Developing Action Research for Developing Teachers in Kosovo

Abstract

This study explores the perception of student teachers on their role as researchers and the impact of action research in their professional development. The study involves the master level student teachers of the Faculty of Education at the University of Prishtina in Kosovo.Qualitative data collected through reflective writing, open-ended questionnaires and research reports developed by student teachers were analyzed through the inductive method. The study suggests that teacher research has a major impact not only on the improvement of teaching practices and increasing student achievement, but also on increasing the collaboration among peers and fostering a new culture where teachers assume their responsibilities to apply action research in their own classrooms as a tool for classroom transformation. Teacher education and school context are crucial in this matter and the need arises to avoid viewing the development of teacher research as an isolated activity. Keywords: Action research, professional development, student teacher, environment1 The initial findings of the study were presented in the form of a paper conference at the "1st International Albanian Education Conference held in Tirana (Albania) on 7-8th December 2012.

Doing Action Research: The Experience of Teachers in Seychelles

“…Most of their responses for the ten items clustering around Strongly Agree and Agreed categories, an indication that the majority of the participants benefitted from doing action research by developing a range of skills required to conduct classroombased research, including 'increased awareness of the needs of their pupils; work collaboratively with other teachers to identify problems and conduct action research to find a solution; and, the willingness to lead an action research team in their school'. This result supports researchers (see Hine & Lavery, 2014;Riel, 2019: Vula & Saqipi, 2015, Ulla, 2018 who also found that action research nurtures the technical skills and specialised knowledge teachers require to improve their teaching practice and enhance pupils' achievement. When they were asked to indicate the difficulties encountered by their learners, the majority identified Reading' and 'Comprehension (see Table 1).…”

“…It also provides teachers with the technical skills and specialised knowledge required to be transformative within their professional domain (Hine & Lavery, 2014). Furthermore, action research provides practitioners with the opportunity to examine their interactions and relationships in social settings seeking opportunities for improvement (Riel, 2019: Vula & Saqipi, 2015, enhances student achievement (Vula & Saqipi, 2015) and offers opportunities for job promotion/salary increment (Ulla, 2018).…”

“…This definition implies that a single action or event can be experienced in different ways by different individuals, and can be expressed through self-talk, self-writing, or self-narration (Daher et al, 2017;Roth & Jornet, 2014). Some researchers have examined teachers' experience regarding action research using samples from the developing countries, for example; the Philipines (Ulla, 2018;Morales, Abulon & Soriano et al, 2016); Malaysia (Norasmah & Chiah, 2016); Iran (Leila & Morteza, 2015); Kosovo (Vula & Saqipi 2015), and Kazakhstan (Nagibova, 2016). These studies employed mostly the inductive method which seeks to establish limited generalisations about the distribution of, and patterns of association amongst, observed or measured characteristics of individuals (Malhotra, 2017).…”

“…These studies employed mostly the inductive method which seeks to establish limited generalisations about the distribution of, and patterns of association amongst, observed or measured characteristics of individuals (Malhotra, 2017). This is with the exception of Vula and Saqipi (2015) study that involved in-service teachers; the rest involved full-serving ones. Albeit they identified their motives for and challenges/obstacles in doing action research, none explored teachers' understanding of the meaning, nature and, purpose of action research; and the benefits, difficulties, and challenges in doing action research in a single study.…”

Development of Argumentation Skills through Socioscientific Issues in Science Course: A Collaborative Action Research

“…As a collaborative process, action research begins when educational researchers, university faculty, and teachers assist each other in developing the skills to identify and conceptualize problems (Pine, 1981). In this type of research, there is collaboration between university professors who are considered as helpers of the process and school teachers where the actual research takes place (Vula & Saqipi, 2015). Most collaborative action research focuses on practical problems defined by the participating practitioners (Elliott, 1977;Rapoport, 1970;Wallat, Green, Conlin, & Haramis, 1981, cited by Smulyan, 1983.…”