Bridging the teacher/researcher divide: Master’s-level work in initial teacher education

Abstract

There is much current debate about the purpose and usefulness of educational research and the perceived communication gap between teaching professionals and academic researchers. UK government intervention into initial teacher education has in recent decades contributed to this divide by favouring school-based training. The most common route into teaching in England remains, however, the Postgraduate Certificate in Education, provided by higher education institutions and therefore required to comply with the higher education qualifications framework. The majority of initial teacher education in England therefore lies at the cusp of these two worlds, pulled in apparently opposing directions. The 'teacher-as-researcher' movement is widely seen as a bridge spanning these tensions, though there is discussion about the quality of practitioner research as well as about the appropriateness of a rigorous academic approach for investigating practice. This article offers examples of the use of small-scale research projects as a valid means of 'discovery learning' in pre-service teacher education. It argues that induction into research techniques as a means of exploring practical challenges can lead to knowledge production and ownership.Introduction. Educational research: the practitioner/researcher gap and Master's-level initial teacher education Teacher educators throughout the world consistently strive to find effective ways of influencing teacher behaviour. A major tool in this is the use of published research findings, resulting in an ongoing debate over the nature, purpose and usefulness of educational research itself. On the one hand, research conducted by professional researchers appears to have only a minor influence on educational practice due to its perceived irrelevance to the immediate practical concerns of teachers (Foster 1999, 380). A recent study by Vanderlinde and Braak (2010) in Flanders reports the frustration of researchers at their lack of impact on the teaching profession. On the other hand, action research and other forms of practitioner research developed precisely to focus on those immediate practical concerns are challenged by established researchers for their lack of rigour and concern about their hidden agendas (Foster 1999;Gorard 2002).

Seeking Time Within Time: Exploring the temporal constraints of women teachers’ experiences as graduate students and novice researchers

“…The proliferation of teacher research, by and about teacher researchers, supports his claim yet also depicts how the field has grown more complicated 461 (Cochran-Smith & Lytle, 1999;Leeman & Wardekker, 2013). For example, teacher-led research has been found to provide opportunities for meaningful professional development (Vrijnsen-de Cortea, den Brok, Kamp, & Bergen, 2013), critical thinking (Hagevik, Aydeniz, & Rowell, 2012), discovery learning (Gray, 2013), collaborative collegial learning (Christie & Menter, 2009), university-school partnerships (Arhar et al, 2013;Thornley et al, 2004), and educational policy development (Rust & Meyers, 2006). Cochran-Smith and Lytle (1999) suggest that because teacher research "is such a generative concept, it can be shaped and reshaped to further virtually any educational agenda" (p. 17).…”

Percepciones de los docentes en formación sobre la investigación educativa

“…ej., Gitlin et al, 1999;Gray, 2013;MacDonald et al, 2001). Esta discrepancia se disipa cuando se contrasta la imagen que los estudiantes de Magisterio tienen sobre la formación que reciben en investigación o cuando se analiza la vinculación entre la investigación y la práctica, ya que en estos tópicos vemos importantes puntos de encuentro.…”

“…ej., Demircioglu, 2008;Gitlin et al, 1999;Gray, 2013;Joram, 2007;Jyrhämä et al, 2008;MacDonald, Badger & Whites, 2001;Pendry & Husbands, 2000;van der Linden et al, 2012van der Linden et al, , 2015 han destacado tres grandes temas: la imagen de la investigación como un conocimiento alejado de la realidad, la percepción crítica de los programas de formación sobre estas temáticas y la necesidad de que la investigación proporcione recursos prácticos vinculados con la experiencia.…”

Using Video Cases and Small-scale Research Projects to Explore Prospective Mathematics Teachers’ Noticing of Student Thinking

“…Considering the affordances of the use small-scale projects, various studies have been conducted in order to incorporate teachers in research in different countries. In these studies, it is reported that conducting small-scale research projects provides opportunities to teachers to develop new insights about the research process (Gray, 2013;Trent, 2010), about their selected topic (Goodnough, 2010;MegowanRomanowicz, 2010), and about their own inquiry process as a practitioner (Freese, 2006;Reis-Jorge, 2007). According to Parkinson (2009), prospective teachers shift their perceptions about the role and needs of students when they are engaged in collaborative action research during teacher education.…”