The idea that teachers should be research-minded is an important element of educational discourse (Stenhouse 1975; Cochran-Smith & Lytle 1999; Kemmis 2010; Schildkamp 2013). Many innovation processes concentrate on the how of education and take the what and for what for granted. We are of the opinion that teachers learning to do research involves thinking about the aims of education (Crockett 2002). 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 requires the ability to see and understand your own practice as a teacher in relation to the life of your pupils and in the context of the school system and society as a whole (Kincheloe 2003).

Our research group at Windesheim has been involved in short term projects in which teachers conduct research in their practice as a way of enhancing the quality of teaching in their schools and as a way of developing their inquisitiveness and research competence facilitating a reflective stance on their educational aims and practices. Some of the conclusions: participants learned about research competence and an inquisitive stance. At least half of the participants made a start with an intrinsic connection between doing research and reflection on the aims and quality of their teaching. However they mention difficulties in relation to their professional space in their school. Schoolleaders tend to emphasize instrumental research into the how of education. Professional development remained confined to the individual teachers that participated and  did not become embedded in school improvement processes (Leeman and Wardekker 2013). That is why we started in 2010  a 3 years project in 4 secondary schools in which teachers and schoolleaders are involved; in which coaches weekly guide a team of 4 teachers; a project with a preset theme and a start of several months facilitating reflection on the aims and the quality of education.  The theme chosen ‘citizenship education as a form of meaningful learning’ is rather complex. It is not something that teachers and schoolleaders are used to give explicit attention to, especially not in a period in which educational policies in most European countries are straightforward focused on learning results in language and science. We invited the teachers to work on the pedagogical quality of citizenship education. This means that ideally, they would offer students first-hand experience in relevant social and democratic practices, combined with opportunities for reflection. They would focus on the quality of the internalization process and provide pupils with adequate opportunities to integrate the information, concepts and views the school offers into their existing views of themselves, leading to development of their personal identities (‘subjectification’, Biesta 2010). Schoolleaders were expected to facilitate the work of the teachers and to embed the activities developed and the procedures for professional development in their school improvement program.

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. 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. Leeman, Y. & Wardekker, W. (2013 in press) Teacher research and the aims of education. Teachers and Teaching: Theory and Practice. Schildkamp, K., Lai, M.K. & Earl, L. (red) (2013) Data-based decision-making in education. Challenges and opportunities. Springer: Dordrecht. Stenhouse, L. (1975). An introduction to curriculum research and development. Oxford: Heinemann.