Collaborative Teacher Inquiry Research Articles

Practising the public? Collaborative teacher inquiry in an era of standardization and accountability

This paper analyses the nature of collaborative teacher learning as a form of ‘public sphere’, under current policy conditions. The research draws upon Habermas’ notions of communicative action and public spheres, and literature on the nature of teachers’ learning in the context of standardized curriculum and assessment reform, to analyse how teachers’ work and learning can be understood in light of pressure for increased accountability for improved performance. Drawing upon transcripts of professional learning meetings—referred to as ‘Inquiry Cycles’—at a school in northern Queensland, Australia, and interviews with participants, the research reports that while the Inquiry Cycles constituted a ‘public sphere’ for teachers’ learning and inquiry, they were simultaneously influenced by more instrumental policy support for an increasingly prescriptive curriculum, and pressure for improved performance, particularly against standardized measures of literacy and numeracy. The research explores how a public sphere in the form of the Inquiry Cycles was responsive to these more instrumentalist forms of rationality, revealing a need for cautious engagement with such initiatives under current policy conditions, even as they have the potential to effect more productive learning on the part of teachers.

Hybridization of practices in teacher–researcher collaboration

In this paper we present experiences from a joint collaborative research project which may be described as an encounter between a school science teaching practice and a university science didactics research practice. We provide narratives which demonstrate how the encounter between these two communities of practice interacted to produce hybridization between the two in terms of mutual influences, resulting in the conceptual and practical development of both communities of practice. We argue that what happened in the project suggests one way of reducing the gap between educational research and teaching through the emergence of practices where the roles of teachers and researchers become blurred.

Investigating everyday measures through exploratory talk: whole class plenary intervention and landscape study at grade four

We report an exploratory talk based, whole class plenary intervention, in relation to students’ understanding of everyday measures and measurement, in a grade four classroom at a grade 4–6 school in Sweden. Extended, project related, teacher-researcher collaboration forms basis for such cultural historical activity theory or CHAT based efforts. As formative intervention, the conduct of the plenary is not pre-determined but embedded in ongoing curricular realities, with the agency of students and teacher promoted, pedagogical ideas reutilised and the role of researcher viewed as supporting design and growth of the intervention. Under Charlotta’s guidance as teacher, the plenary is opportunity for her students to examine improbable scenarios such as, Can Eva and Anton measure the length of Sweden on foot, Can Lars and Iris measure their age in decimeters. A zone of proximal development is created, in which students make the transition from spontaneous to scientific concepts and learn how various units of measurement are objects-that-can-be-used-for-certain-purposes. With opportunity for critical and reflective inquiry, in a plenary designed to lead development, Charlotta’s students look beyond the making of rote measurements and articulate a theory of measure in nascent terms. Such a landscape of teaching–learning is finally understood in terms of the nature of talk that was facilitated, the manner of pedagogy utilised, the style of teaching exercised and the kind of learning that was demanded of her students.

Collaborative Teacher Inquiry Into iPad Use in Grade 3 Classrooms: Mobilizing Knowledge Through a Long-term School-University Partnership

In this paper, we report on a longitudinal case study exploring Grade 3 teachers’ implementation of iPads in the Language Arts classroom. A school-university partnership was formed based on a collaborative teacher inquiry model. We examined factors that shaped our collaboration. The project resulted in greater teacher sharing of iPad implementation strategies and growth in leadership skills among the teachers. A surprising finding was the degree of reciprocal learning about digital pedagogy that the university researchers experienced during the study and were able to share with their Pre-service Education classes. We emphasize the potential of school-university partnerships for narrowing the current gap between theory and practice in technology-enhanced learning.

How to become a broker: the role of teacher educators in developing collaborative teacher research teams

ABSRACTThis study explores how teacher educators involved in developing collaborative teacher research teams of pre-service and in-service teachers perceive their new role. Ten teacher educators in 9 teams were involved in a 1-year teacher research cycle. Thematic analysis was performed on the transcriptions of audio-taped group sessions, video diaries of the teacher educators, and field notes of the researcher. Three recurrent sub-roles of teacher educators as brokers between theory and practice were confirmed: researcher, coach, and mentor. A 4th sub-role as “learner” emerged from the data, stressing the preoccupation of teacher educators with their own professional development. The dynamics of teacher research teams shape the way teacher educators grow into their role as brokers: Teams with a high research disposition and self-regulation provide a better learning environment for teacher educators. We argue for the development of a systematic support programme for teacher educators who take on the role of broker.

Moving beyond the barriers: supporting meaningful teacher collaboration to improve secondary school mathematics

The Collaborative Teacher Inquiry Project was a professional development initiative that sought to improve the teaching and learning of Grade 9 Applied mathematics by encouraging teachers to work collaboratively. The project brought together Grade 9 Applied mathematics teachers from 11 schools across four neighboring public school boards in the same geographic area of a large urban city in Southern Ontario, Canada. Teachers formed learning communities as a result of the Collaborative Teacher Inquiry Project through active collaboration to further teachers’ knowledge about teaching the Grade 9 Applied mathematics course and in developing teaching materials. Although it was reported that there were barriers to collaboration, teachers described various strategies that were (or could be) implemented to overcome these barriers. Teachers were enthusiastic in continuing to creatively find solutions to combat barriers as they saw the overall benefits of collaboration to their professional growth and noticed an increase in student engagement and achievement.

Bypass, Augment, or Integrate

This 3-year qualitative study examined how 26 teachers in four U.S. secondary schools addressed the literacy demands of curriculum materials based on standards from the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. It was grounded in sociocultural perspectives that encourage study of language in local contexts, including classrooms, communities, and disciplines. The research question asked, “How do secondary mathematics teachers in a teacher–researcher collaboration understand and address the literacy demands of standards-based curriculum materials?” An interdisciplinary team of literacy and mathematics education researchers and graduate students worked with teachers to examine required curriculum materials, plan lessons, and share resources, while collecting qualitative data to capture teachers’ understandings and actions. Findings indicated that teachers responded in three ways to the materials’ literacy demands: (a) they used the materials selectively to bypass or reduce the literacy demands, (b) they augmented use of the materials with literacy support, or (c) they integrated use of the materials into long-term frameworks to develop mathematics and literacy learning simultaneously. The study suggests the value of using insights from mathematics and literacy to inform mathematics curriculum design and reminds us to take teachers’ perspectives toward such materials seriously, particularly when they collaborate to address issues about the materials’ use in their own school contexts.

Teacher–researcher relationships and collaborations in research

To understand the complexity of the classroom in ways that might inform teaching research in needed that explains both why and how something works. Teacher-researcher collaboration is essential if this is to happen. Collaborative work can ensure that research builds on from what teachers know and can do. Researchers working with teachers to address their current concerns are more likely to generate insights into what teachers might do and where they might go next. Collaboration can contribute a warrant for relevance for research findings. At the same teachers deepen and enhance their own practice through engaging in the research process. This paper describes and discusses some approaches to collaboration that have enables researchers and teachers to access a diversity of ideas and expertise to their mutual benefit.

Teacher Research as Self-Study and Collaborative Activity

This article highlights two insightful methods for advancing teacher research: practitioner self-study in relation to a range of texts, with which to examine one’s educational landscape; and classroom interventions conceived as a Vygotskian activity, via teacher-researcher collaboration. Both approaches allow teachers and collaborating researchers to share individual expertise across institutional boundaries and engage in creative local action.

Examining teacher-researcher collaboration through the cultural interface

Sharada Gade, in drawing on her long association with a mathematics teacher in Sweden, theorises the complexities of the teacher-researcher collaboration as an expansive learning activity that has developed over time. In this paper, an alternate reading of the teacher-researcher collaboration is offered, one that adds to the analysis provided by Gade, but which draws on the conceptual lens of the cultural interface. We build on Gade’s theorising by further explicating the relational space that emerges when teachers and researchers come together. We argue that it is the emergence of this space that can restrain or facilitate the trajectory of collaboration.

Unpacking teacher–researcher collaboration with three theoretical frameworks: a case of expansive learning activity?

Long association with a mathematics teacher at a Grade 4-6 school in Sweden, is basis for reporting a case of teacher-researcher collaboration. Three theoretical frameworks used to study its develo ...

Implementing assistive technologies: A study on co-learning in the Canadian elementary school context

This study focuses on teacher and student co-learning with assistive technologies (such as text-to-speech readers) in a specialized program for students with learning disabilities. Canadian students in Grades 4-5 who were reading well below grade level were selected for this intensive intervention. Study participants include both teachers and students. Research includes qualitative data collected from teacher observations and interviews, as well as a detailed analysis of the student participants’ reading and comprehension scores on tests. The researcher and teachers engaged in systematic (weekly) review and analysis of their perceptions of student progress based on both the reading and comprehension data and observations, and then made mid-course corrections in the technology approaches used in the reading intervention program. Results indicate that this assistive technology intervention, guided by teacher-researcher collaboration and reflection, yielded both student and teacher gains. This study attempts to address gaps in the literature, demonstrating that assistive technologies, introduced in a timely way and implemented with support, can provide measurable gains in reading fluency, comprehension, and engagement. This study also shows the potential gains from teacher-researcher collaboration when introducing new technologies, while illustrating some of the current complexities associated with assistive technology interventions in school settings.

Enriching a collaborative teacher inquiry discourse: exploring teachers’ experiences of a theory-framed discourse in a Singapore case of lesson study

This paper explores how a learning theory enriched a collaborative teacher inquiry discourse where lesson study was adopted as the educational action research model to promote teacher professional development. Four Grade 9–10 biology teachers in Singapore drew from variation theory to collaboratively plan and teach new genetics content as part of teacher research. As a researcher-facilitator, I have drawn from the teachers’ experiences of infusing variation theory into their teaching practice, of developing their own theories of teaching and learning, and of developing student-focused pedagogies to highlight the roles variation theory played. These included providing concrete examples of patterns of variations teachers could use, increasing the teachers’ attention and sensitivity to students, and developing the teachers’ theoretical lens in their approach to teaching. Reflecting on the teachers’ experiences, I made an appeal for teachers’ development of theoretical lenses in teacher inquiry, and bridging of theory and research to teaching practice.

A methodological framework for studying policy-oriented teacher inquiry in qualitative research contexts

System-based and collaborative teacher inquiry has unexplored potential that can impact educational policy in numerous ways. This impact can be increased when teacher inquiry builds momentum from classrooms and teaching practices and simultaneously addresses district, state, and national discourses and networks. In this conceptual paper, I encourage scholars and practitioners to consider ways to methodologically, theoretically, and collectively strengthen teacher research and inquiry to increase its impact on policy. I propose a methodological framework for policy-oriented teacher inquiry that highlights multilayered research approaches and collaborative inquiry. I situate my arguments and the proposed framework in the context of qualitative research and Marx’s dialectic method.

The identity game: constructing and enabling multicultural identities in a Finland–Swedish school setting

This study, building on previous studies stressing the bond between positive sense of ethnic identity and school belonging, puts at its center the very process of ethnic identity construction. Thus, identity is viewed as co‐constructed, within a social–constructionist perspective on learning. The study is two‐folded. It starts out by describing how participants in a Finland–Swedish preschool setting orient to ethnic identity in everyday interactions. Video recordings are analyzed using conversation analysis, a relatively recent approach to the exploration of how ethnicity is accomplished in interaction. It shows that the different ethnic backgrounds of the children were considerably more prominent in the informal self‐initiated interactions between themselves than in situations where adults were present. The children mainly used ethnicity as a resource to investigate themselves in relation to others to negotiate status and construct in‐ and out‐groups. The second part focuses on how to create a more inclusive school‐setting by more actively supporting students' ethnic identity construction. It discusses the experiences from a teacher–researcher collaboration, where the way children constructed ethnic identity in the first part of the study was taken as the starting‐point for the development of new practices. The study suggests the ongoing ethnic identity construction in everyday educational settings to be a fertile area for further research. We need to know more about how these processes can be supported in a manner that is sensitive to the students' needs to decide for themselves whether, and how, they wish to orient to their own ethnic backgrounds.

Two Dimensions of an Inquiry Stance toward Student-Learning Data

Background/ContextSchools and districts are increasingly emphasizing evidence-based decision making as a means for improving teaching and learning. In response, professional development efforts have shifted toward situated, sustained activities that involve groups of teachers in reflective inquiry about student-learning data, instructional practices, and curricular goals. Although strong evidence exists regarding the benefits of looking at student work, there is little research that investigates how teachers might work together to attain these benefits. Classroom teachers often lack the necessary skills and supports to enact data-based inquiry in a manner that informs and influences classroom practices.Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of StudyIn response to a need for specific frameworks to support teachers’ collaborative interactions around student-learning data, we have developed a conceptual framework for describing and characterizing key influences on teachers’ actions and interactions. The purpose of this article is to fully describe the two dimensions that constitute the framework, illustrate them with examples from multiple cases, and discuss potential implications of the framework on research and practice.Population/Participants/SubjectsThis framework was developed from multiyear case analyses of seven professional learning communities (PLCs). The teachers in these PLCs were secondary science and mathematics teachers who were supported by a 3-year professional development project.Research DesignWe began to derive this conceptual framework using constant comparison in the development of semiannual case studies. Preliminary results and hypotheses on the specific ways in which teacher groups were interacting as they worked with student-learning data led to the need to better conceptualize what was occurring. Building on others’ work related to stance, we used grounded theory methods to construct and refine this framework.Findings/ResultsA detailed framework and examples are provided regarding collaborative teacher inquiry groups’ inquiry stance along two dimensions: (1) their epistemological stance toward student-learning data, and (2) the nature of their dialogue when using these data in their inquiry process. The first dimension is delineated by four descriptive categories ranging from an improving to a proving stance; the second dimension ranges from sustained negotiation to no negotiation.Conclusions/RecommendationsThis analysis of inquiry stance in a collaborative group is valuable in providing a detailed tool for empirical analyses of collaborative teacher development in the context of working with student-learning data. Additionally, it provides practical support for facilitators and school leaders by characterizing fundamental and often hidden influences on PLC processes and outcomes.

EMPOWERING TEACHERS AND SCHOOLS TO PLAY THEIR KEY ROLE IN IMPROVING EDUCATION A Keynote address delivered at the North Eastern Ontario Education Network 2011 Research Carousel

Good afternoon and thank you Kelly for that kind introduction. I was in Toronto recently at a meeting of the Learning to 18 ministry work-group and was given a copy of the latest Capacity Building Series publication entitled Collaborative Teacher Inquiry. It is pretty exciting stuff to see the Government of Ontario throw its weight behind collaborative teacher inquiry as a means of professional learning and school improvement.

Teacher–researcher collaboration in a Grade Four mathematics classroom: restoring equality to students’ usage of the ‘=’ sign

This article portrays action research conducted in relation to students’ faulty use of the equality sign in a Grade Four mathematics classroom in Sweden. Substantial background on teacher–researcher collaboration that prepares ground for the action research is offered. Drawing on cultural–historical and activity theory perspectives, the conduct of activities mediated by diagrammatic objects (lappar) as cultural artefacts and students’ inscriptions in these is also provided. As a semiotic activity, the action research cycle allows students to reflect on signs, meanings and their interrelationships while working with knowledgeable others. A three-stage conclusion discusses relevant research in mathematics education, the nature of practical theory realised, and actionable knowledge thereby possible in terms of trustworthiness.

An “Ideology in Pieces” Approach to Studying Change in Teachers’ Sensemaking About Race, Racism, and Racial Justice

This article makes a unique contribution to the literature on teachers’ racialized sensemaking by proposing a framework of “ideology in pieces” that synthesizes Hall's (1982, 1996) theory of ideology and diSessa's (1993) theory of conceptual change. Hall's theory of ideology enables an examination of teachers’ sensemaking as situated within a structured society and diSessa's research on conceptual change provides an analytical lens to understand the elements of ideological sensemaking and the processes of ideological transformation. I use the framework of ideology in pieces to analyze and interpret the ideological sensemaking and transformation of a teacher engaged in a collaborative teacher research group in which participants explored issues of social justice in their high school math and science classrooms. The framework and analysis presented in the article offer a more comprehensive theory of teachers’ ideological sensemaking and transformation that includes their cognitive, social, and structural dimensions.

The effects of teacher collaboration in Grade 9 Applied Mathematics

The current emphasis of many mathematics education reform documents is on the need to change the environment of mathematics classrooms from the transmission of knowledge by the teacher to the transaction of knowledge between the teacher and the students which promotes mathematical investigation and exploration. In this article, we discuss the details of a Collaborative Teacher Inquiry Project which was aimed at increasing the quality of learning of Grade 9 Applied Mathematics, while at the same time, improving professional development opportunities for the teachers. A total of 11 schools participated in this project which spanned over three semesters. Participants included teachers, department heads, curriculum leaders, and administrators. Each school created an implementation team of administrators and teachers to implement collaborative strategies and improve teaching and learning in Grade 9 Applied Mathematics. The main benefit to the participants was that they were able to increase their knowledge and skills through collaboration in six interconnected areas: (a) achieving the goals, (b) student success, (c) professional development, (d) co-planning and co-teaching opportunities, (e) increased communication, and (f) improved technological skills. Bringing in different partners to achieve a common goal was the most challenging aspect of the project.