Practitioner research

Cochran-Smith, M. & Lytle, S. L.  (2009). Inquiry as Stance - Practitioner research for the next generation. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.

Background

This book is a sequel to Inside / Outside: Teacher Research and Knowledge that was published in 1993. Both authors are leaders in the field of practitioner research. They explore the role of teacher practitioners in educational change and the relationship between knowledge and practice.

Aims

The main aim of this book is to re-conceptualise the role of practitioner research in the field of education. The authors challenge current practices in schools that consider professional development as one that fills gaps in knowledge bases of teachers through training programmes and Professional Learning Communities (PLCs). They also caution schools against the widespread practice that encourage teachers to ground their teaching in theories that emerge from scientific research carried out by ’experts‘ who are non-practitioners coming in from outside the school context. The authors advocate teacher practitioner research.

Sample

Eight participants who were K12 classroom teachers, school / district administrators and university-based teacher educators were engaged in this research.

Method

Each practitioner wrote and studied their work with students in classrooms. Their write-ups comprise classroom snapshots, vignettes from practice, journal entries, excerpts from their interactions with students, and reflections and commentaries of inquiries undertaken by these practitioners. The individual reflections and commentaries were then put together into a collaborative performance that made ‘visible some of the many personal, professional, and political decisions and struggles practitioners face every day in their work in classrooms, schools, and other educational contexts’ (p. 344).

Findings

The research findings show that when teachers study and write about their own work, they make their own distinctive ways of knowing about the subject content knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge more visible to themselves and others. Hence, ‘Knowledge making’ in education should be understood as a ‘pedagogic act that is constructed in the context of use, intimately connected to the knower’ or teacher practitioner (p. 133).

Implications

Practitioner research that emerges from practice should be encouraged as it can lead to useful knowledge and deeper understanding of how students’ learn in the local context.

Volume available in the Read@Academy library (Call no: 370.72 COC).