Practitioner Research for Teachers

by Diana Burton

• ISBN13: 9780761944201
• ISBN10: 0761944206
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2004-10-06
• Publisher: SAGE Publications Ltd

Summary

'This is a really useful book. It is full of helpful ideas and examples and discusses the importance of research for teachers. While addressing both the why and the how of practitioner research in school settings the authors have kept closely in touch with the practical concerns of busy professionals' - Professor Anne Edwards, School of Education, University of BirminghamThis is a book about how to do your research. It's aimed at teachers involved in classroom-based research projects such as Best Practice Research Scholarships and Networked Learning Communities.This book is a significant text for teachers involved in practitioner research. It will discuss how the notion of classroom research has evolved from previous movements based upon school effectiveness and action research. It will show how being able to conduct and understand research is vital for the professional development of teachers. The text will then consider the practical issues of the design and carrying out of classroom-based research. The book contains practical examples to illustrate points where appropriate. Each chapter includes recommended further reading and practical tasks.

Table of Contents

List of figures	vi
Acknowledgements	viii
Teacher professionalism, development and research	1	(12)
Defining educational research	13	(21)
Teachers as reflective practitioners	34	(13)
Best practice case studies: evolving research approaches	47	(12)
Getting started: beginning a research project	59	(14)
Accessing and using literature	73	(12)
Research strategies: case studies and experiments	85	(15)
Questionnaires and interviews	100	(29)
Observation	129	(14)
Use of existing documents	143	(20)
Research biographies and logs	163	(18)
The way forward for practitioner research	181	(5)
References	186	(10)
Index	196