The notion that teachers should incorporate research into their own craft has gained traction over the past decade, becoming an increasing imperative. In the case of Colombia, for example, preservice education programs have incorporated research methods classes to their curricula along with the writing of a research paper for their senior thesis…

This article interprets teachers as change agents in light of the Transformational Teaching (TT) framework (Slavich & Zimbardo, 2012). Contributing to the understanding of teachers' transformation, we report on a case study that explores how of a graduate student's conceptualization of and engagement with the core methods of TT emerged and…

This study presents two science teachers, Catherine and Jennifer, who took their first steps toward teaching socioscientific issues through collaborative action research. The teachers participated in the collaborative action research project because they wanted to address socioscientific issues but had limited experience in teaching them. The…

This ethnographic study explores teacher experiences with vocabulary instruction, specifically as it relates to oral language-use and literacy practices. Utilizing an integrated compilation of cognitive, socio-cultural and poststructural theory, this study looks at teacher perspectives in relation to their experiences with language and literacy…

This article describes a collaborative and data-based reflective practice study carried out by two language teachers in a Japanese tertiary education context. This research utilized conversational analysis (CA) of audio-recorded classroom data which was subsequently discussed as part of a critical friendship. Both the inclusion of CA data and…

With the recent curriculum reform in basic education (elementary to senior high school) in the Philippines, developing the research capacity of teachers is seen as a key factor in enhancing their instructional practices. The professional development (PD) design which was the data source of this qualitative study was conceptualised to follow a…

Gordon Wells (2001) states that policy makers and educational planners believe there is a crisis in public education. These individuals talk about improving the "delivery of a standardized education" (p. 172) and creating nation-wide assessments that ensure particular outcomes. On the other hand, Wells (2001) discusses academic…

This paper presents a case example of a University Pedagogy course module carried out in ALMS (Autonomous Learning Modules) format. The participants of the course were mainly in-service language teachers of the University of Helsinki Language Centre, and the author of this report is a module instructor and counsellor. The motivation for the ALMS…

Practitioner research, as Ravitch (2014) writes in the previous issue of "Perspectives on Urban Education," holds the unique possibility of "generating local, practice-based knowledge that is deeply contextualized and meaningfully embedded in a specific milieu" while spurring a "counter-hegemonic way of thinking about and…

We investigated secondary science and mathematics teachers engaged in a two-and-a-half-year professional development effort focused on equity. We examined how teachers conducting research on their own instructional practices--a central learning strategy of the professional development project--informed and/or constrained their views related to…

This article reports on a study of teachers who have engaged in systematic research about their practice. It describes the inquiries of two urban teachers into challenges and dilemmas common to many who work with diverse groups of students. The accounts presented reveal how teachers are able to construct new knowledge about teaching when they…

Background: In many educational settings, professional development (PD) for in-service teachers assumes particular significance in the wake of curricula reform. This is so that teachers are enabled to become familiar with new competencies that are aligned with new learning standards, and also that teachers may be supported in actively reflecting…

The author, a school principal with significant classroom responsibilities recounts his journey towards authenticity as an independent teacher-researcher. His career as a researcher began in the scientific-knowledge tradition and then moved into the practical-knowledge tradition. He describes how Donald Schön, the father of reflective practice,…

It is generally acknowledged that novice researchers may not be adequately prepared to engage in/with research and that an increasingly widening divide exists between researchers and teachers, and therefore between research and practice. To explore this gap, this paper addresses ten of the most popular misconceptions novice researchers hold in…

In this article we consider the importance of reflective practice and research attitude for the professional development of in-service teachers. Nine teachers engaged in an international master's course (in a Belgium and French university) were interviewed to obtain self-narratives. The two year full-time master's course aims to develop skills in…