Zeichner, K. M., & Noffke, S. (2001). Practitioner research. In V. Richardson (Ed.), Handbook of research on teaching (4th ed., pp. 298-330). Washington, D.C.: American Educational Research Association.
- First time PR has been included as a method in Research Handbook
- Simply considered professional development at the local level
- Some feel that teachers are not qualified to be researchers
- Less rigorous, inferior form of scholarship
- “quantified common sense” rather than scientific study
- positivist view of external validity
- groups are not representative of larger populations
- teachers don’t have the time to do research
- might use the research to justify their current practice
- There needs to be time in the school day for teachers to pursue PR
Starting on page 300
5 Traditions of PR: History
- early 20’s and 30’s; 8-yr study, 1942 Aiken
- Dewey, democratic decision-making
- Originally teachers were merely data collectors
- action research tradition:US, 50s Lewin and Collier, Corey,
- cyclic process
- ID a problem, create hypothesis,record actions taken, inference of generalization,continuous retesting
- Corey – linear; Lewin recursive
- began to decline in the 60s
- ENG, AUSTRALIA, 60s 70s
- Elliott, school-based curriculum development
- structure around life themes, move from transmission to interactive, multi-age groupings
- Stenhouse – coined “teacher as researcher” 1975
- Journal est. Educational Action Research
- N America, by teachers
- 1980s, qualitative and case study research
- Nancy Atwell’s writing curriculum
- Action research in teacher ed programs
- Schon’s reflective practitioner movement 1983
- Cochran-Smith & Lytle, conceptual (essays and books extended interpretations/analyses) and empirical research (journals, oral inquiries,classroom study data,)
- Some journals still don’t publish PR, often PR is shared at conferences instead
- self-study in colleges and universities
- some use narrative life history methods
- some journals are beginning to publish i.e. Teacher Education, Teacher Education Quarterly, Action in Teacher Education
- Asia, Africa, Latin America > N America
- participatory research
- more just and humane society
- reappropriation of knowledge
- the development of people’s knowledge
- popular participation in the social production of knowledge
- those being studied take an active role
- uncommon methods see p 306
- participatory researchers often critical of non-participatory researchers
Starting at page 305
- Frameworks of Purpose p.306
- wanting to know how children learn
- wanting to try something new
- a desire to change practicea search for connections and meaning
- a recurcive process, connected to dynamics of the school year
- understanding and improving practice
- Up close and Personal
- students’ thoughts and actions
- educational innovations
- potential for building a case study literature in education
- Horace Mann-Lincoln Institute at Teachers College
- Ford Teaching Project
- Knowledge and the Profession of Education
- contriburtion to knowledge base
- professional development
- status enhancement
- The Political Dimension (page 309)