Collaborative action research approaches promoting professional development for elementary school teachers

Abstract

Action research in classrooms can be challenging for novice teacher researchers. This paper reports on a study involving eight action research teacher teams. Analysis of the teams as they conducted action research resulted in the identification of three collaborative action research approaches promoting professional development. The findings showed that collaborative engagement of teachers in these approaches was influenced by three factors -time to engage and collaborate, workload, and group dynamics -and that these factors were enacted in the three approaches in different ways. Knowledge of teacher experiences within these three collaborative action research approaches can: inform school administrators and professional organizations to facilitate professional development; and guide novice teacher researchers to plan in ways that minimize the challenges of action research. IntroductionAction research has been implemented as a form of professional development for classroom teachers in various school boards as a means of affecting change in teachers' instructional practices. However, to date, large-scale, formal projects involving university faculty supporting teams of teachers conducting collaborative action research and investigating the nature of the action research process in these investigations have not been conducted across Ontario, Canada. The study reported in this paper is part of a collaborative action research project conducted in 2007/08 that was initiated by a professional teacher organization in Ontario. Two university researchers facilitated and investigated how eight teams of elementary school teachers conducted collaborative action research in different elementary schools in South Western Ontario. The study was guided by the following questions:

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