buchberger et al, Green Paper on Teacher Education in Europe, Thematic Network on Teacher Education in Europe, 2000) and that this should change; for example, research on teaching and teacher education is now a priority for European Commission action schemes (ibid., p. 68). 'State of the art' knowledge suggests that reflective teacher education and action research are becoming increasingly important in the European bid to improve the quality of teacher education: there is a European-wide emphasis on continuing professional development for both teachers and teacher educators, and on strengthening links between research and practice.Erstwhile college of education staff possess considerable advantages for their pursuit of practice-based research. As education practitioners as well as researchers they are well placed to investigate what is relevant and feed their findings back into practice. They will have built and maintain close links with schools and colleges, so have networks of teachers and students who are potential participants in their research. Yet their research output remains patchy. Why? What challenges does active engagement in research pose for teacher education institutions? What do staff see as hindering their research, and what would help them? Where there is no long-standing tradition of academic research, how can research interests be identified and fostered? And perhaps most importantly, what visions do staff hold for themselves of the way research should be? The research question for this study is 'What kind of a research culture do we want? (And how is it possible?)' The study is a report of on-going action research. This is collaborative self-study, self study being an approach to action research in which the researchers are fully acknowledged as one of the subjects of research, as well as being the researchers (Bodone, Gujonsdottir and Dalmau, 2004, Griffiths and Poursanidou, 2005). The study is mindful of social justice: this is research with and for rather than research on or about (Noffke, 1997; Griffiths, 1998; Reason and Bradbury, 2001). The approach is founded on the view that the intention to develop a new ethos in a formal educational setting depends on the full participation of (most of) its members if it is to be successful. This view is at least as old as Dewey (1916) and has been a central tenet of management of change research for many years (e.g. Fullan, 1991; Reynolds, 1991). In spite of this widespread understanding, collaborative action research to create such change is surprisingly rare in formal educational contexts, though participatory action research is more common in informal education (though see Walker, 2001). In the research reported here, a mixture of methods is used. These include the usual reflective journals, interviews, questionnaires and group discussions, but also more creative methods: e.g. photographs, poster-making, visualisations and group discussions based on/recorded by drawings. Since this is action research it is necessarily on-going. The conference paper will report on the success (or not) of the approach, and on some of the answers provided by one Scottish teacher education department. In the research reported here, a mixture of methods is used. These include the usual reflective journals, interviews, questionnaires and group discussions, but also more creative methods: e.g. photographs, poster-making, visualisations. group discussions based on/recorded by drawings. Since this is action research it is necessarily ongoing. The paper will report on the success (or not) of the approach, and on some of the answers provided by one Scottish teacher education department.Buchberger et al, (2000). Green Paper on Teacher Education in Europe. Thematic Network on Teacher Education in Europe.Bodone et al, (2004). Collaboration in self-study. In J. J. Loughran, M. L. E. Hamilton, V. LaBoskey & T. Russell (Eds.), The international handbook of self-study of teaching practices (pp. 743-784). Kluwer.Griffiths, M. and Poursanidou, K. (2005). 'A self-study of two collaborations: factors affecting success', Studying Teacher Education: A journal of self-study of teacher education practices, Volume 1, Issue 2. Noffke, S. E. (1997). Professional, personal and political dimensions of action research. In M. W. Apple (Ed.), Review of research in education (pp.305-3343). AERA. Griffiths, M. (1998). Educational Research for Social Justice. OU. Reason, P. and Bradbury, H. (2001). Participative Inquiry and Practice. London: Sage Publications.Fullan, M. (1991). The Meaning of Educational Change. Teachers College. Reynolds, D. (1991). Doing Educational Research in Treliw. In G. Walford (Ed.), Doing Educational Research, pp. 193-219. Routledge.Walker, M (Ed.) (2001). Reconstructing Professionalism in University Teaching. SRHE and OU.European journal, e.g. European journal of teacher education.
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