When does the researcher (should) also become a resource for the bricoleur teacher? A review of Ajay Sharma’s Portrait of a science teacher as a bricoleur : A case study from India

Abstract

This paper provides a critical review essay of Ajay Sharma’s Portrait of a science teacher as a bricoleur: A case study from India. The main focus is two fold. First, arguments are presented to draw attention to how little advances in science teaching and science learning research have impacted teachers’ practice and student achievement in the last 40 years. Second, the paper describes how the researcher’s traditionally detached role and truncated agency may inadvertently contribute to preserving the status quo by only documenting the Other’s struggles and challenges. I suggest that researchers need to re-conceptualize their roles as co-agents of change if we are to assist the Other effect positive and long-lasting change in the increasingly complex and demanding contexts in which teachers are expected to teach and students to learn.