Teachers as researchers: an alternative professional learning network

• In Event: Innovative Approaches to Teacher Professional Development Across the Island of Ireland

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to explore the concept of ‘teacher-as-researcher’ as a key aspect of teacher professional development. It focuses on the work of the author and her colleagues as co-convenors of the Network for Educational Action Research in Ireland (NEARI). NEARI, a grassroots, unfunded, non-affiliated network, supports teachers and teacher-educators who engage in research in their own educational practice. Gaining recognition as a Special Interest Group (SIG) by the Educational Studies Association of Ireland (ESAI), NEARI has a membership of 230 people, primarily teachers and teacher-educators. It promotes a self-directed, values-based approach to professional growth where teachers engage in reflective research and learning in their own practice. The recognition of teachers as competent researchers is pivotal not only to teachers’ own professional development but also to developing a broader understanding of education and its overall purpose.

This paper argues that teaching is always enacted by an individual and it is based on their own unique constellation of values where the individual teacher and their values matter. It critiques the culture that perceives teachers as the ‘uncritical implementor(s) of outside policies’ (Dadds 2014) in professional learning and argues that teachers should not only be research-informed but also research-informing.

Author

• Máirín Glenn, Educational Studies Association of Ireland (ESAI)