Introducing in-service teachers to Practitioner Research online: A case study from Pakistan

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Abstract Summary

The argument is written in English and therefore a summary is not applicable here.

Submission ID :
AILA1442
Submission Type
Argument :

Practitioner enquiry (PE) is a well-established approach to professional learning and development that can improve the teachers' educational practice (Hanks, 2019). As Guerriero (2017) mentions, in many countries practitioners are expected to be informed about pedagogical research in order to contribute to diverse classrooms. This is often difficult not only due to contextual constraints (Edwards and Ellis, 2019) but also because teachers work in contexts where standardisation limits their autonomy (Mockler and Casey, 2015).


This paper will report on a study that examines the experiences and perceptions of 22 PE in-service teachers (PTs) based in Pakistan who completed an online module on developing a small-scale practitioner enquiry as part of their online professional graduate programme in education (iPGCE) programme offered by a Scottish institution. The PE PTs worked with a teacher educator who also conducted this study, to gain additional support in designing an appropriate intervention. The practitioner enquiry was included in the curriculum to develop the PTs' research skills and empower them to engage with theory and explore their own practice. The study also focused on exploring the benefits of their engagement in PE and the local constraints and challenges they encountered.

A questionnaire and group interviews – conducted at the end of the small-scale enquiry module were used to generate data along with an analysis of research outputs produced in the setting. The findings revealed that the practitioner enquiry promoted greater collaboration between the PTs as they worked together to develop their shared understanding of the teaching and learning process. The practitioner enquiry also facilitated the PTs' critical engagement with pedagogical research, enhanced their pedagogic knowledge and nurtured their professional identity. It was also found that engaging teachers in PR can create positive changes in their school because critical reflection supports the practitioners' professional understanding of the processes of teaching and learning. 



References



Edwards, E., & Ellis, N. J. (2020). Action research remodelled in a competitive, profit-oriented sector: Teachers' and managers' perspectives. Educational Action Research, 28(3), 480–496.


Guerriero, S. 2017. "Teachers' Pedagogical Knowledge: What It Is and How It Functions." In Pedagogical Knowledge and the Changing Nature of the Teaching Profession, edited by S. Guerriero, 99-118. Paris: OECD Publishing.


Hanks, J. (2019). From research-as-practice to exploratory practice-as-research in language teaching and beyond. State-of-the-art article. Language Teaching, 52(2), 143–187.


Mockler, N., & A. Casey. 2015. "(In)sights from 40 Years of Practitioner Action Research in Education: Perspectives from the US, UK and Australia". In Practitioner Research in Early Childhood: International Issues and Perspectives, edited by L. Newman, L and C Woodrow, 122–135. London: Sage.


Assistant Professor (Teaching)
,
University of Strathclyde

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