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Making teacher research ‘learning centred’ — Transcript

by Faculty of foreign languages ChNU · 7,011 words · 1,100 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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0:00Okay, now just am I still in?
0:03>> Yes.
0:04>> Yeah, you sure. So, thank you very much.
0:07And is my English okay?
0:09>> I know that sounds like a stupid
0:11question being English, but it's
0:12important for me to communicate well.
0:14So, and that's my purpose. So, I hope
0:17you can hear me and understand your
0:18thing. Okay, great. So, let's begin. You
0:20can let me just take the time.
0:25So, the teacher research and academic
0:27research. Let's have a look at some of
0:28the important differences. Teacher
0:31research is typically based on something
0:33that is important to the teacher in
0:35their own classroom rather than being
0:38something that we can generalize across
0:40the planet or across the field. It is
0:43relevant and useful for the teachers
0:45specific context and that can even be a
0:47different context between different
0:49classes you teach because as we know in
0:51education every class is different,
0:54every school is different, every
0:55education system is different, every
0:58country is different.
1:00I sometimes use the word learnings. You
1:02know when we talk about research we talk
1:04about the findings of research. This is
1:06because academics go somewhere they look
1:08at something and they find something.
1:11Whereas because teachers we are working
1:13in our own classrooms we don't really
1:15find out necessarily anything to share
1:18with the academic community but we learn
1:20something new that is important to us
1:22individually and it is that kind of
1:25learning which to me is the most
1:27important part of it. So I sometimes
1:29talk about learnings rather than
1:31findings of teacher research.
1:34Teacher research does not have to be
1:35shared with anyone because the most
1:39important person to learn from it is
1:40you. But of course, your learners will
1:44enjoy learning about your research and
1:46what you found. So if there is one
1:48audience, it might be the students in
1:50your classes. And that is also true for
1:52us as lecturers. We should be sharing
1:54with our learnings with our students in
1:56lecture halls like this one. Um, and
1:59they can also be shared with colleagues
2:00in your institution, your school,
2:02because they will probably have similar
2:04students, similar situations, and they
2:07may be sharable with colleagues at
2:09conferences, both nationally and
2:10internationally. They may be sharable,
2:13but you can always decide yourself if
2:15you want to. But the most important
2:17person to learn from them is you. And as
2:21Professor Smith has argued, teacher
2:22research is research by teachers for
2:25teachers. And I think that's a very
2:27simple and clear way of expressing it.
2:30That doesn't mean that academic research
2:32isn't important. Those of us who do
2:33academic research, of course, it is. And
2:35it has other goals and other aims. But
2:38if teachers do academic research,
2:40they're usually doing with the formal
2:42education programs. So stepping aside
2:45from what academic research should be
2:47when when teachers do academic research,
2:50it's often conducted for qualifications
2:53such as MAS, PhDs and so on. And there
2:57is usually a need for some kind of
2:58dissemination even if it's just the
3:00publishing of a thesis or the or the
3:03dissertation and it is usually
3:05supervised and supported by an academic.
3:08It may or may not be useful for the
3:10classroom. If it isn't useful for the
3:11classroom, it can still be diagnosed
3:13survey. But that's the key difference to
3:15teach researcher and it often requires
3:19complex analysis that key to all good
3:22quality academic research needs good
3:24quality data collection and data
3:26analysis
3:28and of course it requires a written
3:30reporter and that requires a different
3:32type of language and it's a language
3:34that sometimes as teachers we don't like
3:37we prefer more directly. So for example
3:40in language teaching we often talk about
3:42error correction and academics tend to
3:44prefer the correct for feedback because
3:47they see it within phrase for feedback.
3:49It's just one example of how you have
3:51different terminology between academic
3:53research and teacher research.
3:56So let's have a quick discussion at this
3:58point. Um there are three questions at
4:00the top. Can you see them at the back?
4:02Are they okay sizewise? If you can't see
4:04them, download the slides. you you
4:06should be able to see them on there or
4:08take photos. So, here is the same slide
4:10as previously and there are three
4:12questions. Which of these two types will
4:15improve the teaching of Ukrainian
4:17teachers most? And think about it
4:19carefully because they are both
4:20potentially useful. What types of
4:23teacher research are you familiar with?
4:26And do you have any concerns about doing
4:28teacher research? Five minutes. Turn to
4:30the person next to you. Uh you can work
4:32in pairs open for three and discuss
4:35those questions in any language if you
4:37want to.
5:38because
7:09United
7:32very
7:48being
8:06a party training.
8:15songs.
8:32It's
8:38between
9:14Father.
9:24We have
9:52Thank you.
10:18almost
10:55Okay.
11:00>> Okay. Interesting. Yeah. So I was I was
11:02listening some of the conversations
11:03there. Um question number one, what do
11:06you feel? Do you feel it will be teacher
11:08academic research accommodation? Would
11:11anybody like to share their review?
11:14>> Yes.
11:18>> Now we discussed that teacher research
11:20is more valuable. of our academic
11:22research. It's kind of a a way that help
11:25us to look at the teacher research
11:27because in order to analyze the
11:28situation deeply and reflect on that
11:31have to read something come up with the
11:33ideas talk with our teachers. So and we
11:36also discussed one important thing the
11:38teacher research does not have to be
11:41time consuming because we can do it
11:43orally we can write some notes we can
11:45watch videos. So it actually solves the
11:48problem and it doesn't like in the
11:50reality right now we have like one
11:53teacher might have so many classes separ
12:07>> and you gave some really nice examples
12:09of teacher research there just through
12:11what you were saying and the first point
12:13you made that academic research and
12:15teacher research can come together. One
12:17thing that we don't have had enough
12:19research on is so-called summaries of
12:21what teacher research findings have told
12:23us because if you bring them together
12:25they constitute a good database of
12:28learnings for example from Ukrainian
12:30contests. If we took all of the teacher
12:32research for example in English language
12:34classrooms across Ukraine then we can
12:36learn from that sometimes called
12:38systematic sorry systematic review as
12:41the process. Um and you gave some really
12:43nice examples of things like um reading
12:46can be a form of teacher research
12:48learning from reading academic articles
12:50or reading informal descriptions. Um two
12:53of our colleagues were asking about not
12:55sure about exactly what it is. And I'll
12:57come to definitions in a moment but
12:59think about how we use research in our
13:01everyday lives. Everybody does research
13:04every week. You might do research into a
13:06holiday you want to take or research
13:08into which coffee shop to go to or which
13:11restaurant to go to. That's research as
13:13well. It's different to academic
13:14research but it is still research. It
13:16uses to say um how do you say it in
13:19Ukraine?
13:22Yeah. So thinking about how we use that
13:24word as well helps us to understand what
13:27teacher research is. Thank you. I won't
13:29get too many answers because of time.
13:32Question number two. What types of
13:33teacher research are you familiar with?
13:35Can anyone think the name of the teacher
13:37research?
13:39Anybody?
13:41>> Yeah, I noticed there wasn't so much
13:42knowledge about this, so much
13:44understanding. But I'll I'll tell you
13:45about a few in a moment, so don't worry.
13:47Yes.
13:48>> Classroom research.
13:49>> Classroom research. Yeah.
13:51>> And action research are two possible
13:53terms. Yeah. And they interact. You can
13:54do action research in the classroom.
13:56Usually it would be about your
13:58classroom, but you can do action
13:59research in other areas as well. Okay.
14:02Okay, don't worry about that one. We'll
14:03come on to it. And there any concerns
14:04with doing teacher research?
14:14Um we discussed about the lack of
14:18teacher research for example in
14:20classroom when teacher don't
14:24build the research but to go just by do
14:27and
14:30uh there are there is no any different
14:33of new information they just go by the
14:36book and that's all. Yeah, it's true.
14:39There are a lot of teachers who prefer
14:41to follow the book and to stick with the
14:44informal curriculum that they've got in
14:46that book. And obviously, as you can I'm
14:49sure you understand, there are problems
14:51and dangers for that because the book
14:53isn't written for your students students
14:55in your class. And if you just take
14:57what's in the book and you link it to
14:59the students more carefully through
15:01research, then that can help. To give an
15:03example of that, you could show the
15:05students all the unit topics in the book
15:07and find out which ones they're more
15:09interested in because motivation and
15:12engagement facilitate learning. And so
15:14if you know what they're more interested
15:16in, you could spend more time on those
15:18units mainly to cover everything, but
15:20you can spend more time in those units
15:22and you can even make other units more
15:24relevant to those interests. So just a
15:27little bit of research with your
15:28learners relative to the course book as
15:30possible. Yeah. So it's another idea.
15:32Exactly. So let's have a quick look at
15:35first of all the issue of teaching
15:36research. Here are three four of our
15:38colleagues from the IT research. Eric
15:41Kembbe from Maroon. He's not actually a
15:43teacher researcher but he was a teacher
15:45researcher. Seden from Turkey and Maria
15:47Garcia from where's she from anyway? I
15:50think she's from Spain. And then um
15:53from
15:55um all of these are people who were
15:56involved in an event at the research
15:59site stands for the international
16:02association of teachers of English to
16:05the foreign language. I know some of you
16:07have been let's have a look at some of
16:10the ways that they define teacher
16:12research. I don't know if you can see it
16:14all. Again if you've got the slides
16:16you'll be able to or you can focus and
16:18zoom in. But it's really interesting
16:20when you look at some of these
16:21definitions from experienced teacher
16:24researchers. By the way, some of them
16:26had strange names for their group. So
16:28the cocktails is the name for the group.
16:30The intercontinentals is the name of a
16:32group that was discussing with. If you
16:35look across all these definitions, you
16:37you see some important similarities.
16:40First of all, many of them talk about
16:42solving problems because as teachers, we
16:45always have problems in our classroom.
16:47And you can solve that problem by asking
16:49for help and support. If you're in your
16:51pre-ervice career, you can ask for your
16:53supervisor or mentor. But when you
16:55become an independent teacher, it is
16:58extremely useful if you can solve those
17:00problems yourself. And teacher research
17:02is a key means to help you in that. So
17:05we can see the idea of problem solving
17:07to be quite important here. Um,
17:10interestingly, you can think about the
17:11different languages in Spanish. Can you
17:13see the reference to Spanish there?
17:15research in Spanish is investig.
17:19And if you think about it in Ukrainian
17:21as well, it comes from the verb to is
17:24that right?
17:27Yes. Follow. I know the verb in Russian
17:31follow. So you can see a similar trace
17:33in that and it helps you to understand
17:34the origin of that word as well and what
17:36it means.
17:39We've also got some interesting one.
17:40There's a poem there to experiment.
17:42Identify a problem, turn it into a
17:45question, collect feedback, reflect on
17:47the impact, and share your learning. And
17:50when we looked at what was similar
17:51across all of these definitions, we
17:53found that there is a sense of inquiry,
17:56of questioning, asking questions that's
18:00that simple that holds all definitions
18:02together. So myself and Professor Smith,
18:04we wrote a recent article just published
18:06a few months ago where we tried to
18:09essentialize the definition of teacher
18:10research as thinly as possible. And we
18:13feel that we we did a good job with
18:14this. We feel that inquiry carried out
18:17wholly or primarily by teachers into
18:20issues of importance to them in their
18:22own world is sufficient definition. Yes,
18:25it may be systematic and that is an
18:27important feature of some types of
18:29research for reliability and validity
18:32but nonetheless even if it it doesn't
18:35have a complete systematicity it still
18:38can inform your teaching and your
18:39practice. This definition prioritizes
18:42the teachers work their control and what
18:45they feel is important. There is no need
18:48for formal dissemination by which I mean
18:50no need for an efficient publication or
18:52no need for presentation of high stakes
18:55events and there is no need for academic
18:57language. We can use our own normal
18:59everyday teaching language Ukrainian
19:02English anyone.
19:04Systematicity can vary and inquiry can
19:07look for things like puzzling. Why
19:11is that not working? Why do they like
19:14that activity more than this one?
19:17Exploring when you think about questions
19:19that you want to understand more about
19:21and reflecting, thinking carefully and
19:24critically about what has happened in
19:26your lessons so you can improve them in
19:28the future. And this is still reserved.
19:32So let's look at some types. Now the
19:34next two slides will give you a lot of
19:35types and it will be a lot to digest if
19:37you've never looked at it before. I'm
19:39just going to go through them very
19:40quickly and feel free to look them up in
19:42your own time. Action research is the
19:44most commonly known type and it
19:46typically follows a cycle where you take
19:49action to make a change and then to
19:51observe the change and then to reflect
19:53on the impact of the change and we'll
19:56look at that as part of a wider process
19:58a bit later. Exploratory practice
20:01restricts mainly to language teaching
20:03but it shouldn't be. It's where teachers
20:05try to understand something about their
20:07class more. The focus is on puzzling and
20:10understanding, but it's got some
20:12similarities with actual research lesson
20:15study. This started in Japan and it has
20:17a very simple idea. A group of teachers
20:20who teach the same grade, for example,
20:22in the same curriculum, they get
20:24together to try to make one of their
20:25lessons in that curriculum better and to
20:28make it as good as possible to develop
20:30resources for that lesson. And each of
20:32them teaches that lesson. And after each
20:34teaching, they get together to discuss
20:36it. And today with the mission of all
20:38the relevant people including students
20:40and parents, we can even video those
20:42lessons so that we can observe them back
20:45and see how to improve.
20:47That's called lesson study. There's
20:50autoethnography where we look at who we
20:52are, who I am as teacher, my identity,
20:55my needs, my background and how that
20:58influences what I do and also to uncover
21:01some of the struggles and challenges I
21:03face. Reflective practice very simple
21:05idea where we think about our teaching
21:08in order to improve it. And this has
21:11been with us for quite a long time since
21:13the 1980s when Donald Shern argued that
21:16the expert practitioners in any field
21:19can improve what they do by thinking
21:21systematically and carefully about their
21:23own practice.
21:25And then last of all, evaluative
21:26research is something which isn't so
21:28well known, but it's something that
21:30teachers do a lot. They may evaluate
21:32methods, materials or course changes.
21:35The example of the teacher who have
21:37placed the textbook and asked the
21:38students about their opinion that to my
21:41mind would fall under the scope of
21:43evaluative research. It can also include
21:46formative and summitative assessment
21:48because whenever we assess learning
21:50learners, we learn about how effective
21:53our teaching is. If all of them failed
21:55the exam, it's probably Michael right as
21:59a teacher. and that tells me about
22:00something I need to do in the future in
22:02my teaching. But also at the end of
22:04every lesson, if the students don't ask
22:06answer those questions that you ask them
22:08correctly, then that's probably evidence
22:10that maybe you could have done something
22:12differently in that lesson. So even
22:14assessment can help us to understand our
22:16classes
22:18and it varies of course in terms of how
22:20formal and systematic it is. These first
22:23three types are well documented and
22:24accepted by many academics.
22:29This type here is a new type of teacher
22:31research. Uh ethnography research is
22:34becoming quite trendy if you like in
22:36western conflicts of education and so
22:38it's an interesting one to look at. You
22:40can also do a piece of research with
22:41just one participant yourself but in a
22:44way it also includes your students. Some
22:47people say practice isn't really
22:49research and there's an interesting
22:51discussion about that. And last of all
22:55evaluated research. Simon Borg argued
22:57yes teachers talk about this a lot but
22:59he rejected it and in my recent writing
23:02on this I've said no this is valid and
23:04should be accepted as teacher research
23:09so other types of teacher research when
23:12we do needs analysis with our students
23:14we are learning about who they are what
23:16they need and why and that leads again
23:18to the example of course and that's the
23:21kind of research it's not academic it's
23:24not designed for formal dissemination
23:26But it informs us in our practice
23:28systematically.
23:29As I mentioned before, teacher
23:31assessment will always help us to teach
23:33more effectively because we learn about
23:35what they learned in a lesson in a
23:38course of study or over the curriculum.
23:42self-observation when you look at your
23:44own teaching for example to video record
23:46your lesson or what Jabra Jabra Kamali
23:49and I call narrative self-observation
23:51where you actually observe your own
23:53lesson without taking a video but you
23:55reflect before and after it with the
23:57support of the collaborator
24:00and try and have something that you've
24:02read about Jeff Petty calls it a
24:04supported experiment you read something
24:06in a magazine or journal and you want to
24:08try it out in your classroom so you get
24:10a colleague to act as your mentor or
24:12just your friend that you can talk about
24:14before and after and it makes actual
24:17research a lot more accessible and easy
24:19to do because it's not too time
24:21consuming
24:23and reviewing others research can also
24:25be important. You mentioned we talked
24:27about when we read other literature and
24:30that is important as well. When you read
24:32about what somebody else has done in
24:33their classroom, it will give you ideas
24:35for your classroom and problem solving
24:38as well. A lot of that is peer mediated.
24:40I'll give you an example. Those of us
24:42who are experienced teachers here will
24:44know in the staff room, we talk about
24:46teaching all the time and we may share a
24:48problem we have with a class and
24:50colleagues will tell us, "Oh, yes, I
24:52know that student. You need to give him
24:54or her certain
24:57um certain topics or tasks and he works
25:00better." Or I know that problem, it's
25:02something that we have sometimes or it
25:04could be a tech problem, how to solve a
25:06problem with a projector. And all of
25:08those are types of research that we do.
25:12I welcome to Evan because of time. So
25:14myself and Richard Smith, we argue that
25:16you can even look at all these different
25:18types along the continuum from
25:20researching in practice to research on
25:23practice. And if we are at this end of
25:25the continuum, we're generally doing
25:27things that are more instinctual and
25:29informal. But remember, expert teachers
25:31do these all the time. And it's really
25:33important to recognize them as
25:35potentially part of what we learn. When
25:37you teach again and again and again over
25:39a year, even though this is informal, it
25:42is informed by a huge amount of of
25:44anecdotal evidence. And we can see that
25:47they're generally self-directed. They're
25:48practically oriented. The audience is
25:51private, me and my students and
25:52colleagues maybe. And it's generally
25:54considered informal. But I don't see in
25:56the formal being a negative word. Then
25:58you can have collaborative work when you
26:01work with a researcher or it can be
26:03local with a group of teachers and then
26:05you have more formal research on
26:07practice like the example when I
26:09mentioned when a teacher may do a PhD
26:12they will need to do something more
26:14formally and it could be other directed
26:16their PhD supervisor may be helping them
26:18with this it could be more theoretically
26:20located in an aspect of language
26:22teaching or any teaching theory and it
26:24can be more global in the sense that
26:26what you do in Ukraine could have
26:28relevant teachers in the USA, in
26:31Bolivia, in Africa, in any part of the
26:34world. And of course, it can be more
26:36formal. And in this sense, that's when
26:38academic research becomes rigorous, it
26:40becomes reliable, and it becomes
26:42valuable. And as teachers though, we can
26:45gain access to all of those types of
26:46research by starting here and moving
26:49across the continuum. That can be a
26:51journey that we can take.
26:55So let's have a look at an example of a
26:57of a personal research activity. I'm
26:59just going to take a drink of water and
27:01give you a break from my voice. Have a
27:03read of this. It's an example of
27:05something that we all recall very well
27:07at the time of the COVID crisis and
27:10based on what a teacher in Madagascar
27:11did.
28:01So basically this person at the start of
28:03the and as I say this is an an example
28:06that Richard and I crafted but it's
28:08based on what a teacher who published
28:10her research uh Mirani Mirinoi in
28:14Madagascar did in her context in
28:16response to the co environment and if
28:19you are a head of a department. Where's
28:21Tammy? Is she still here or she knows?
28:23But if you're head of the department,
28:25you will know that this these are the
28:26kinds of decisions you have to make all
28:28the time. And those of us the academics
28:30in the room will also think, oh yes,
28:32I've done this on a number of occasions.
28:35And whilst academics in the room will
28:36also do more formal research, academics
28:39also do this kind of research in their
28:41teaching roles when we're deciding which
28:43software, which media, which aspects to
28:45use.
28:47And there are certain elements here that
28:49are similar to more formal academic
28:51research, but there are ones which are
28:52not the same such as trusting your
28:55instincts. And as an experience
28:57teaching, your instincts can really
28:58inform what you do in practice.
29:02So discussion number two, join the same
29:05partner and if you didn't have a partner
29:07last time, I saw some of you alone. Feel
29:09free to move around the room to find
29:10someone to talk to. Having learned about
29:13the more formal and more informal type
29:14of research, which do you think sound
29:17easy to implement? Which are more
29:19challenging?
29:22Which would be you' be most interested
29:24in? Have you done any of these types of
29:26research? And any questions so far?
29:29Whatever it is, I'll just go back over
29:31the slides if you want both.
30:16depending Foreign
30:44speech. Foreign speech.
30:57I guess
31:35Thank you.
32:27Don't give That's
32:30what
32:40people
32:54Yes.
33:05This is now
33:33Eight.
33:53Speech. Speech.
34:18There's
34:32is
34:39very
34:41much
35:01places.
35:28He hasn't
35:49Okay, thank you very
35:53Okay, thank you. Some really interesting
35:55ideas that I was talking to. What were
35:59you saying was was the family
36:10observation because
36:23for example
36:25warm ups
36:27that is
36:29And
36:32of this month
36:40that doesn't really need
36:45because you can do this.
36:47>> It's true. All of that is true. And one
36:50thing I know two things I notic actually
36:51about reflection is that some teachers
36:53need a little bit of support to learn
36:55how to do it. And it can be in some
36:57national context it can be quite natural
36:59for reflect and he knows that it's let
37:02and one of the important requirements
37:04for reflection is we need to care
37:06because if you don't care you don't
37:08reflect. Now if you leave your and you
37:10stop thinking about it you don't care
37:12about and so one really interesting
37:15condition for reflection is caring but
37:17if you do care you will regress and it's
37:20something you naturally learn from you
37:22but come back your act with peers.
37:24Right. Did anybody talk about a time
37:26that they thought was more challenging?
37:30Yes,
37:31>> like we discussed that informal will be
37:34more challenging but the thing is that
37:37challenging is not the same wordest part
37:41because challenging usually brings you
37:43joy and you bring and it brings you some
37:46desire to learn and desire to know
37:49something more and uh we just agree that
37:53the informal way will be more
37:55challenging but at the same time
37:56interesting because it is the way where
37:59you Can you find something every time
38:03that you do this research? So yeah,
38:06that's informal is more challenging.
38:09>> Yeah, it's interesting that word
38:11challenging if you translate it between
38:12languages. It doesn't always translate
38:14very well. I was thinking what it was in
38:16Ukraine. You remember what it is
38:17Ukraine? Something to do with the word
38:20question.
38:24>> But it's a noun. Yeah. Challenging is
38:26adjective. What's a noun? And in fact
38:29the word question
38:34of the verb the noun
38:38is nothing with calling. So when you
38:40call somebody
38:41>> Oh yes that's another meaning.
38:43>> Oh but it's interesting when you think
38:45about where it comes from in English the
38:47word challenge when you challenge
38:48someone to a fight is kind of quite
38:51confrontational whereas in some context
38:53it means something like that um you know
38:56to someone.
38:58falling
39:00>> but yeah challenging is can be a
39:01positive thing as well and in that sense
39:04that challenge will also improve if we
39:06were able to meet the challenge you know
39:08you know okay I won't go through any
39:10more questions because some of time
39:12we've got a little bit too many to cover
39:14um I had one really interesting question
39:16from any other question so far about you
39:20wanted to ask about
39:26let me show another question if I may
39:28run it because it's a really good one.
39:29It was just a question about when I
39:31mentioned the idea about adapting the
39:33curriculum to the learners needs. Is it
39:35possible to do that? Can we do that? And
39:37of course, it will vary. So, it was a
39:39really good question. Thank you again
39:41for having if you're teaching a private
39:42group of learners with no curriculum,
39:45you can basically base it on those
39:47things. You start with these analysis
39:49and then teach them according to that.
39:51But if you're working within a national
39:53curriculum, it's usually necessary to
39:55cover all of the elements of curriculum.
39:57And that curriculum will specify what
39:59you cover, but it doesn't usually, and
40:02teacher educators, tell me if I'm wrong
40:04here. It doesn't usually tell you you
40:06have to do it in a specific order. And
40:08it also doesn't tell you that you have
40:09to spend more time on this and less than
40:11that. You need to be aware of the exams
40:14because those are important for the
40:15students, for their parents, and for
40:17your graduation as a teacher. Um but you
40:19can also adapt within that and even in
40:22the most difficult environments teachers
40:24will always find space to change the
40:26balance for things they do in that
40:28curriculum meet the needs of the
40:29learners more and that can be a really
40:32useful part of future research. You can
40:34do it with colleagues in your
40:35institution. see how they can balance
40:37the curriculum to get that perfect
40:39balance between students get the right
40:41results in the exams that they value and
40:44that we need to make sure that we
40:45achieve that that we look the types of
40:48learning that we think are important and
40:50we get more engagement in the classroom
40:52and that can be a really useful thing
40:54because the national curriculum is
40:56designed for a wide range of learners
40:58from different types of institutions and
41:00it will always need some adapt the
41:02context in which we work. So really good
41:04question again. Thank you. Okay,
41:08let's now have a look at one important
41:10type of teacher research. Don't mind
41:12doing time. I'm just going to check with
41:13all of them. Oh, we're around 95 55
41:16about 15 minutes left.
41:19>> Great. Good. So research and there'll be
41:22some QR codes coming up. This is video.
41:27Now just uh I I have never actually I
41:29suppose I've worked on several
41:31exploratory action research projects but
41:33I watched my colleague Richard Smith
41:35lead on this initiative and teacher
41:37research across different countries and
41:40it's really quite impressive how many
41:41conflicts have been done the original
41:44project was conducted in Chile in South
41:46America a conflict where teaching is
41:48generally challenging for a range of
41:50reasons um they've also done exploratory
41:53research in India in Bangladesh and
41:56across South Asia. Recently Ra did
41:59action to action research with teachers
42:02in Sierra Leon in Africa and it's now
42:05been used in contexts including
42:07Pakistan. You saw an image of
42:11he's doing research with teachers instan
42:13on exploratory action research and
42:15basically it's been used quite widely
42:17around the world. Peru have done it,
42:19Mexico have done it. So it seems to be
42:22usable in a range of context. It's
42:24adaptable. It involves a good balance
42:27between research in practice, the more
42:28informal type and research on practice,
42:31the more formal type of research we do.
42:34It involves both exploration and action.
42:37Exploration is something that we need to
42:39do at the start of research to
42:41understand more and then the action
42:43itself is a change we make in our
42:45classroom. It's learning centered in the
42:47sense that we can learn from it which is
42:49important and it can be suitable for
42:52pre-ervice context. In a number of
42:54countries including say Bangladesh
42:56they've used exploratory action research
42:58in the pre-ervice teacher education
43:00curriculum as one of the modules that
43:02the teachers do in the final year of
43:05their teaching. Um if we take for
43:07example the reflection example that
43:09provided that could be a potential focus
43:12for any scholarship research project. It
43:14was interesting you're thinking about
43:16what you've done and then you could try
43:18next lesson to do a bit more engaging
43:21activity to see what in there they have
43:23and that could be a tight and there are
43:26lots of resources for it all free and
43:28there's my video introduction to you can
43:30look at that later let's have a look at
43:32an example of an exploratory action
43:34research project and let's start with a
43:37teacher who I called Romano
43:40um and I want you to imagine that Romano
43:42is a valuation teacher in this example
43:45um she reads an article that recommends
43:48that teachers should not only correct
43:50students mistakes. We know that that's
43:52important but also write positive
43:54comments and in the article it argues
43:56that if you give positive feedback then
43:58students will be more motivated for
44:00them. So could try this out in her own
44:04classroom and she could simply do an
44:06action research project which has four
44:09phases. So she might plan to do this. So
44:13she will collect in she plans a
44:14collective student homework and as well
44:16as giving error correction she gives
44:18positive comments to all her students
44:20and she didn't do this before and she
44:23can try it out in her classroom
44:27observe. She could collect data from the
44:29students. She could see if the students
44:32read their feedback more by observing
44:34them. She could ask their opinions by
44:36interviewing them or giving them a
44:37questionnaire and then she reflects on
44:40what she learns from them. and she may
44:42learn that she gives some life to
44:44positive comments as well as the
44:46corrective feedback or she might find
44:48that they don't need them. It's
44:50interesting that when you're working
44:51with primary age learners, they really
44:53need positive feedback. When we get to
44:56adult learners, particularly those who
44:58don't need selfaffirmation so much, they
45:01don't always need the corrective
45:03comments and we value the corrections
45:05more.
45:07But could also begin instead of starting
45:10with the action research project, she
45:13could begin by exploring the context. So
45:15let's imagine she asks her learners at
45:19the start whether they agree with what
45:22the article says. Okay? So she goes to
45:24her learners. It's too difficult for
45:26them to read, but she explains what the
45:27article says. It says that students need
45:30both correction and positive comments.
45:32and her learners say, "Yes, yes, we do
45:34like positive comments, but we also want
45:37something else. We want suggestions."
45:39So, we want corrections, positive
45:41comments, and suggestions for
45:42improvement. And then Romana can draw
45:46upon that. She can reflect and in her
45:49actual research project
45:52she can then implement not just an
45:55academic where she gives positive
45:57comments but where she also gives
45:59suggestion and then she can collect
46:01feedback from her students to see if
46:03this is facilitating more learning.
46:06So the key thing about exploratory
46:08action research is it includes the green
46:11phase exploration
46:13where we explore what's happening in our
46:15context first before we have the blue
46:18phase of action research where we make a
46:20change in our context. So first we
46:23explore what's happening then we look at
46:25change and the useful thing about this
46:27of of exploratory action research is it
46:30fits into a curriculum nicely in the
46:33sense that we can try out the
46:35exploration which is often a little bit
46:37easier before we then make a change in
46:39our classrooms and then we make the
46:41change and evaluate the impact. It also
46:44means that we don't make big mistakes
46:46because the exploration helps us to
46:48learn. So we decide on the run change
46:50for that conflict and so it's in a way
46:54less likely to lead to work problems
46:56than other types of action research. So
46:58that's a kind of an overview of what
47:00exploratory action research means in
47:02practice. An opportunity to explore our
47:05context and then an opportunity to make
47:07a change. And as in Roman's case, it can
47:09be a short simple change.
47:14So important to know that lady's little
47:15man are learning about teaching in this.
47:18So she may need to interview the
47:20students to find out about what they
47:22prefer.
47:24And she may transcribe the data in other
47:27words writing out. Of course today we
47:29can get AI to do that which is really
47:31useful. And she may need to code the
47:33data to work out what they're saying and
47:35whether it indicates one opinion or
47:37another. And then she may need to
47:39summarize and discuss the findings.
47:42But the reality is if you're a VIP
47:44teacher, these two red stages take a lot
47:46of time and effort. And it's actually
47:49the green stage where we learn about it
47:50more. Those first who have done
47:52interview research will know when you've
47:54completed the interviews, you will know
47:56roughly what they've said and what they
47:58mean for your practice. And therefore, I
48:00would argue that the more useful
48:02learning comes from summarizing and
48:04discussing your findings. And it isn't
48:06so necessary to spend time transcribing
48:08and coding the data. The same is true
48:11when we look at the reflect stage here
48:13because this often will involve a lot of
48:15work. When you're reflecting, you could
48:17discuss fundamental, compare with
48:20colleagues and run it up your report.
48:22The rounding up is necessary for action
48:24research projects generally. But in
48:26fact, the other two phases will need
48:28more learning when you discuss with your
48:30mentor and when you compare with
48:32colleagues. So even if doesn't write
48:35herself as a reporter, she could write
48:37she may want to share with colleagues.
48:39She may want to present on it at
48:40conference. Brilliant. But she doesn't
48:43have to. If she does these other two
48:45things, she should learn more from the
48:47activity itself. And if you're in a
48:49formal education program, your teacher
48:51educator may require you to write up a
48:53report so that they can see evidence
48:55that you've conducted it and what you've
48:57learned from. And then they can also
48:59learn from that work. But you don't. And
49:02this is the important thing. So you can
49:04see here that we can take teacher
49:05research projects and we can focus on
49:07the areas where the learning happens
49:09more effectively to make sure that we
49:12are learning on the research we're doing
49:13in our classrooms.
49:16Okay. So some useful resources resources
49:18for exploratory action research.
49:20Obviously these are all on the slides
49:22and you can Google the phrase
49:24exploratory action research whenever you
49:25want to. This is Richard Smith and
49:27Paula's
49:29handbook for exploratory action
49:31research.
49:32um it gives some really detailed um
49:35stage by stage suggestions for how to do
49:38it. Here is a whole book of example
49:41research projects from those who teach
49:44in Chile in South America telling us
49:46what they learned from their project and
49:48what they do. And these were some of
49:50these were preserve species like
49:51yourselves who didn't necessarily have
49:54much experience in the classroom.
49:57And this is Richard's book about how
49:59they were known as teacher research. If
50:01you're interested in doing teacher
50:02research with the teachers you work
50:04with, you can be their mentor and
50:06anybody who's done their own exploratory
50:08research project, you mentor other
50:11colleagues in the meet because you've
50:13got experience as well. So even if you
50:14have to do one side in one term, you can
50:17be helping others to do it. But there
50:19are all kinds of networks for
50:21exploratory action research.
50:23Now before I finish I need to mention
50:25that despite all of those potential
50:28advantages teacher research can be
50:30challenging as well and challenging both
50:32in a good way convention but also
50:35challenging in a sense of
50:38I'm tired or I'm confused or I don't
50:41know what to do next and that's okay
50:43because all of those challenges are part
50:45of the learning process. It does require
50:48funding. It does require some
50:51understanding of how to do research, the
50:53methodology, not to make it a bit more
50:55systematic. It does require a good
50:58relationship with your mentor. If that
50:59relationship isn't so good, then it can
51:02be stressful, more stressful than
51:03otherwise. And that's why I suppose it's
51:06important for those of us who mentor
51:08teacher research to make sure that those
51:10relationships work well. Motivation can
51:13be difficult if if it's time consuming
51:15or problematic. Teachers can drop out of
51:17the research project. particularly if
51:20it's voluntary.
51:24And importantly, if you force teachers
51:26to do research, often they don't enjoy
51:29it so much. It has to be something that
51:30they want to do. So, it's often
51:32something we can turn to at later stages
51:34in our career.
51:36Professional reward. Teachers often need
51:38an incentive, but it doesn't have to be
51:40financial or any other time. It can be
51:42the opportunity to present at a
51:44conference and many teachers will find
51:46that a really useful way of affirming
51:48their identity and affirming their own
51:50belief in themselves as a teacher
51:53and the mentors always need a skill set
51:56and Richard discussed this in his book.
51:58So there are of course challenges but
52:00these apply maybe to the more formal end
52:02of teacher research and some of the
52:04examples we've looked at and discussed
52:06today don't have these parameters
52:08because they are a natural part of what
52:09we do as teachers.
52:12So to conclude, teacher research is
52:15different to academic research, but it
52:16is not inferior. It has difficult and
52:19therefore we do it differently.
52:21When teachers define teacher research,
52:24particularly experienced teacher
52:25researchers, they focus on its learning
52:28potential particularly for solving
52:30problems and spending classrooms.
52:33There are many types of teacher
52:34research. Some of them are established
52:36such as the action research exploratory
52:39practice lessons studying and some of
52:41them are less well established but I
52:43think they should still be done.
52:46Teacher research terms can be both
52:48informal and formal and there is a
52:50contin often in that we may move from
52:53more informal to more formal research.
52:55We don't have to we can go back to
52:57informal and every experience teachers
52:59informal research on a daily basis.
53:03We can increase learning by emphasizing
53:05the learning centered elements over
53:08formal data collection practices. So
53:10don't worry too much as about whether
53:13you're coding the data correctly,
53:14whether you're interpreting it
53:16correctly. Just curious things and make
53:18sure that you are learning from your
53:20research.
53:21Exploratory action research is a proven
53:24framework for doing research including
53:26in challenging contexts. So it will
53:28apply to Ukraine at this difficult time
53:32and there are lots of free resources for
53:34it and but of course nature research can
53:37be challenging and therefore it may
53:40emphasize elements that are not learning
53:42centered but we can make it more
53:44relevant by making sure that we focus on
53:46the areas that are learning centered and
53:48those are the the references there I
53:50won't say on this slide because we may
53:52want to come back to it as well but um
53:54you can see there most of the pieces
53:56very legitimate And just to point out
53:58this is the research that Java Kumali
54:00and I are doing on self-observation and
54:02we currently got re project ongoing with
54:05one teacher educated in Lebanon and her
54:07colleagues in Palestine, one project in
54:10colleagues there and one two projects in
54:13the UK including one teacher who is
54:15using generative AI as a mentor for his
54:17teacher research as well.
54:20Okay, thank you.
54:30Wait until
54:34>> Yeah.
55:05We are talking
55:11about
55:36So clearly yes.
55:58Thank you.

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