Welcome to the Action Research Portal of 21C IETS. We have, here, created another platform for our fellow educators to share their action research. This, we hope, will be another opportunity for reflection about pedagogical practice. Submitted reports will be published here and receive feedback in the form of general comments and peer-reviews.
There are some added values to both the process of undertaking action research and bringing it to the attention of fellow practitioners: you are encouraged to focus on pedagogical issues in your own context; your report is disseminated and peer-reviewed by other practitioners to provide further insights;
both your research and the feedback will enable you to improve effectiveness of practice, thereby enhancing the outcomes of young people in our schools; other practitioners also learn from your research; altogether, enabling us to network and create a community of professionals actively supporting each other with real case studies.
As a prelude, a few words about Action Research to clarify what it is about.
For Hewitt and Little (2005),
“Action research is a process in which teachers systematically investigate instructional practices and techniques in order to improve their teaching. The impact of a specific instructional practice on student learning is measured, and the results become the basis for educational planning and decision-making.”
This definition is quite comprehensive in highlighting both the features and the purposes of action research. It specifically requires the research to be directed towards measurement of impact and improvement of pedagogical practice.
Sagor’s ‘Guiding School Improvement with Action Research’ (2000) provides more details about the process. Chapter 1 is a good overview of the essentials of action research.
As a starting point, Sagor asks:
‘What element(s) of our practice or what aspect of student learning do we wish to investigate?’, and on this, a few remarks are necessary.
‘Investigation’, in the context of action research, is a rigorous process of inquiry. The teaching practitioner engaged in action research ought not to investigate the elements or aspects simply for their own sake. It is not appropriate to engage in action research because it looks good for the teacher, or sound good in the school’s developmental plan discussions. This is far from the spirit, essence and purpose of action research in schools.
Through the process of inquiry, action research is intended for reflection about the effectiveness of techniques being deployed. However, at its core, the aim of solving a concrete pedagogical problem cannot be ignored either. Whether theoretical, methodical or practical, the directive of action research is to identify solutions (in itself an innovation for the specific context of the school).
Another directive of action research is to ground this process of inquiry in the scientific method, thereby allowing for validity and purported usefulness not only to be measured, but also to be tested and critiqued by peers.
The action research should, thus, not only seek to make a contribution to pedagogy, to improve practice (for positive educational outcome of specific learners), but do so in a demonstrable and testable way. As such, in addition to adopting a casuistic, result-oriented and solution-driven approach, the practitioner is urged to develop, and undertake, this research in a way that meets standards of scientific rigour.
Simply put, action research should be a thorough and systematic process of inquiry into situated pedagogical issues, with critical reflection about its application and student outcomes; you are therefore required to:
- Make it about relevant pedagogical cases/issues (conceptual, methodical or practical – but as related to context)
- Drive towards solutions with measurable impact on teaching and learning
- Be rigorous in the investigation so that it can be verified, falsified, or replicated and used
- Report and share process and results for critical evaluation and reflection
As related to the last point, 21C IETS Action Research Portal provides you with this platform. We are also here for training and consultation about this process of investigation for improvement both of teaching practice and schools.
REFERENCES
Hewitt & Little (2005) Leading Action Research i n S c h o o l s, accessed at http://www.fldoe.org/core/fileparse.php/7690/urlt/0070126-action-res.pdf on 8.9.2020
Sagor, R (2000), ‘Guiding School Improvement with Action Research’; Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development; accessed at http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/100047/chapters/What-Is-Action-Research%C2%A2.aspx on 8.9.2020
