Main Content
Session Information
01 SES 03 B, Learning through Collaboration
Parallel Paper Session
Contribution
The idea of the teacher as researcher (Stenhouse 1975) and the idea that teachers should be research-minded as part of their professionalism is fast becoming an unchallenged element of educational discourse in Europe and beyond (Cochran-Smith & Lytle 1999; Kemmis 2010). In our view, teachers can improve their professionalism through research the best if and when it helps them to acquire a more reflective and interpreting stance towards their own teaching, including reflection on the aims of education. In this contribution we report on a design-based research of a course for teachers working in secondary schools in the Netherlands, intended to enhance teachers’ professionalism in this way.
We work from a view of the aims of education in which not the efficient transmission of knowledge, but the subjectivation of students is central (Biesta 2010). This has consequences both for the importance of reflection on research questions and interpretation of results we emphasized in the course, and for the way we conducted our own research into the results of the course.
Understanding these relations led us to formulate two basic principles for teacher research. Firstly, when teachers research their own practice, the questions they ask should be guided by a view of the aims of their education effort. Many innovation processes concentrate on the how of education and take the what and for what for granted. Teachers usually do not think much about aims either. If teachers use research techniques without reflecting on aims, this emphasis will only be strengthened. Therefore we are of the opinion that teachers learning to do research also need to learn to think about the aims of education (Crockett 2002). This is necessary if learning to do research is to contribute to the professional identity development of teachers. The second basic principle is that learning to do research is to acquire the means, in terms of knowledge, skill and stance, to reflect on your own teaching and interpret what happens in the classroom – in other words, to enhance your professional identity as a teacher (cf. Feldman & Weiss 2010; Kelchtermans, 2005; Day et al., 2006). Such thinking (at least in principle) requires the ability, supported by adequate theory, to see and understand your own practice as a teacher in the context of the school, the neighbourhood, the school system, and ultimately, of society as a whole (Kincheloe 2003). Teachers should have a critical awareness of the praxis in which they participate. To clarify this for the teachers, we decided to differentiate between various forms of research-mindedness. Tentatively, we call these forms inquisitiveness, research awareness, and research competence.
Our basic research question was, What are some possible concrete translations of our theoretical principles in educational practice of the course which would enhance teachers’ insight into these principles? The answers to this question from each cycle of course design were used to inform a new cycle of the course.
Method
Expected Outcomes
References
Biesta, G. (2010) Good education in an age of measurement: Ethics, politics, democracy. Boulder, Co: Paradigm Publishers. Cochran-Smith, M., & Lytle, S.L. (1999). The teacher research movement: a decade later. Educational Researcher, 28 (7) 15-25. Crockett, M. (2002). Inquiry as professional development: creating dilemmas through teachers’ work. Teaching and teacher education, 18, 609-624. Day, C., Kington, A., Stobart, G. & Sammons, P. (2006). The personal and professional selves of teachers: stable and unstable identities. British Educational Research Journal 32(4), 601-616. Dreier, O. (2008). Psychotherapy in everyday life. Cambridge etc.: Cambridge University Press. Feldman, A. & Weiss, T. (2010). Understanding change in teachers’ways of being through collaborative action research: a cultural-historical activity theory analysis. Educational Action Research 18(1) 29-55. Kelchtermans,G. (2005). Teachers’emotions in educational reforms: Self-understanding, vulnerable commitment and micropolitical literacy. Teaching and Teacher Education 21, 995-1006. Kemmis, S. (2010). Research for praxis: knowing doing. Pedagogy, Culture & Society, 18 (1) 9-27. Kincheloe, J. (2003). Teachers as researchers. Qualitative inquiry as a path to empowerment. Second edition. London: RoutledgeFalmer. Stenhouse, L. (1975). An introduction to curriculum research and development. Oxford: Heinemann. Van den Akker, J., Gravemeijer, K., McKenney, S., & Nieveen, N. (2006). Educational design research. London: Routledge.
Programme by Networks, ECER 2021
00. Central Events (Keynotes, EERA-Panel, EERJ Round Table, Invited Sessions)
Network 1. Continuing Professional Development: Learning for Individuals, Leaders, and Organisations
Network 2. Vocational Education and Training (VETNET)
Network 3. Curriculum Innovation
Network 4. Inclusive Education
Network 5. Children and Youth at Risk and Urban Education
Network 6. Open Learning: Media, Environments and Cultures
Network 7. Social Justice and Intercultural Education
Network 8. Research on Health Education
Network 9. Assessment, Evaluation, Testing and Measurement
Network 10. Teacher Education Research
Network 11. Educational Effectiveness and Quality Assurance
Network 12. LISnet - Library and Information Science Network
Network 13. Philosophy of Education
Network 14. Communities, Families and Schooling in Educational Research
Network 15. Research Partnerships in Education
Network 16. ICT in Education and Training
Network 17. Histories of Education
Network 18. Research in Sport Pedagogy
Network 19. Ethnography
Network 20. Research in Innovative Intercultural Learning Environments
Network 22. Research in Higher Education
Network 23. Policy Studies and Politics of Education
Network 24. Mathematics Education Research
Network 25. Research on Children's Rights in Education
Network 26. Educational Leadership
Network 27. Didactics – Learning and Teaching
Network 28. Sociologies of Education
Network 29. Reserach on Arts Education
Network 30. Research on Environmental und Sustainability Education
Network 31. Research on Language and Education (LEd)
Network 32. Organizational Education
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