Learning to Research and Researching to Learn An Educator's Guide

This chapter provides an initial broad overview of education research – what it is and the ways in which it is conducted. It also focuses on the role of practitioner research within this field. The chapter begins by outlining diverse theoretical perspectives on education research and emphasises the importance of research in teaching. Practitioner research is becoming increasingly acknowledged by education authorities across the world as a higly effective means of strengthening educators’ professional development. In this chapter, a rationale is presented for educators to engage both with (as critical consumers of research) and in practitioner research (through research on their own practice) as a means of growing as a professional. Later in the chapter, the ways in which different countries emphasise the need for educators to engage in and with research are described. We consider the different approaches to practitioner research that are commonly used, describe research paradigms and present a case for pragmatic approaches that are suited to the work of practitioners.