This paper presents the lived experience of a practitioner researcher working as a teacher educator engaging in action research with primary pre-service teachers (PSTs). Aligning with the work of Cook (2009) ['The Purpose of Mess in Action Research: Building Rigour Though a Messy Turn.' "Educational Action Research" 17 (2): 277-291] this…

Pervasive tensions exist between the rhetoric of educational policy and the manner in which such policy is enacted in schools. Subject to the often-conflicting mandates of Initial Teacher Education policy and secondary school practices, pre-service teachers experience challenges in evaluating their role as prospective educators, while also…

This paper introduces the Teachers' Research Exchange (T-REX), an online community of practice that is currently being deployed on a pilot basis nationwide in Ireland as a response to the "research-practice gap". The system includes collaborative, educational, and technical components. The technical aspect is the social networking and…

Action research provides valuable opportunities for preservice teachers to improve their practice, their understanding of their practice, and the situation in which their practice takes place. Moreover, action research empowers preservice teachers to critically examine an experience that demonstrates their potential to be influential researchers…