Participatory teacher development at schools

Abstract

This article describes an action research study on reflective development at school and discusses methodological and pedagogical issues arising from teacher beliefs and expectations. Teachers and researchers participated in four cooperative cycles of inquiry, where situated learning and reflection supported their conceptual change and meaning-making. Teachers underwent a gradual shift from imposed, predefined teaching and learning to reflective collaboration and response to different needs of different students, while researchers gained a contextualized understanding of teachers' attitudes and beliefs about teaching and learning and examined their own and the teachers' roles as action researchers. Issues related to school ethos, teachers' defensive attitudes and trust-building among teachers are discussed in light of the reflective paradigm of participants' development. ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]; Copyright of Action Research is the property of Sage Publications, Ltd. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)