Action Research With Schools: The Development of a Strategic Model

• In Event: 31.056 - Conducting Action Research to Foster School Improvement Practices and Student Learning

Abstract

There is a long history of researchers partnering practitioners in schools, using action research to foster improvements in practice. This requires partners with different expertise to find ways of communicating effectively. This paper draws on its author’s experiences in a series of relatively large-scale studies, in order to explain the development of a strategic model that has proved to be helpful in making practitioner/researcher partnerships more effective. The model offers a helpful means of clarifying purposes and roles, as well as providing a way of identifying and addressing problems as they occur. The studies referred to are all focused on equity and took place within policy contexts that encourage competition between schools as a strategy for educational improvement.

Author

• Mel Ainscow, University of Manchester