In the practice research tradition, the researchers view as a spectator vis-à-vis as a participant when researching practice/praxis is highlighted and problematized (e.g. Kemmis, 2009; Reid & Green, 2009). Practice regarded as an object external to the researcher observing it has been common in educational research (Kemmis, 2010). According to e.g Reid and Green (2009) it is rather universal that (school)teachers appear not interested in academic reports though they seem to consider educational research as removed from classroomreality or more or less useless. Some teachers may even be suspicious of academic interest as they can feel used and measured (ibid. p173). This lack of trust and absence of research is also highlighted as a problem in Swedish schools (e.g in a newspaper from one of the Swedish teachers’ unions in Januari, 2011).  Hence, a question to raise is how  educational research and teacher community can overcome this lack of trust to get access to teachers’ practice. How can researchers get “inside” the teacherpractice without teachers feeling used or judged by the research? How can researchers and teachers critically scrutinize and develop educational practices? Is it possible to understand research-practice and teacher-practice as related and interdependent? The purpose of this paper is to show how a researcher in collaboration and negotiation with teachers had to re-orient her understandings about educational (research-) practice in an ongoing case study.

Within the practice research tradition it seems more or less expressed that one becomes a better practitioner if one’s practice (e.g. teaching or nursing) includes researching (one’s own practice) (Reid & Green, 2009; Carr & Kemmis, 1986; Rönnerman, 2008). As an example of this; (academic) researchers are writing about teachers’ professional development and how teachers are improving their practice via becoming “teacher-researchers” (e.g. Comber, 2005; Gustafson, 2008). If so, does that also include the practice of researching – do researchers become better researchers when exploring her/his (own) practice? Does that make one to a “researcher-researcher”? Kemmis (2009) emphasis that “/…/researching praxis means to re-orient oneself in the practice of the practice, to re-orient one’s understandings of the practice, and to re-orient the conditions under which one practices.” (p12). Hence, educational researcher’s re-orientation may be one contribution to practice/praxis research theory. Praxis is here understood as Kemmis defines it, both as a “history- making action” and as “action that is morally-committed, and oriented and informed by traditions in a field” (Kemmis, 2010; Kemmis & Smith, 2008).

Focus in educational research is often on the Other’s (so called practitioner i.e. teacher) enhancement and how (action-)research may nurture it (e.g. Smeets & Ponte, 2009). However, the purpose of this paper is to highlight the re-orientation of understandings of the (research-) practice and how this re-orientation may nurture educational practice/praxis. Situated in a context of a Swedish secondary school within a formal teacher team trying ‘peer group supervision’ to develop their practice, the case study explores the process and content of ‘peer group supervision’ related to educational practice/praxis and professional development.

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