Why are class teachers reluctant to become researchers?
Roger Hancock
Journal of In-Service Education, 1997, Volume 23, Issue 1, Page 85–99
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ABSTRACT Although the teacher-as-researcher movement has been in existence for some twenty years, there is reason to think that the majority of class teachers remain uninvolved. What lies behind their reluctance? This paper puts forward explanations in four main areas: teachers’ professional status; teachers’ working conditions; teachers’ confidence; and teachers’ difficulty engaging with outsider’s research methodologies. It is suggested that classroom teaching is an all-demanding and all-involving task which is excluding of an activity as exacting as research. However, it is argued that with appropriate support more teachers may become involved in research-like activities and thus enable a wider dissemination of their insights into children’s learning. Why are class teachers reluctant to become researchers?
teachers’ professional status; teachers’ working conditions; teachers’ confidence; and teachers’ difficulty engaging with outsider’s research methodologies. It is suggested that classroom teaching is an all-demanding and all-involving task which is excluding of an activity as exacting as research
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If more teachers are to become involved then it seems crucial to have a good understanding of the basis of this teacher reluctance. This paper offers four areas of explanation – teachers’ status, teachers’ working conditions, teachers’ confidence and, lastly, the difficulties that teachers experience when they try to integrate outsider research methodologies into their day-to-day practice.
The history of the teaching profession is a history of a struggle for status. Teacher professional association activity, although often focusing on front-line issues like pay and workloads, can be seen, at a deeper level, to be about “building up public appreciation of the value of education and the worth of the teacher” (Tropp, 1957).
The history of the teaching profession is a history of a struggle for status. Teacher professional association activity, although often focusing on front-line issues like pay and workloads, can be seen, at a deeper level, to be about “building up public appreciation of the value of education and the worth of the teacher” (Tropp, 1957).
!Teaching is a highly emotional and passionate profession
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!How teachers are treated by the public at large
In short, teachers’ understanding of teaching and their insights into the way in which children learn has generally not been recognised as a valid form of professional knowledge which is worthy of very much respect. Teachers, therefore, have not been made to feel they do something that merits research and dissemination.
In short, teachers’ understanding of teaching and their insights into the way in which children learn has generally not been recognised as a valid form of professional knowledge which is worthy of very much respect. Teachers, therefore, have not been made to feel they do something that merits research and dissemination.
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teachers, particularly those in the early stages of their careers, live daily with the thought that they might – at some point in the lesson, the week or their careers – lose control.
Hofkins (1994) captures a core element of a teacher’s role when she talks of a teacher being a “ringmaster ensuring all performers are on task”.
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!Teachers are too exhausted to do Action Research
!Can action research be teacher friendly?
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Brown (1989) is concerned that outsiders’ models have dominated the thinking on teaching in classrooms and asks the question: what does classroom teaching look like from a teacher’s perspective? She found that teachers work spontaneously from their own situations and that this does not tally well with a more systematic “define objectives – plan activities – evaluate achievement of objectives” approach.
Hammersley (1993) suggests that the rigour inherent in most teacher research approaches could militate against the actual practice of teaching and the way in which teachers need to “operate under great pressures of immediacy and complexity” (p. 438). He believes that we should be concerned to raise the status of teaching as an activity per se and not necessarily through associating it with research.
Elliott (1991), who has long been a leading protagonist of the method, draws into question the logic of established action research ways of approaching issues in schools: When one is faced with a practical problem, it is better to take the calculated risk of getting it wrong, and adjusting one’s action strategy retrospectively, than that of not doing anything about the problem until one has fully understood it. (p. 24) Elliott argues that the above approach to classroom problems is more reflective of the ‘natural logic’ of teachers’ practical thinking.
!There can be reluctance to AR because of how it is taught
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Given that research is an extra layer of work for teachers, it is important to provide the kind of practical support that will enable lift off.
hands on’ help is particularly welcomed
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writers, it seems that many teachers lack confidence as writers themselves.
Teachers continue to hold to the view that research is an activity which is done by professional researchers based outside schools. Teachers therefore need support in order to see themselves as researchers and to see their practice as ‘worthy’ of research.
Many teachers feel the gap between their practice and research lift off is very wide and video can be a very effective way of breaching this imagined divide.
[Not cited][#ref] Brook, 1992)
Brown, S. (1989) How do teachers talk about and evaluate their own teaching? Spotlight 12. Edinburgh: Scottish Council for Educational Research. Link Bookends
Connelly, F. M.& Clandinin, D. J. (1990) Stories of experience and narrative enquiry, Educational Researcher, 19(5), pp. 2-14. Link Bookends
Elliott, J. (1991) Action Research for Educational Change. Milton Keynes: Open University Press. Link Bookends
Lawn, M. (1989) Being caught in school work: the possibilities of research in teachers’ work, in W. Carr (Ed.) Quality in Teaching: arguments for a reflective profession. London: Falmer Press. Link Bookends
Nias, J. (1989) Primary Teachers Talking: a study of teaching as work. London: Routledge. Link Bookends
Nias, J. (1993) Changing times, changing identities: grieving for a lost self, in R. Burgess (Ed.) Educational Research and Evaluation: for policy and practice? London: Falmer Press. Link Bookends