Improving education through research: the relationship between research and teaching

Abstract

This paper is based on a keynote address to the 2012 Scottish Educational Research Association Annual Conference. It explores the relationship between research and teaching, particularly in the context of teacher education in Scotland but also in terms of wider implications. The paper begins with a discussion of how key terms such as education, teaching, learning and research are approached. The relationship between the tasks of teaching and research in UK teacher education and higher education generally is initially considered from the perspective of Skelton’s ‘three identities’ for university tutors. The paper moves on to analyse the role which research could play in each of Winch’s three models of the teacher: the craft model; the technology model; the professional model. The paper concludes that the craft and technology models provide only limited roles for research, while the professional model requires more significant research skills in methods, theory and scholarship. This model will apply to teacher educators, university teachers more generally, and to the wider teaching profession.