Teacher Preparation Pedagogy, Practitioner Research

Practitioner Research

The phrase practitioner research is a conceptual and linguistic umbrella term for a variety of genres of research and inquiry in which the educational practitioner is simultaneously a researcher, investigating questions that emerge from the intersection of theory and practice in the context of the practitioner's own work. As an umbrella, practitioner research is composed of five commonly identified versions, including teacher/administrator research, action research/participatory action research, self-study, the scholarship of teaching and learning, and research that uses practice as a research site. Although these versions are grounded in different theoretical traditions, histories, and purposes, they share a sense of the practitioner as knower and agent for educational and social change, which makes practitioner research a felicitous approach to teacher preparation for diversity.

The major versions and variants of practitioner research share several features, including that the practitioner is simultaneously a researcher; it is assumed that practitioners have valuable knowledge about teaching, learning, and schooling; the professional context is the research site; there are blurred boundaries between the activity of research and the work of practice; practitioner researchers collaborate with one another to construct knowledge in learning communities; practitioners gather and analyze data systematically to address their questions; notions of validity and generalizability that are different from those of most traditional forms of research are used; and the research is made public and opened up to critique in the local context and sometimes beyond.

In part because practitioner research relies on different notions of validity and generalizability and in part because traditional notions of researcher “objectivity” and “distance” from the subject of study do not apply, practitioner research is commonly critiqued by some scholars. Critiques of practitioner research involve the fundamental relationships of inquiry, knowledge, and practice as well as recurring tensions about method, methodology, epistemology, and ethics in practitioner inquiry.

Practitioner Research as Teacher Preparation Pedagogy

The most common versions of practitioner research as pedagogies in teacher preparation are action research and teacher research. Action research generally features collaborations among teacher candidates, experienced teachers, and university-based colleagues, especially mentors or supervisors of the fieldwork settings where candidates do their student teaching. Action research often focuses on altering curricula, challenging common school practices, and working for social change by engaging in a continuous process of problem posing, data gathering, analysis, and action. In preparation programs where teacher candidates are invited to engage in teacher research, collaboration is also important. Teacher candidates often work as researchers on questions that emerge from their own classrooms and/or on joint inquiries with the K–12 experienced teachers who are their hosts for student teaching. Groups of teacher researchers work together to interrogate their own and others' assumptions and to pose questions and gather data about the educational opportunities, access, and outcomes of diverse student groups. In many cases, both action research and teacher research are used to help teacher candidates interrogate and challenge the classroom and school structures that have historically (and currently) perpetuated inequities for minority students, families, and communities.

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