Centering community building to facilitate transformative change for new teachers: An action research study

Abstract

In the context of increasingly complex challenges facing 21st century school systems, action research has incredible potential to help leaders address persistent problems and implement context-specific, sustainable solutions. Just as powerful, the action research process can be transformative for the individuals, groups, and organization involved. The authors, a doctoral candidate and associate professor, illustrate these concepts by sharing experiences leading an action research study that tackled the problem of high teacher turnover in a school-university partnership context. The article focuses primarily on the constructing phase of the action research cycle, in which the school-university partnership action research team becomes a learning community. The authors offer practical advice for building trusting relationships and share the story of how this team experienced individual and group transformation while designing innovative new teacher support through the action research process.