1. Professor Hazel Bryan School of Education
Researching your Teaching: the potential of doing pedagogical action research
Professor Hazel Bryan
School of Education

2. Kurt Lewin (1890-1947) ‘Action Research’ 1944 *Plan of action
*Evaluation
*Plan next steps
*Modification
*New insights

3. Action Research cycle…
pil wellbeing in the Y7 Curriculum?
Action Research cycle…
observe
reflect
act
evaluate
modify

4. Participation, equality, democracy
Lewin’s goal was to end what he saw as the “permanent exploitation” which “endangers every aspect of democracy” (Lewin, 1946, p.46).
Lewin was driven by a desire to effect democracy and bring about social change through this participatory social science.

5. John Elliott
Elliott challenges managerialist approaches to educational change, which normally involve a hierarchical approach rather than change that is generated from within, and owned by practitioners:
‘to display the inter-connectedness with it’s key themes and ideas and to locate them in the context of contemporary social change as preferable to technical-rational solutions’ (Elliott, 1998, p.xii).

6. It starts with you…
A starting point for action research is that of the professional concerns of the individual teacher in his or her classroom. In this sense the motivation for starting the research is highly personal and can be to do with every day issues that may possibly not be visible in published research literature (Desforges, et al, 1986, p.74).

7. It’s collaborative…
…action research leads to collaboration. This collaboration might also involve working alongside a critical friend who could act as a facilitator to the work (Elliott, 1983, p.26).

8. It’s based upon reflection…
….action research is based upon the notion of the teacher as a ‘reflective practitioner’, a phrase and concept that were coined by Donald Schon in his book ‘The Reflective Practitioner: How Professionals Think in Action’ (1991).

9. Teacher-as-researcher…
In the model of the ‘teacher-as-researcher’, practitioners generate practical theory that enhances their own unique context: this was the basis for Elliott’s early work with the Ford Teaching Project.

10. A liberating, democratic process…
…action research can start and finish with practitioners themselves. As such it has been described as ‘liberating’ by some (Mcniff and Whitehead 2011, p.8). In this they refer to freedom from hierarchical instructions relating to practice. This echoes both Lewin’s and Elliott’s notions of the democratic process of action research.

11. Developing student resilience…

12. Closing the Gap A collaborative research initiative between Gloucestershire County Council, Gloucestershire schools and the University of Gloucestershire, School of Education