This study examines the role of dialogue and collaborative reflection in guiding teachers' identification of issues and contextual barriers in their practice. It analyzes teachers' social interactions and academic self-efficacy during the dialogic process and evaluates the quality of inquiry that teachers proposed to change their practice.…

Describes and analyzes Swedish curriculum theory and research over the last 20 years. Relates this to changes in the comprehensive school system and the decline of the welfare state. Recounts the break-up of the cooperative relationship among the research community, the National Board of Education, and the Ministry of Education. (MJP)

Investigates the ethical issues arising out of a field research project on the educational experiences of Muslim girls in a private Muslim girls' school and a single-sex state school. Argues for a feminist and poststructural approach to the research process with the subjectivity of the researcher explicitly acknowledged. (MJP)

Currently, the dominant approach in research on teaching in physical education (the objectivist, scientific approach) has failed to provide a solution to how its findings, which are embodied in theories, can bring about change in the curriculum. This approach is critiqued with reference to issues of strategy, power, and politicization. (IAH)

Argues that educational research and policymaking are hampered by increased intervention by governmental agencies and misrepresentation in the media. Asserts that current educational reform efforts are in conflict with research findings related to curriculum, learning, and assessment. (CFR)

Suggests that educational researchers need to (1) expand schooling beyond the narrow interests of the marketplace; (2) view multiculturalism as central to democracy; (3) refuse to equate nationalism and monoculturalism; and (4) substitute community, solidarity, and public responsibility for emphasis on choice and individual competitiveness. (SLD)

Presents a code of ethics to guide educational research, grouped in the following categories: (1) responsibilities to the field; (2) research populations, educational institutions, and the public; (3) intellectual ownership; (4) editing, reviewing, and appraising research; (5) sponsors, policymakers, and other users of research; and (6) students…

In this article the focus is on methodology for analysing learner-learner oral conversations mediated by computers. With the increasing availability of synchronous voice-based groupware and the additional facilities offered by audio-graphic tools, language learners have opportunities for collaborating on oral tasks, supported by visual and textual…

This paper discusses a combined university-school research project involving three associate teachers from the pre-service teacher education degree at the University of Otago, New Zealand in the examination of their literacy teaching practice. The provision of resources for this collaborative study allowed the teachers to design the project in…

Five-and-a-half years ago, against the advice of his wife and his academic colleagues, Samuel C. Stringfield stepped out of his ivory tower. The then-50-year-old education researcher, a nationally known expert on school improvement, became a member of the Baltimore city school board. Until the time came when he left the board and the Center for…

This paper explores perspectives on self-study in teaching and in research through a longitudinal school-based professional development program for science teachers. The exploration focused on two broad perspectives: (1) self-study can be both personal and collaborative; and (2) self-study can be of teaching and of research. The professional…

The way in which graduate students in a course in school organization and administration at Washington State University (Pullman) have been guided through conducting original case studies of the administrators and others working in public schools and school districts was studied, as was the impact of these studies on the students. Students were…

This paper presents a method for increasing the pool of potential African-American educational researchers. The approach, called Researching Teachers in Residence (RTR), provides opportunities for inservice and preservice teachers to engage in collaborative research with university-based staff and faculty. RTR was started at Grambling (Louisiana)…

This paper presents a review of research projects recently completed by teachers in South Africa. The purpose is to describe the nature of these projects and to see what trends emerge from an analysis of the location, purpose, design, methodology, and findings of the projects. Five different projects in which more than 70 teachers have been…

The concept of mediated learning is examined, focusing on the work of L. Vygotsky (1896-1934) and R. Feuerstein (born 1921). Mediated learning is the subtle social interaction between teacher and learner in the enrichment of the student's learning experience. Both theorists take a strong sociological approach to the development of intelligence and…