Session Information
02 SES 08 B, Teachers & Trainers IV: Training
Paper Session
Contribution
The paper addresses teacher training based on participation in action research in a current project about dropout among young adults in VET. The paper deals with a particular kind of action research, called ‘research circle’. The paper concerns the way the method of research circles has been used in the project in which researchers and teachers in VET cooperate, the advantages of employing research circles, and the interrelation of practice-based knowledge and research based knowledge.
Action research has been regarded as a way to bridge the gap between research and practice. (Coleman, 2015). The gap between researchers and practitioner, between research-based knowledge and practice-based knowledge, has been discussed in a number of academic articles. Some have argued that the gap is fruitful and must be maintained, the two positions (research and practice) adding different perspectives to action, a pragmatic and a critical perspective (Kvernbekk, 2012). Some regard the gap as a serious problem, which must be bridged, in order that practitioners gain access to research-based knowledge (Ulvik, Riese, & Roness, 2018). A precondition for filling the gap is an equality between researchers and practitioners in the social interaction (Reason & Bradbury, 2008).
A criteria for qualified action research is that the research must produce new knowledge or new theory. The research process must produce results with significance (Bradbury, 2015). Through reflection on practical experiences and by integrating research-based knowledge the teachers become more qualified (Luttenberg, et.al., 2017).
The research circle is a specific way of organizing the meeting between practitioners and researchers, the aim being to develop practice as well as creating new knowledge for both practitioners and researchers. The work in research circles is organized as scheduled meetings (circle meetings) at which the practitioners present their experiences and the researchers present the results of their analyses. The project about drop out has established three research circles each including practitioners from 4-5 VET colleges.
The activities in the research circles qualify the practitioners as well as the researchers. Thus, the research circle facilitates a learning process as well as a research process. The research circle can be characterized as ’participatory action learning and action research’ (Zuber-Skerritt, 2018). The research circle shares similarities with ‘learning circles’ in the way that both kind of research activities aim to close the gap between practice and theory (Johansson, 2017). However, a learning circle focuses on how an object of learning is constituted and how it can be taught (Thorsten, 2017), while the aim in a research circle is to improve practice by integrating practical and research-based activities.
The paper deals with two research questions:
- How can the interplay between teachers and researchers be improved by using research circles as action research?
- How can the teachers use research-based knowledge to qualify practice-based knowledge and to improve their actions?
Method
The methodology includes two sets of data. At the end of the third and the fifth seminars in the research circles, the teachers were asked to reflect on their learning outcome from participating in the research circles, focusing on what they had learnt and how they had learnt. Firstly, the teachers should each write down the answers to the two questions. Secondly, they should discuss their answers with the colleague from their own school, the aim being to elaborate their perceptions. Thirdly, the various perceptions were presented in a plenary session and summed up by the researchers. The data includes five summaries. The second set of data includes interviews with the teachers; five individual interviews and seven group interviews were conducted, the groups consisting of 2-3 teachers. The teachers were asked to describe their outcome from participating in the research circles. Hereafter, the teachers were systematically asked about specific possible types of outcome. The interviews had a duration of half to one hour were recorded, and summarised, central passages in quotation. The two sets of data were analysed and thematised in relation to the two research questions.
Expected Outcomes
The results show that the teachers develop and implement practice-based knowledge. Based on this knowledge the teachers improve their practical actions related to reducing student dropout. An important factor of improving the teachers’ practical actions is the continuous work in the research circles. Being forced constantly and systematically to reflect on their practical experiences and sharing these experiences with teachers from other colleges the teachers developed their competences in relation to reducing drop out. The results also show that the teachers are keen on obtaining research-based knowledge. However, while using this knowledge only as a conceptual framework, the teachers do not apply research-based knowledge in their actions at the colleges. The primary role of the researchers has been to maintain, systematize and stimulate the developmental process, the aim being that the teachers apply their experiences and utilize experiences and knowledge developed through exchanges with teachers from the other VET colleges in the research circles. The conclusion is that the method of research circles is a way of qualifying teachers through an interrelation of practice and research.
References
Bradbury, H. (2015). Introduction: How to Situate and Define Action Research. In H. Bradbury (Ed.), The SAGE Handbook of Action Research. London: Sage. Brydon-Miller, M., Prudente, M. S., & Aguja, S. E. (2017). Lighting a Spark, Seeing the Light: Educational Action Research as Transformative Practice. In D. Wyse, N. Selwyn, E. Smith, & L. E. Suter (Eds.), The BERA/SAGE Handbook of Educational Research (Vol. 1). London: Sage. Coleman, G. (2015). Core Issues in Modern Epistemologi for Action Researchers: Dancing Between Knower and Known. In H. Bradbury (Ed.), The SAGE Handbook of Action Research (pp. 392-400). Los Angeles: SAGE reference. Johansson, P. (2017). Learning study as a clinical research practice to generate knowledge about the learning of historical primary source analysis. Educational Action Research, 25(1), 167-181. doi:10.1080/09650792.2016.1270224 Kvernbekk, T. (2012). Argumentation in Theory and Practice: Gap or Equilibrium? Informal Logic, 32(3), 288-305. doi:10.22329/il.v32i3.3534 Luttenberg, J., Meijer, P., & Oolbekkink-Marchand, H. (2017). Understanding the complexity of teacher reflection in action research. Educational Action Research, 25(1), 88-102. doi:10.1080/09650792.2015.1136230 Reason, P., & Bradbury, H. (2008). Introduction. In P. Reason & H. Bradbury (Eds.), The SAGE Handbook of Action Research Participative Inquiry and Practice. Los Angeles: Sage Publications. Thorsten, A. (2017). Generating knowledge in a Learning Study – from the perspective of a teacher researcher. Educational Action Research, 25(1), 140-154. doi:10.1080/09650792.2016.1141108 Ulvik, M., Riese, H., & Roness, D. (2018). Action research – connecting practice and theory. Educational Action Research, 26(2), 273-287. doi:10.1080/09650792.2017.1323657 Zuber-Skerritt, O. (2018). An educational framework for participatory action learning and action research (PALAR). Educational Action Research, 26(4), 513-532. doi:10.1080/09650792.2018.1464939
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