This paper explores how action research theories and practices are remodelled in local contexts and used to support educational reform. From an analysis of 46 publications from the period 2000-2008, five "variations" in the globalized theory and practice of action research are identified: action research in times of political upheaval and…

The relationship between the scholarship of teaching and practitioner inquiry is characterized both by questions of definition (what "counts" as scholarship and who can produce it) and execution (how to facilitate the representation, interpretation and analysis of teaching). This article addresses both issues by beginning with an overview of the…

The notion of teachers studying their own practice and working with students and community partners to address issues of inequality in schooling is the radical root of many forms of educational practitioner inquiry. But this emancipatory foundation of practitioner inquiry is currently under threat by efforts to limit the focus of this engaged form…

"Lesson study" is a professional learning approach in which teachers work together to: formulate goals for student learning and long-term development; collaboratively plan a "research lesson" designed to bring to life these goals; conduct the lesson in a classroom, with one team member teaching and others gathering evidence on student learning and…

Critical action research is contextualized in a low socioeconomic, multicultural urban school in Auckland, New Zealand. The writers are a university lecturer (mentor) and a school principal (critical action researcher). The research was part of a meta project which aimed to raise the achievement of Maori (indigenous) students. Research processes…

In this paper we draw upon 14 semi-structured interviews with the participants in a teacher-researcher project on the theme of "ensuring African Caribbean attainment" with the aim of shedding light on the purposes, processes and lived experiences of teacher research in a difficult and contentious intellectual and practical domain. After briefly…

We were seeking to disrupt the practice of fostering theoretical understandings about teaching and learning in our graduate courses that had little connection to students' teaching practices. We also desired a mentoring approach for graduate students in education that would foster an understanding "and" practice of teaching as a relational…

The paper explores the value of practitioner enquiry in the development of common language and shared understandings for a group of mid-career professionals from a variety of public service backgrounds, brought together to formulate responses to the English agenda for integrating services. It draws upon data gathered from multi-professional action…

This paper uses Foucault's notion of parrhesia to analyse the story of another and to interrogate teacher education in terms of the particular moral order or the forms of socialization that it uses. I examine the context of my own teaching in terms of truth-telling and the normative expectations that were found to exist. Through reflection and…

This paper analyses and discusses the roles and participation of those involved in a collaborative action research project to highlight the factors that influenced their content, quality and intensity. Emphasis is given to the reflections of the facilitator (author) on the processes employed to achieve equal participation and roles in the action…

This article focuses on the theoretical frame of action research and the teacher as researcher, working through a Norwegian Research Council-funded project in a school that explored learning strategies for pupils' subject and social development. Action research is here called research and development (R&D) work as the term envisages that research…

In "The Educational Imagination," Elliot Eisner presents a theory of educational criticism and a form of qualitative research in education. Central to his theory is the notion of the connoisseur, a particular kind of observer who, on the basis of certain qualities, can be trusted to write an incisive and illuminating account of an educational…

Interviews were conducted with head teachers, department heads, and middle managers in British primary, secondary, and special schools (4 of each school) regarding teacher promotion to middle management. Head teachers considered excellent practice a promotion requirement. Teachers were interested in middle management in order to influence teaching…

Swedish 11-year-olds' (n=25) drawings depicting their school experiences were analyzed using the phenomenology of the life world. Themes were learning and knowledge, social relations, orderliness and rules, subjects, feelings, and time. The importance of friendships and teacher-student relationships, lack of input into rule making, and…

The induction experiences of three novice Israeli teachers were examined. Themes included reception at school, involvement with principals and teachers, communication with students, and development of attitudes to the profession and work. Integration of support from principals, teachers, and students facilitated successful induction. (Contains 57…