Adult educators are often concerned with the well-being of our students, but how often do we consider our own quality of work-life? The purpose of the discussion session this paper is based on was to provide a safe space for participants to "Gripe and Grow." Participants were invited to share issues (gripe) that negatively affect their…

Although there has been surge of interest in teacher research practice in English language teaching (ELT) context, few research studies seem to have shown the attitudes and perceptions of English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers towards the impact of research practice on professional teaching practice. Adopting a sequential explanatory…

This article is based on a project that explored the practices of art and design beginning teachers (BTs) working with learners in a post-age-16 context. The aim of the project was to: explore contemporary art and design practices; explore the concept of artist teacher learner researcher; enable beginning teachers to collaborate with post-age-16…

This paper examines the results of research into the learning experiences of a group of adult learners in a university preparation programme in a college of Technical and Further Education in Sydney, NSW, Australia. The research was conducted over a three year period by the author as a teacher-researcher and is grounded in the phenomenological…

The potential of practitioner-led action research (PLAR) to contribute to professional development in adult literacies work is considered from two perspectives. First, a recent initiative in Scotland is examined to illustrate PLAR implemented as professional development. The structural factors needing to be addressed for PLAR to contribute to…

Despite high staff turnover and a predominance of part-time positions in the field of adult education some adult education teachers create careers for themselves that span many years--even decades. According to the U.S. Department of Education (2007), teachers are the most important factor in improving student achievement. Knapp (2003) points out…

Analysis of critical incidents recalled by 10 practitioner inquiry group facilitators reveals how they encounter issues of power that require them to negotiate social and organizational identity, the identity and boundaries of the group, and the public identity of teacher inquiry. Negotiating tensions and contradictions is part of the effect of…

Inquiry-based staff development alters the way participants conceive of their roles as teachers and colleagues. Collegial communities can sustain significant changes in issues participants identify as important and support leadership efforts beyond the local context. (SK)

Dominant values of conventional research are rigor, precision, elegance, objectivity, and verifiability. Constructivist research is valued for being responsive, rich, emergent, subjective, and creative. Practitioner research is useful, reflective in action, interactive, and intentional. (SK)

Describes the action research model used by the Pennsylvania Action Research Network, summarizes impact evaluation results since 1995, and concludes that the network has had a major impact on the professional development of adult educators in the state. (SK)

Practitioner inquiry groups formed by Pennsylvania adult literacy practitioners provide an alternative to traditional professional development. The network provides opportunities for sharing contextualized knowledge and acquiring new ways of practice. (SK)

Increased use of practitioner research in literacy education is opening new vistas for grassroots knowledge. Such research affords new possibilities for professional growth, an improved image of literacy, and the potential to reduce illiteracy to minimal levels. (JOW)

It has long been orthodoxy among adult educators that those who teach adults need to take into account the existing knowledge, practices, perceptions and expectations of the learners. This is true at both central level where curricula and teaching-learning materials are developed and at local level where adult teacher/facilitator meets adult…

Practitioner research strengthens teachers as they learn how knowledge is made. The right time for teacher research is after initial training and some years of experience. (SK)

A teacher and a researcher provide alternate interpretations of the teaching and learning that occurred in an adult English-as-a-Second-Language classroom. They conclude that mutual collaboration must include all phases of a research project. (SK)