The Role of Research in Teachers' Work
Narratives of Classroom Action Research
Routledge Research in Education Series

In the debate regarding what constitutes teachers? work, academics and bureaucrats continue to speak for teachers, with teachers? voices rarely heard and not accorded equal recognition. The Role of Research in Teachers? Work addresses this imbalance by privileging teachers? voices as they narrate their experiences of engaging in systematic inquiry. The book embeds the teacher narratives within the scholarly debates about the nature of knowledge and the nature of professional practice.

Scanlon examines the knowledge teachers create through their research and how that knowledge is perceived by others within the school community. This book can be read as a companion volume to Scanlon?s 2015 Routledge publication My School, or as a standalone exploration of teachers? own narratives of engaging in action research. Together, these two books are unique in contemporary writing on schools, representing one of the only comprehensive longitudinal studies of a low socioeconomic secondary school from the perspective of those who learn and teach therein.

This book enables teachers to be part of the scholarly conversation about their work and the place of research in that work. As such, it should be essential reading for academics, teacher educators and postgraduates in the field of education. It should also be of interest to policymakers and teachers.

Dedication

Acknowledgements

Introduction: Why this book, now?

Chapter 1 The nature of educational knowledge

Chapter 2 The nature of teachers’ work

Chapter 3 Answering the action research ‘call to adventure’

Chapter 4 Preparing for the research journey

Chapter 5 Conducting the research

Chapter 6 Sharing the research findings

Chapter 7 From action research to whole school initiative: a case study

Chapter 8 Impact and implications of the research

Lesley Scanlon is an Honorary Senior Lecturer in the School of Education and Social Work at the University of Sydney, Australia.