Bridging the teacherresearcher divide Masterrsquos-level work ininitial teacher education

Carol Gray

School of Education College of Social Sciences University of Birmingham BirminghamUK

There is much current debate about the purpose and usefulness of educationalresearch and the perceived communication gap between teaching professionalsand academic researchers UK government intervention into initial teacher edu-cation has in recent decades contributed to this divide by favouring school-basedtraining The most common route into teaching in England remains howeverthe Postgraduate Certificate in Education provided by higher education institu-tions and therefore required to comply with the higher education qualificationsframework The majority of initial teacher education in England therefore lies atthe cusp of these two worlds pulled in apparently opposing directions The lsquotea-cher-as-researcherrsquo movement is widely seen as a bridge spanning these ten-sions though there is discussion about the quality of practitioner research aswell as about the appropriateness of a rigorous academic approach for investi-gating practice This article offers examples of the use of small-scale researchprojects as a valid means of lsquodiscovery learningrsquo in pre-service teacher educa-tion It argues that induction into research techniques as a means of exploringpractical challenges can lead to knowledge production and ownership

Keywords initial teacher education Masterrsquos-level requirements practitionerresearch personalised learning

Introduction Educational research the practitionerresearcher gap andMasterrsquos-level initial teacher education

Teacher educators throughout the world consistently strive to find effective ways ofinfluencing teacher behaviour A major tool in this is the use of published researchfindings resulting in an ongoing debate over the nature purpose and usefulness ofeducational research itself On the one hand research conducted by professionalresearchers appears to have only a minor influence on educational practice due toits perceived irrelevance to the immediate practical concerns of teachers (Foster1999 380) A recent study by Vanderlinde and Braak (2010) in Flanders reports thefrustration of researchers at their lack of impact on the teaching profession On theother hand action research and other forms of practitioner research developed pre-cisely to focus on those immediate practical concerns are challenged by establishedresearchers for their lack of rigour and concern about their hidden agendas (Foster1999 Gorard 2002)

Email cgraybhamacuk

European Journal of Teacher Education 2013Vol 36 No 1 24ndash38 httpdxdoiorg101080026197682012682648

2013 Association for Teacher Education in Europe

The challenge in affecting teacher behaviour lies in the fact that such behaviouris deeply rooted in individualsrsquo values and beliefs (Williams and Burden 1997)Adult belief systems and perspectives can be highly resistant to change (Guillaumeand Rudney 1993 Vonk 1996 Hayward 1997) Directives from above either fromgovernment or from researchers lsquoseldom manifest or take root in teachersrsquo attitudesand practicersquo (Postholm 2009 553) In addition to this resistance to change teacherculture in the UK in particular has lsquosometimes tended to adopt a defensive anti-intellectualismrsquo (Tomilinson 1995 93) According to Borg (2010) and Vanderlindeand Braak (2010) there may be valid reasons for this and not only in the UKVanderlinde and Braak reported dissatisfaction amongst Flemish practitioners whoexperienced research outcomes as confusing inconclusive and inaccessible Borgrsquosstudy into language teacher engagement in research in the field of English as a For-eign or Second Language also linked frequent negative attitudes to research due tothe lsquophysical and conceptualrsquo inaccessibility of published research its perceivedlack of relevance to teachersrsquo work and the mismatch between their lsquonarrative expe-rience of classroom lifersquo (413) and researchersrsquo portrayals of teaching and learningBorg concluded that the problem does not lie exclusively with the teaching profes-sion rather that academics have a responsibility to facilitate teachersrsquo engagementwith research

A variety of ways have been suggested to bridge the gap between researchersand practitioners and to work on teachersrsquo belief systems Edwards Sebba and Ric-kinson (2007) called for far greater contact between researchers and research usersA popular way forward has been an international movement to regard teachers notas research users but as research generators by means of action research and otherforms of practitioner research Volk (2010) writing in the United Arab Emiratesrefers to action research as a lsquonecessary part of the professional portfolio and skillsof teachersrsquo (316) Maaranen and Krokfors (2008) in Finland and Postholm(2009) in Norway view practitioner research as having the potential to unify theoryand practice and prompt deeper learning than directives imposed from above

The teacher-as-researcher movement does however have its critics A UK gov-ernment initiative to support the development of evidence-based teaching (Depart-ment for Education and Skills [DfES] 2000 Teacher Training Agency 2000)prompted a flurry of academic articles on the one hand questioning the rigour andwarrants of teacher research if not its right to be called research at all (Foster 1999Gorard 2002) and on the other defending its rigour as a valid research method andoutlining its benefits (Bartlett and Burton 2006) Gorardrsquos (2002) main criticisms ofteacher research published under this umbrella were that it appeared to be beingconducted to lsquofind evidence for already existing agendarsquo (381) that accountsappeared to be simply a description of current practice or of uncontrolled attemptsto change it (382) and that there was no sign of the lsquosurprise that is the hallmark ofreal discoveryrsquo (382) He criticised lsquowhole fields of endeavour in educationalresearch where the ldquoresearchersrdquo take sides before any evidence is collected andwhere the evidence collected is knowingly affected by this biasrsquo (386) He calledfor lsquogoodrsquo science which he defined as lsquosimply hellip the use of empirical evidenceand reasoned argumentrsquo (386) In effect he pointed out that there may be a tensionbetween the quest for rigour and the quest for relevance which may be difficult toresolve (381) Gorardrsquos demand for rigour was echoed by Foster (1999) whose in-depth investigation of the warrants of teacher research projects published throughthe scheme revealed a general insufficiency of evidence to support key claims

European Journal of Teacher Education 25

Foster also criticised the authors of project accounts for being preoccupied with thelsquoapparent practical impact of their researchrsquo (384) As their prime role is that ofpractitioner this is inevitable and perhaps an unreasonable criticism Neverthelessattempts to use research as a learning tool in teacher education courses will need tobe alert to such challenges

By contrast Bartlett and Burton (2006) highlighted the development of knowl-edge prompted by engagement in these projects not only in terms of professionalknowledge but also in terms of learning about research They claimed that it wasunfair to judge research conducted by teachers by the standards of experienced pro-fessional researchers

There is a parallel debate concerning the involvement of teachers in research aspart of accredited higher degree-level work for example Masterrsquos dissertations ordoctorates Reis-Jorge (2007) for example writing in Portugal concluded that thehighly-structured nature of the academic format of doing and reporting researchrequired for a Masterrsquos thesis lsquomay fall short of providing teachers with skills andtools for reflection that are easily transferable to practicersquo (402) More recent studiesby Borg (2010) and Volk (2010) showed that even where teachers successfullycompleted Masterrsquos-level research there was little evidence that the skills andknowledge demonstrated during academic study were continued into practice

Internationally therefore there is interest in the potential for teacher engagementin research as a powerful development tool though two major issues need to beaddressed First the highly formalised structures required in research that forms partof a higher degree may not be entirely appropriate for more informal ongoingdevelopment work in schools risking being seen as divorced from that processSecond questions might be asked about the warrants of teacher research conductedoutside of that structural format

This poses particular challenges for university-based initial teacher education(ITE) in the UK which finds itself at the cusp of this debate and subject to counter-vailing forces From the early-1990s UK government intervention into ITE hasincreased the role and authority of schools emphasising practical skills over aca-demic knowledge This has been particularly keenly felt in England where unlikein Scotland Wales and Northern Ireland there is no devolved education authorityto interpret UK policy Competing employment-based routes into teaching wereintroduced to operate independently of higher education such as the Graduate Tea-cher Programme and School-Centred Initial Teacher Training Despite suchschemes the most popular route into secondary school teaching in England remainsthe Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) a one-year teacher training courseprovided by higher education institutions (HEIs) for university graduates The cur-rent government seems set to further challenge this near monopoly aiming todecrease the numbers of new teachers trained in universities (DfE 2010a 2010b)Some feel that universities themselves have succumbed too easily to governmentalpressure over-emphasising lsquothe practical problems of classroom control and man-agementrsquo (Young 2011 26)

Concurrently postgraduate education itself has been subject to an overhaul toensure parity of academic standards An independent body the Quality AssuranceAgency for Higher Education (QAA) was established in 1997 with the remit ofcreating a new qualifications framework as a basis for external quality assurance(QAA 2009) From September 2003 all postgraduate courses including ITE wererequired to comply with Masterrsquos benchmarks calling for systematic understanding

26 C Gray

of knowledge critical awareness of current problems in the field an understandingof how established research techniques are used to create knowledge in the fieldand original practical application of these academic skills (QAA 2001) This posesa challenge Even literature that is supportive of the teacher-as-researcher movementsometimes questions its value for pre-service rather than experienced teachers (Borg2010 Volk 2010) and there have been calls from within ITE itself for the develop-ment of a set of professional Masterrsquos criteria more appropriate to the work oflearning to teach (Heilbronn 2008) By contrast as early as 1993 Kaestle was argu-ing for the introduction of research skills training into ITE to improve the reputationof educational research

As a Certificate constitutes one third of a Masterrsquos degree (ie 60 of the 180credits required for a full Masterrsquos) there is some leeway for individual institutionsMost have chosen to enhance existing provision to meet the majority of therequired outcomes as allowable within the Framework for a short course whilstreserving more stringent engagement with the research agenda for optional in-ser-vice work on part-time Masterrsquos courses They can also award a Professional PGCEto students who are unable or unwilling to engage with the research agenda Otherslike ourselves have embraced research as a balance to the danger of seeking todevelop teaching machines (Marshall 2011) working to embed Masterrsquos-level skillsthroughout the course and recognising that the sheer volume of work completed byPGCE students should entitle them to a Diploma (ie twice the number of creditsas a Certificate) providing their work meets the Masterrsquos criteria Postgraduate Cer-tificate in Education students Naomi Hull Susanne Stait Tammy Round and EmmaEacock have kindly agreed to the publication of summaries of samples of theirPGCE work from the academic year 2007ndash2008 as an illustration of how by seek-ing to integrate theory and practice to meet institutional Masterrsquos criteria they wereable to generate practically useful new knowledge alongside greater understandingof the complex nature and challenges of academic research

An illustration of engagement with Masterrsquos-level work

The participant researchers and the task

Participant researchers Naomi Hull Susanne Stait Tammy Round and EmmaEacock were part of the first cohort of Modern Foreign Language PGCE studentsto tackle a new assignment addressing the recently introduced government initiativeof Personalised Learning (PL) a theme that at the time teachers government andacademics alike were struggling to define The course follows a similar design tothat described by Maaranen and Krokfors (2008) with a gradual introduction fromSeptember to a range of research methods each linked to its practical application ina small-scale pedagogical enquiry The general requirements for each assignmentare analysis of government documentation a review of academic and professionalliterature to critique the ideas in that documentation the use of literature on selectedresearch methods to design a relevant and feasible small-scale study to carry out onteaching placements (which by law constitute 24 of the 36 course weeks) and anal-ysis and discussion integrating the different knowledge sources to draw out personallearning outcomes The explicit aim is to introduce student teachers to a range ofinformation sources including a variety of research tools with which they engagecritically to gain confidence in making well-informed though flexible and cautious

European Journal of Teacher Education 27

professional decisions Earlier assignments require an investigation of teachersrsquo useof target language in the classroom through structured observation and interviewand a critique of their own practice of teaching grammar through self-observationwith the support of a critical friend using video footage plus pupil questionnairesand interviews along with samples of pupil work The third task is to carry out asmall-scale case study using a variety of triangulating research tools to investigatethe potential for implementing PL in their classrooms

The main focus of this article is on the case studies themselves and space pre-cludes full discussion of the sources used to construct the conceptual frameworksand research design As a recent government initiative PL featured minimally inthe academic press with articles focusing largely on the challenges of defining andimplementing it and its ideological foundation linked closely with the highly regu-lated curriculum (Burton 2007 Courcier 2007 Campbell et al 2007 Underwoodand Banyard 2008) Government documentation defined it as lsquotaking a highly struc-tured and responsive approach to each childrsquos and young personrsquos learning in orderthat all are able to progress achieve and participatersquo (DfES 2006 6) Implementa-tion was to focus on five key areas Assessment for Learning Effective Teachingand Learning Curriculum Choice and Entitlement School Organisation and Beyondthe Classroom (DfES 2007) Focusing on the first two requiring knowledge of eachpupilrsquos strengths and weaknesses and use of this to inform planning and set individ-ual targets plus use of a variety of strategies to engage and stretch students andhelp them take responsibility for their own learning our authors all independentlyrecognised pupil participation as a key challenge If pupils did not participate howcould their learning needs be identified and met Each independently decided tofocus their case study on pupils who were causing concern on school placementprecisely due to their apparent lack of participation

The case studies

Participant researcher Naomi Hull

Participant researcher Naomi chose a Year 7 German class where lack of motiva-tion appeared widespread She carried out intensive data collection for two pupilswho were on the schoolrsquos special needs register for literacy difficulties though dueto time constraints and word limitations she restricted herself to a detailed analysisof data concerning Arthur (pseudonyms are used for all pupils in these studies)identified as weak in the subject and lacking concentration often displaying unhelp-ful behaviour She conducted semi-structured interviews with the pupils their formtutors and their English teacher For triangulation and to give all pupils a balancingvoice she devised a questionnaire asking class members to comment on a range oflearning activities She used the data to adapt her classroom practice To monitoreffects she created a pro-forma to systematise her field diary plus a behaviourobservation schedule using predetermined categories for the regular supporting tea-cher to complete for triangulation Although Naomi intended her categories to bemutually exclusive and exhaustive (Robson 2002) the observing teacher oftenticked several boxes thus complicating the process of analysis Examples of pupilsrsquowork were collected

Detailed analysis revealed that Arthur preferred illustrations and drawing butlike many peers saw listening activities as unenjoyable and unhelpful Naomi there-

28 C Gray

fore concentrated on developing techniques for listening using raps and extra sup-port mechanisms Many pupils appeared to benefit but Arthur continued to disen-gage She included more visual work and noted that the only homework completedby Arthur was to draw and label a picture of his bedroom His text was however amixture of German and English demonstrating limited confidence lack of learningand disregard of the support provided He rejected attempts to provide lsquoeasierrsquocopying work and patterns of negative behaviour and work avoidance persistedNevertheless Naomi realised through staff interviews that Arthurrsquos behaviour wasuniversal allowing her to develop greater emotional objectivity Detailed observa-tion suggested a general lack of confidence and awkwardness in a pupil whosephysical maturity appeared to outstrip mental development Field notes and inter-view data suggested avoidance due to fear of failure Naomirsquos resulting greaterpatience and understanding helped improve relationships Naomi suppressed herscepticism and trialled a flexible learning environment to tackle class-wide lack ofmotivation Pupils were given a set of lsquolevelledrsquo worksheets were to choose andcomplete at least two either independently or with a partner and would receive amerit for each completed successfully To Naomirsquos great surprise Arthur remainedon task throughout and completed five worksheets He worked gradually towardsthe harder tasks and made effective use of scaffolding This provided further reflec-tion concerning the lsquochoicersquo element of the PL agenda Naomi was amazed at howthe whole class responded to this mini experiment and how Arthur in particularhad challenged her assumptions

Outcomes

Naomi was quick to criticise her own study not least in terms of research rigourShe felt that her interventions were too haphazard to allow for more conclusivefindings and that she should have carried out a more organised strategic interven-tion Personal experience of research in the school context had deepened her under-standing of its limitations and frustrations and of the challenge of meeting stringentacademic criteria Nevertheless she demonstrated good awareness of a range ofresearch tools and the ability to combine them appropriately to suit her researchquestion Her own criticism of her work demonstrated her awareness of the needfor rigour and trustworthiness (Foreman-Peck and Murray 2008 157) and she wasvery cautious about making any claims to truth The intervention aspect of herstudy could not be said to meet strict academic requirements for action researchThere was however evidence of powerful professional learning and the ability tobe lsquosurprisedrsquo (Gorard 2002 386) This came not from the intervention cycle butfrom the preparatory investigation which had in her own words sensitised her tothe potential for alternative explanations of perceived patterns of behaviour Itwould be impractical to apply this level of rigour to investigation of the needs ofevery pupil but Naomi felt that she would now observe all of her pupils through aslightly different lens open to new interpretations of challenging behaviour and awider range of appropriate responses The outcomes from her project were thereforequite different from what she had expected She saw her attempt to implement gov-ernment policy as having failed yet she had created new knowledge about possiblereasons for pupil behaviour which challenged her preconceptions and assumptionsand positioned her firmly as the school expert on Arthur

European Journal of Teacher Education 29

Participant researcher Susanne Stait

Participant researcher Susanne concentrated on Dave who was causing concern inYear 7 Dave found it very hard to concentrate hardly participated in class and wasprone to disruptive behaviour There was no extra support available for him as moreserious cases in the school monopolised learning support Susanne began with a sys-tematic research diary to note patterns using semi-structured interviews with thepupil and his language teacher for triangulation Analysis of these data suggestedideas to maximise participation which she built into a lesson design using an obser-vation schedule for completion by the class teacher and questionnaires for all thepupils to supplement her own impressions

The field diary revealed that Dave quickly lost concentration especially if thepace dropped to encourage wider participation This highlighted for Susanne someof the challenges inherent in implementing recommended good practice such asBlack et alrsquos (2002) lsquowait timersquo encouraging her to engage in a constructively criti-cal way with published research and its recommendations Dave worked best invery short and concrete activities ndash thinking or lsquowaitrsquo time encouraged off-task andpotentially disruptive behaviour In pair work he needed constant refocusing stop-ping frequently to distract others Alone with Susanne and the class teacher to catchup on a missed speaking assessment however he revised solidly for five minutesand achieved his target grade visibly enjoying the praise Dave responded well togame activities though preferred to play a less pressured role such as game hostwith set phrases and teacher support

Daversquos class teacher confirmed the need for very short well-focused pupil-ledactivities They decided to seat Dave with a reliable and willing pupil Jack whocould try to keep him focused but would also be prepared to speak up should hisown work suffer They discussed the need for stronger links between objective andactivity and more focused praise Dave surprised Susanne by saying that althoughhe felt he was not very good at French he actually liked it ndash his behaviour had ledher to believe otherwise She began to reinterpret poor behaviour as a lack of confi-dence rather than dislike countering with praise and encouragement rather thanrebuke Within this changed relationship Dave responded well to the idea of tryingto copy Jackrsquos level of attention for one lesson as an achievable first goal

For her intervention Susanne designed several short activities with as little tea-cher-led activity as possible and used her own impressions of the lesson along withdata collected from the class teacherrsquos completed observation schedule and pupilquestionnaires to judge its success Data revealed that most of the class includingDave were engaged and participating throughout Dave had found it hardest to con-centrate in the pair-work section but Jack had helped him refocus on the task Allpupils had enjoyed the high pace and the change and choice of activities thoughdifferent individuals had preferred different activities Susannersquos attempts to engageone pupil more fully appeared to benefit all though through the imposed rigour ofthe investigation she also became more aware of the differences between individu-als

Outcomes

As with Naomirsquos project Susannersquos implementation study offered weak warrantsfor any truth claims There was very limited evidence of change which could be

30 C Gray

purely due to novelty value Participation and enjoyment were not guarantees oflearning especially as lsquowait timersquo had been sacrificed for greater pace Once againthe production of knowledge came not through the actionimplementation processbut through closer engagement with pupils through the application of research toolssuch as interviews and questionnaires which encouraged her to question precon-ceived ideas about pupil behaviour Conducting the project also seemed to haveencouraged Susanne to lsquoownrsquo theoretical knowledge about recommendations foreffective teaching in a more personal way whilst simultaneously engaging criticallywith them for example questioning the practicalities of employing lsquowait timersquo witha class whose concentration span was limited Once again the real learning out-comes appeared not to be related to the implementation of government policyrather to recognising the need to investigate reality beneath its surface appearancein order to understand pupil behaviour more fully

Participant researcher Tammy Round

Participant researcher Tammy focused on Jane who had a special educational needin the autism spectrum She was concerned that Jane appeared not to interact withothers or to participate in activities such as chorusing or pair work Although Janeseemed happy in the classroom her lack of participation made it difficult to gaugewhether she was learning

Tammy started with a field diary to record thoughts and brief encounters withJane who frequented the lunchtime Language Club and regularly talked withTammy after lessons For triangulation she asked her mentor to focus on Janersquos lev-els of interaction during scheduled observations At first they used unstructuredobservation analysing this over time to develop a set of categories in a more sys-tematic semi-closed structured schedule From Tammyrsquos field diary Jane appearedto respond well to multiple-choice activities structured questions including the pro-vision of wait time the use of colour and of tangible props cheeky humour such asher favourite book titles laughing at mime animated acting in plays the appeal ofvisual images such as stereotypical pictures and animal flashcards dice rollinggames and a mixture of independent work completed within a whole-class activity

Tammy also gathered professional perspectives through interviews with Janersquoslearning support assistant (LSA) and form tutor The LSA surprised Tammy byrevealing that Jane continued her learning of German independently outside of les-son times Janersquos form tutor emphasised the need for Jane to build relationshipswith people which could take time Contrary to Tammyrsquos assumptions no one hadreceived any formal training or specific advice on how to support Jane they reliedon trial and error and relationship building There were no lsquoexpertsrsquo in school withany clear answers for her about creating effective learning conditions In effect dueto her intensive study Tammy herself became the school expert on Jane

For Tammy an important emphasis within PL was pupil voice ndash she wanted toobtain Janersquos views and involve her as an active participant in her learning AsJanersquos interactions with others were relatively brief this could pose a challenge Asa first step she conducted a whole-class questionnaire to identify class needs andpreferences in terms of learning activities learning style and environmentResponses confirmed most of Tammyrsquos field diary observations but also held sur-prises for example that Jane herself felt that chorusing pair work and taking partin plays helped her to learn areas where Tammy felt she participated poorly This

European Journal of Teacher Education 31

challenged Tammyrsquos definition of lsquoparticipationrsquo ndash as in the projects describedabove appearances were revealed to be misleading Most of the class includingJane preferred visual support such as pictures and colour and kinaesthetic activi-ties

Tammy then interviewed Jane informally using an unstructured approach duringwhich she also explored other topics such as pastimes Jane listed a few activitiesthat she enjoyed in class but beyond that was unsure and became distracted reach-ing into her bag for her book Tammy became engaged in a discussion of Janersquospreference for reading gruesome stories Although disappointing in terms of tangibleinformation related to her research question Tammy felt that the interview markeda milestone in her relationship with Jane and understanding of her as a person

Tammy began to emphasise the activities to which Jane and her peers said theyresponded well enlisting the help of her mentor to monitor Janersquos involvement Shefelt that she was beginning to build a relationship with Jane and encourage her totake more risks Though apparently interested and observing classmates attentivelyJane did not join in immediately with any new activity causing Tammy to wonderhow much she benefited She realised however that Jane may simply have neededmore time to build the confidence to join in with her peers and that her attentivenessindicated that she was participating mentally if not physically Tammy began toadapt activities to provide more thinking time and encourage independent work Keyactivities proved successful ndash at one point Jane completed a task early and wasoffered an extension task at another she volunteered to come to the board during awhole-class activity A rolling dice game engaged Jane successfully but failed toinvolve the majority of the class presenting Tammy with the dilemma of balancingthe needs of all pupils in the class Overall Tammy appeared to have succeeded inraising Janersquos levels of participation by developing a relationship with her and tailor-ing her teaching style to encourage involvement but she recognised that participa-tion did not guarantee learning and that the needs of all pupils had to be balanced

Outcomes

Again Tammy engaged critically with her research procedures and highlightedtheir limitations despite feeling that she had done as well as she could in the cir-cumstances Here too key learning had not been about how to implement govern-ment policy on PL rather the benefits of obtaining multiple perspectives on anindividual pupil Tammy felt that engagement in the project had enabled her todevelop a good relationship with Jane and encouraged her to question her ownteaching practice more systematically becoming more open to change The moni-toring of intervention though providing useful information for the development ofher practice had been less powerful in terms of knowledge production than hersystematic investigation of Janersquos situation prior to implementing change Throughthis Tammy had learnt to question her preconceptions and to become alert to awider range of possible interpretations of behaviour To her clear surprise she alsolearnt that her study turned her into the schoolrsquos expert on Jane

Participant researcher Emma Eacock

Participant researcher Emma also focused on participation but looked at the workof a class rather than one or two individuals investigating the possible causes of

32 C Gray

low levels of participation of pupils in a Year 7 class during question and answersessions The class included many pupils with a range of special educational needsand Emma suspected the influence of affective factors on their performance Shehad already begun to integrate lsquowait timersquo (Black et al 2002) as a regular featureinto her question and answer sessions but was concerned that participation stillremained low She developed an observation schedule for the class teacher to com-plete during a lesson focused on reading comprehension featuring 15 carefully pre-planned questions At the end of the lesson she distributed a questionnaire to collectpupilsrsquo perceptions of the subject their ability in the subject the importance of par-ticipation in class their attitudes towards error and their own ideas for improvedparticipation Pupils were asked how they felt when asked a question in class ifthey worried about giving a wrong answer and if so why and what they felt mighthelp them participate more confidently

Over half of the pupils said that they liked their German lessons and all demon-strated a degree of satisfaction with their own performance in the subject Theseresults were quite surprising for Emma questioning her assumptions based on theirovert behaviour Most felt that putting up their hand to answer a question wasimportant though Emma realised this could have been interpreted as a behaviourissue that is not shouting out rather than concerning the importance of engage-ment in whole-class activity for learning A quarter felt that an answer must be rightfor the pupil to raise their hand though two thirds said they were happy to contrib-ute even if they thought their answer might be wrong Emma surmised that some ofthe class would benefit from explicit reinforcement that error was not only accept-able but also useful Eleven of the 17 pupils said they sometimes put their hand up5 said usually 1 always and none never This confirmed Emmarsquos impressions andwas reflected in the observation data In the open questions 11 explicitly mentionednervousness lack of confidence shyness or embarrassment as reasons for holdingback Few strategies were mentioned for improving confidence pupils simply feltthey should listen more carefully and improve their performance

Emma then trialled a class activity called lsquoRescue Ryanrsquo Pupils worked ingroups of four to discuss the dilemma of the fictional character Ryan who had beenasked a question but was unsure of the answer and too nervous to reply Group sug-gestions were collated on the board labelled lsquocommunication strategiesrsquo and pro-vided as a help sheet to stick in their books These included asking for repetition orexplanation using their books taking a risk and guessing suggesting an answerand asking lsquois that rightrsquo providing the part of an answer that you are confidentwith and the popular lsquomillionairersquo game sequence of 5050 option phone a friendor ask the audience as used by an experienced colleague in the school Emma com-mented that this offered powerful potential the 5050 option could be tailored todifferentiate for pupil ability the audience lifeline required all pupils to be engagedand ready to answer lsquoPhone a friendrsquo risked over-dependence on a few pupils andwas modified to the person sitting two places to the pupilrsquos left

Pupils were given an opportunity to practise the strategies before a second les-son on reading comprehension carefully planned to parallel difficulty of text andquestions Participation data were collected by a colleague and supplemented byinformation on the use of strategies Comparison showed that 10 of the 17increased their participation whereas 7 decreased The level of increase was mark-edly higher than the level of decrease Of the 11 pupils who said they were affectedby affective barriers 9 increased their level of participation and 2 decreased by a

European Journal of Teacher Education 33

very small margin Pupils made use of the strategies to answer 11 of the 15questions posed Clearly this was a very small and limited investigation and anynumber of external factors could account for the changes observed For exampleconfidence and willingness could have increased simply because Emma hadengaged pupils in discussing the issue of participation and it was impossible toguarantee that text and questions were of similar difficulty ndash even if they werefamiliarity with procedures could account for any perceived change Neverthelessthere did seem to be limited evidence of positive influence from the interventionand Emma felt that it was worth pursuing

Outcomes

Emmarsquos work was more clearly focused on the implementation of good practiceand monitoring of the effects of change She recognised for herself the weakness ofany warrants for claims to truth and although keen to continue this work herselfwas very cautious about making any strong recommendations on the basis of suchlimited and inconclusive evidence She began to see the implementation of PL as aseries of feasible small changes in practice reminiscent perhaps of Gorardrsquos (2002)claim that lsquoit is as though ldquoresearchrdquo is being conducted to find evidence for alreadyexisting agendarsquo (381) Nevertheless as with the previous projects the most power-ful learning seemed to come not from the intervention itself but from preparatoryinvestigations Emma expressed surprise about pupilsrsquo reported positive attitudes tothe subject and satisfaction with their own level of progress This engagement withpupils and willingness to hear their voices had she felt resulted in a more produc-tive classroom environment Although this undermined any conclusions about theeffectiveness of her intervention it revealed greater understanding of the complexityof classroom dynamics and offered an additional source of professional learning

Discussion the use of Masterrsquos criteria to prompt professional learning

The summaries present only a brief outline of each project To achieve the Masterrsquoscriteria the students used government and academic literature to define the topicand tease out contradictions and inconsistencies identified the potential for carryingout small-scale research debated the concept of case study chose and refined a setof triangulating tools addressed the complex ethical issues arising and learnt howto analyse and present data with due caution They had to justify their proceduresand results in the face of strong challenge from peers and tutors such as they mightmeet when trying to persuade professional colleagues of the need for changes inpractice Each found herself positioned as expert in the field even in discussionswith experienced teachers thus demonstrating the power of knowledge in terms ofestablishing status Their writing also finds them engaging critically with publishedresearch as well as government directives for example questioning the practicalityof lsquowait timersquo when dealing with short attention spans and of the PL agenda itselfin the face of crowded classrooms and timetables The empirical data that theyobtained were very limited and it would be easy to criticise the rigour of theirresearch methods from the standpoint of a skilled and experienced universityresearcher this would however be unjust For each person the project representsthe third in a series of six small-scale assignments designed to introduce pre-serviceteachers to the practical application of research methods as a tool for professional

34 C Gray

development and induction into the standards required for a dissertation should theywish to complete the degree As their priority is learning to teach well the writersare naturally concerned with the immediate impact of their findings on the develop-ment of their own practice and the assignment brief explicitly poses the challengeof implementing government policy on PL in order to reflect their practical con-cerns and present a relevant teaching challenge Their work does however revealan awareness of some of the criticisms of teacher research summarised in the intro-duction to this article and an attempt to meet those demands for rigour Resultsfrom their interventions are tentative and any conclusions drawn are duly cautiousin light of the relative weakness of the evidence base thus answering any criticismsabout justifiable warrants There is undeniably a sense of surprise allied to an ele-ment of knowledge creation and some evidence of impact on the beliefs systemThis comes not from the monitoring of an intervention rather from the use ofresearch tools to gain deeper insight into a situation as a preparatory phase beforeplanning the intervention itself Naomi Susanne Tammy and Emma all expressgenuine surprise as their in-depth studies propose new ways of interpreting theirclassrooms and the behaviour of their pupils Rather than producing clear guidelinesfor effective practice which is what they might have hoped for as developing teach-ers they have deepened their understanding of classroom interaction and challengedsome of their own firmly held beliefs Though disappointing their desire for clearanswers about practice the process appears to have been empowering in terms ofpositioning them as expert knowers and as potential creators of new knowledgeboth for themselves and for colleagues Engagement in such small-scale projectscould thus be seen as a powerful tool for professional development whatever thewarrants for generalisable truth It could be argued that the requirements imposedby the institution to develop understanding and use of research methods to improvethe rigour of enquiries has actually led to greater not lesser practical relevance anda more mature and professional questioning approach to the implementation ofgovernment policy Using the research format to gain greater understanding ofpupilsrsquo perspectives has led to a questioning of current beliefs and practice whichmay in turn lead to longer term and more deeply seated changes in behaviour thana successful small-scale intervention study This resonates with findings from theinternational studies discussed earlier

There is no expectation that graduates of the course will become universityresearchers though increasing numbers are returning to complete their Masterrsquosstudies with a dissertation once settled into employment We agree with Postholm(2009) that they lsquodo not necessarily have to become a researcher in the originalmeaning of the termrsquo (564) There is also no expectation that as future teachers theywill engage in such time-consuming projects as a normal part of their professionallearning We recognise that engagement in research remains a minority activity forpractising teachers (Borg 2010 407) though the students may be more favourablypositioned to explore future research opportunities having discovered the power ofresearch to reveal new information and explanations We aim for the developmentof a lsquoresearch stance and attitudersquo (Postholm 2009 564) Anonymous student evalu-ations at the end of the course consistently acknowledge the learning value of theassignments at key points in progress We are aware that the robustness of theresearch undertaken by students could be improved and continue to work at thisyear-on-year for example using Fosterrsquos (1999) critique of teacher action researchto emphasise the requirements of rigour and caution We are perhaps misleading

European Journal of Teacher Education 35

students by encouraging and simultaneously disappointing their expectations ofuseful practical outcomes from their projects ndash they begin to realise that researchcannot provide quick answers to complex problems but that more in-depth knowl-edge about a problem can be enriching and empowering even if it produces noconclusive results We tread a fine line between presenting research as a route tolsquodiscovery learningrsquo and being over-demanding in our academic expectations whenstudent teachersrsquo priority is classroom survival Successful integration of theory andpractice is dependent upon treading this tightrope endeavouring to facilitate futureteachersrsquo engagement with educational research There is sometimes a sense of pro-tectionism within academic circles defensively closing doors to maintain statusNaomi Susanne Tammy and Emmarsquos writings show that it is possible as a noviceresearcher to understand the potential and pitfalls of research to generate newknowledge and to undergo deep personal learning through designing and imple-menting a small-scale project To us this seems justification enough to continue todevelop our work even though we might appear to stand outside more generaltrends in UK teacher education

Conclusion

In conclusion this discussion adds to the positive voices in the international debateabout the appropriateness of research training in pre-service education Whether itis more suited to undergraduate or postgraduate teacher education depends upon thenature of the specific course Reis-Jorge (2007) in Portugal and Maaranen andKokfors (2008) in Finland seem to suggest that the highly structured formatrequired for a Masterrsquos dissertation leads to low transfer into ongoing teacher devel-opment and often a separation of research skills into the lsquoacademic qualificationsrsquobox On the other hand Diezman (2005) recommends offering a Research Pathwayto develop high-capacity research for certain pre-service Bachelor of Education stu-dents in the Australian teacher education system Volk (2010) investigating in-ser-vice utilisation of research skills learnt in pre-service training in the Middle Eastseems to sit on the fence On the one hand he questions the length of time andeffort spent in one particular college on this aspect of teacher preparation yet onthe other he still feels that it is worth introducing research skills at BEd Level(330) In our own situation as described above although the student teachers areworking at postgraduate level few have studied education as part of their firstdegree and even fewer have been introduced to the largely qualitative methods ofdata collection required for small-scale case study in a social science setting Theyonly have one year ndash 10 calendar months ndash in which to develop their practicalteaching skills and meet the academic Masterrsquos Level requirements Two thirds ofthat time must by law be spent in partner schools for lsquoon-the-jobrsquo training withexperienced teacher mentors Although this can pose a danger leading to a desireto lsquofit inrsquo with local practice it does provide student teachers with a wealth of prac-tical problems to investigate highlighted as necessary for success by Volk (2010317) The challenge is to develop assignments that offer research tools as a way ofunderstanding such problems more deeply thus opening up wider possibilities forchange As to whether or not these formalised research skills are used later as anormal part of personal teacher development our view coincides with that of Post-holm (2009) We want students to see the value of a research approach in providingemotional distance and deeper knowledge however they may use this learning laterAny tool learnt in a pre-service course is inevitably measured for applicability and

36 C Gray

adapted for use once the student becomes an independent practitioner and we canask no more of the research skills built into our course than of any other element ofpreparation We hope nevertheless that this will encourage more colleagues world-wide to introduce research skills as investigative and discovery tools to support lear-ner teachers in lsquoowningrsquo knowledge gained through their preparation courses

Notes on contributorCarol Gray is senior lecturer in modern foreign languages education She joined the InitialTeacher Education team in 1993 after teaching German and French to A Level in a range ofsecondary schools including special educational needs (visual impairment) She haspublished widely in the field of modern foreign languages education focusing on ICT usespecial needs grammar teaching and initial and continuing teacher development

References

Bartlett S and D Burton 2006 Practitioner research or description of classroom practiceA discussion of teachers investigating their classrooms Educational Action Research14 no 3 395ndash405

Black P C Harrison C Lee B Marshall and D Wiliam 2002 Working inside the blackbox Assessment for Learning Series 86 London GL Assessment

Borg S 2010 Language teacher research engagement Language Teaching 43 no 4391ndash429

Burton D 2007 Psycho-pedagogy and personalised learning Journal of Education forTeaching 33 no 1 5ndash17

Campbell RJ W Robinson J Neelands R Hewston and L Mazzoli 2007 Personalisedlearning Ambiguities in theory and practice British Journal of Educational Studies55 no 2 135ndash54

Courcier I 2007 Teachersrsquo perceptions of personalised learning Evaluation and Researchin Education 20 no 2 59ndash78

Department for Education 2010a The importance of teaching The Schools White Paper2010 London Stationery Office DfES httpwwweducationgovukb0068570the-importance-of-teaching

Department for Education 2010b The case for change London Stationery Office DfEShttpwwweducationgovukpublicationseOrderingDownloadDFE-00564-2010pdf

Department for Education and Skills (DfES) 2000 Best practice research scholarshipsGuidance notes for teacher applications London Author

DfES 2006 2020 Vision Report of the Teaching and Learning in 2020 review groupLondon Author

DfES 2007 The five components of personalised learning DfES httpwwwstandardsdfesgovukpersonalisedlearningfive

Diezmann CM 2005 Growing scholarly teachers and educational researchers a curriculumfor a research pathway in preservice teacher education Asia Pacific Journal of TeacherEducation 33 no 2 181ndash93

Edwards A J Sebba and M Rickinson 2007 Working with users Some implications foreducational research British Educational Research Journal 33 no 5 647ndash61

Foreman-Peck L and J Murray 2008 Action research and policy Journal of Philosophyof Education 42 no S1 145ndash63

Foster 1999 lsquoNever mind the quality feel the impactrsquo A methodological assessment ofteacher research sponsored by the Teacher Training Agency British Journal ofEducational Studies 47 no 4 380ndash98

Gorard S 2002 Political control A way forward for educational research British Journalof Educational Studies 50 no 3 378ndash89

Guillaume AM and GL Rudney 1993 Student teachersrsquo growth towards independenceAn analysis of their changing concerns Teaching and Teacher Education 9 no 165ndash80

European Journal of Teacher Education 37

The challenge in affecting teacher behaviour lies in the fact that such behaviouris deeply rooted in individualsrsquo values and beliefs (Williams and Burden 1997)Adult belief systems and perspectives can be highly resistant to change (Guillaumeand Rudney 1993 Vonk 1996 Hayward 1997) Directives from above either fromgovernment or from researchers lsquoseldom manifest or take root in teachersrsquo attitudesand practicersquo (Postholm 2009 553) In addition to this resistance to change teacherculture in the UK in particular has lsquosometimes tended to adopt a defensive anti-intellectualismrsquo (Tomilinson 1995 93) According to Borg (2010) and Vanderlindeand Braak (2010) there may be valid reasons for this and not only in the UKVanderlinde and Braak reported dissatisfaction amongst Flemish practitioners whoexperienced research outcomes as confusing inconclusive and inaccessible Borgrsquosstudy into language teacher engagement in research in the field of English as a For-eign or Second Language also linked frequent negative attitudes to research due tothe lsquophysical and conceptualrsquo inaccessibility of published research its perceivedlack of relevance to teachersrsquo work and the mismatch between their lsquonarrative expe-rience of classroom lifersquo (413) and researchersrsquo portrayals of teaching and learningBorg concluded that the problem does not lie exclusively with the teaching profes-sion rather that academics have a responsibility to facilitate teachersrsquo engagementwith research

A variety of ways have been suggested to bridge the gap between researchersand practitioners and to work on teachersrsquo belief systems Edwards Sebba and Ric-kinson (2007) called for far greater contact between researchers and research usersA popular way forward has been an international movement to regard teachers notas research users but as research generators by means of action research and otherforms of practitioner research Volk (2010) writing in the United Arab Emiratesrefers to action research as a lsquonecessary part of the professional portfolio and skillsof teachersrsquo (316) Maaranen and Krokfors (2008) in Finland and Postholm(2009) in Norway view practitioner research as having the potential to unify theoryand practice and prompt deeper learning than directives imposed from above

The teacher-as-researcher movement does however have its critics A UK gov-ernment initiative to support the development of evidence-based teaching (Depart-ment for Education and Skills [DfES] 2000 Teacher Training Agency 2000)prompted a flurry of academic articles on the one hand questioning the rigour andwarrants of teacher research if not its right to be called research at all (Foster 1999Gorard 2002) and on the other defending its rigour as a valid research method andoutlining its benefits (Bartlett and Burton 2006) Gorardrsquos (2002) main criticisms ofteacher research published under this umbrella were that it appeared to be beingconducted to lsquofind evidence for already existing agendarsquo (381) that accountsappeared to be simply a description of current practice or of uncontrolled attemptsto change it (382) and that there was no sign of the lsquosurprise that is the hallmark ofreal discoveryrsquo (382) He criticised lsquowhole fields of endeavour in educationalresearch where the ldquoresearchersrdquo take sides before any evidence is collected andwhere the evidence collected is knowingly affected by this biasrsquo (386) He calledfor lsquogoodrsquo science which he defined as lsquosimply hellip the use of empirical evidenceand reasoned argumentrsquo (386) In effect he pointed out that there may be a tensionbetween the quest for rigour and the quest for relevance which may be difficult toresolve (381) Gorardrsquos demand for rigour was echoed by Foster (1999) whose in-depth investigation of the warrants of teacher research projects published throughthe scheme revealed a general insufficiency of evidence to support key claims

European Journal of Teacher Education 25

Foster also criticised the authors of project accounts for being preoccupied with thelsquoapparent practical impact of their researchrsquo (384) As their prime role is that ofpractitioner this is inevitable and perhaps an unreasonable criticism Neverthelessattempts to use research as a learning tool in teacher education courses will need tobe alert to such challenges

By contrast Bartlett and Burton (2006) highlighted the development of knowl-edge prompted by engagement in these projects not only in terms of professionalknowledge but also in terms of learning about research They claimed that it wasunfair to judge research conducted by teachers by the standards of experienced pro-fessional researchers

There is a parallel debate concerning the involvement of teachers in research aspart of accredited higher degree-level work for example Masterrsquos dissertations ordoctorates Reis-Jorge (2007) for example writing in Portugal concluded that thehighly-structured nature of the academic format of doing and reporting researchrequired for a Masterrsquos thesis lsquomay fall short of providing teachers with skills andtools for reflection that are easily transferable to practicersquo (402) More recent studiesby Borg (2010) and Volk (2010) showed that even where teachers successfullycompleted Masterrsquos-level research there was little evidence that the skills andknowledge demonstrated during academic study were continued into practice

Internationally therefore there is interest in the potential for teacher engagementin research as a powerful development tool though two major issues need to beaddressed First the highly formalised structures required in research that forms partof a higher degree may not be entirely appropriate for more informal ongoingdevelopment work in schools risking being seen as divorced from that processSecond questions might be asked about the warrants of teacher research conductedoutside of that structural format

This poses particular challenges for university-based initial teacher education(ITE) in the UK which finds itself at the cusp of this debate and subject to counter-vailing forces From the early-1990s UK government intervention into ITE hasincreased the role and authority of schools emphasising practical skills over aca-demic knowledge This has been particularly keenly felt in England where unlikein Scotland Wales and Northern Ireland there is no devolved education authorityto interpret UK policy Competing employment-based routes into teaching wereintroduced to operate independently of higher education such as the Graduate Tea-cher Programme and School-Centred Initial Teacher Training Despite suchschemes the most popular route into secondary school teaching in England remainsthe Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) a one-year teacher training courseprovided by higher education institutions (HEIs) for university graduates The cur-rent government seems set to further challenge this near monopoly aiming todecrease the numbers of new teachers trained in universities (DfE 2010a 2010b)Some feel that universities themselves have succumbed too easily to governmentalpressure over-emphasising lsquothe practical problems of classroom control and man-agementrsquo (Young 2011 26)

Concurrently postgraduate education itself has been subject to an overhaul toensure parity of academic standards An independent body the Quality AssuranceAgency for Higher Education (QAA) was established in 1997 with the remit ofcreating a new qualifications framework as a basis for external quality assurance(QAA 2009) From September 2003 all postgraduate courses including ITE wererequired to comply with Masterrsquos benchmarks calling for systematic understanding

26 C Gray

of knowledge critical awareness of current problems in the field an understandingof how established research techniques are used to create knowledge in the fieldand original practical application of these academic skills (QAA 2001) This posesa challenge Even literature that is supportive of the teacher-as-researcher movementsometimes questions its value for pre-service rather than experienced teachers (Borg2010 Volk 2010) and there have been calls from within ITE itself for the develop-ment of a set of professional Masterrsquos criteria more appropriate to the work oflearning to teach (Heilbronn 2008) By contrast as early as 1993 Kaestle was argu-ing for the introduction of research skills training into ITE to improve the reputationof educational research

As a Certificate constitutes one third of a Masterrsquos degree (ie 60 of the 180credits required for a full Masterrsquos) there is some leeway for individual institutionsMost have chosen to enhance existing provision to meet the majority of therequired outcomes as allowable within the Framework for a short course whilstreserving more stringent engagement with the research agenda for optional in-ser-vice work on part-time Masterrsquos courses They can also award a Professional PGCEto students who are unable or unwilling to engage with the research agenda Otherslike ourselves have embraced research as a balance to the danger of seeking todevelop teaching machines (Marshall 2011) working to embed Masterrsquos-level skillsthroughout the course and recognising that the sheer volume of work completed byPGCE students should entitle them to a Diploma (ie twice the number of creditsas a Certificate) providing their work meets the Masterrsquos criteria Postgraduate Cer-tificate in Education students Naomi Hull Susanne Stait Tammy Round and EmmaEacock have kindly agreed to the publication of summaries of samples of theirPGCE work from the academic year 2007ndash2008 as an illustration of how by seek-ing to integrate theory and practice to meet institutional Masterrsquos criteria they wereable to generate practically useful new knowledge alongside greater understandingof the complex nature and challenges of academic research

An illustration of engagement with Masterrsquos-level work

The participant researchers and the task

Participant researchers Naomi Hull Susanne Stait Tammy Round and EmmaEacock were part of the first cohort of Modern Foreign Language PGCE studentsto tackle a new assignment addressing the recently introduced government initiativeof Personalised Learning (PL) a theme that at the time teachers government andacademics alike were struggling to define The course follows a similar design tothat described by Maaranen and Krokfors (2008) with a gradual introduction fromSeptember to a range of research methods each linked to its practical application ina small-scale pedagogical enquiry The general requirements for each assignmentare analysis of government documentation a review of academic and professionalliterature to critique the ideas in that documentation the use of literature on selectedresearch methods to design a relevant and feasible small-scale study to carry out onteaching placements (which by law constitute 24 of the 36 course weeks) and anal-ysis and discussion integrating the different knowledge sources to draw out personallearning outcomes The explicit aim is to introduce student teachers to a range ofinformation sources including a variety of research tools with which they engagecritically to gain confidence in making well-informed though flexible and cautious

European Journal of Teacher Education 27

professional decisions Earlier assignments require an investigation of teachersrsquo useof target language in the classroom through structured observation and interviewand a critique of their own practice of teaching grammar through self-observationwith the support of a critical friend using video footage plus pupil questionnairesand interviews along with samples of pupil work The third task is to carry out asmall-scale case study using a variety of triangulating research tools to investigatethe potential for implementing PL in their classrooms

The main focus of this article is on the case studies themselves and space pre-cludes full discussion of the sources used to construct the conceptual frameworksand research design As a recent government initiative PL featured minimally inthe academic press with articles focusing largely on the challenges of defining andimplementing it and its ideological foundation linked closely with the highly regu-lated curriculum (Burton 2007 Courcier 2007 Campbell et al 2007 Underwoodand Banyard 2008) Government documentation defined it as lsquotaking a highly struc-tured and responsive approach to each childrsquos and young personrsquos learning in orderthat all are able to progress achieve and participatersquo (DfES 2006 6) Implementa-tion was to focus on five key areas Assessment for Learning Effective Teachingand Learning Curriculum Choice and Entitlement School Organisation and Beyondthe Classroom (DfES 2007) Focusing on the first two requiring knowledge of eachpupilrsquos strengths and weaknesses and use of this to inform planning and set individ-ual targets plus use of a variety of strategies to engage and stretch students andhelp them take responsibility for their own learning our authors all independentlyrecognised pupil participation as a key challenge If pupils did not participate howcould their learning needs be identified and met Each independently decided tofocus their case study on pupils who were causing concern on school placementprecisely due to their apparent lack of participation

The case studies

Participant researcher Naomi Hull

Participant researcher Naomi chose a Year 7 German class where lack of motiva-tion appeared widespread She carried out intensive data collection for two pupilswho were on the schoolrsquos special needs register for literacy difficulties though dueto time constraints and word limitations she restricted herself to a detailed analysisof data concerning Arthur (pseudonyms are used for all pupils in these studies)identified as weak in the subject and lacking concentration often displaying unhelp-ful behaviour She conducted semi-structured interviews with the pupils their formtutors and their English teacher For triangulation and to give all pupils a balancingvoice she devised a questionnaire asking class members to comment on a range oflearning activities She used the data to adapt her classroom practice To monitoreffects she created a pro-forma to systematise her field diary plus a behaviourobservation schedule using predetermined categories for the regular supporting tea-cher to complete for triangulation Although Naomi intended her categories to bemutually exclusive and exhaustive (Robson 2002) the observing teacher oftenticked several boxes thus complicating the process of analysis Examples of pupilsrsquowork were collected

Detailed analysis revealed that Arthur preferred illustrations and drawing butlike many peers saw listening activities as unenjoyable and unhelpful Naomi there-

28 C Gray

fore concentrated on developing techniques for listening using raps and extra sup-port mechanisms Many pupils appeared to benefit but Arthur continued to disen-gage She included more visual work and noted that the only homework completedby Arthur was to draw and label a picture of his bedroom His text was however amixture of German and English demonstrating limited confidence lack of learningand disregard of the support provided He rejected attempts to provide lsquoeasierrsquocopying work and patterns of negative behaviour and work avoidance persistedNevertheless Naomi realised through staff interviews that Arthurrsquos behaviour wasuniversal allowing her to develop greater emotional objectivity Detailed observa-tion suggested a general lack of confidence and awkwardness in a pupil whosephysical maturity appeared to outstrip mental development Field notes and inter-view data suggested avoidance due to fear of failure Naomirsquos resulting greaterpatience and understanding helped improve relationships Naomi suppressed herscepticism and trialled a flexible learning environment to tackle class-wide lack ofmotivation Pupils were given a set of lsquolevelledrsquo worksheets were to choose andcomplete at least two either independently or with a partner and would receive amerit for each completed successfully To Naomirsquos great surprise Arthur remainedon task throughout and completed five worksheets He worked gradually towardsthe harder tasks and made effective use of scaffolding This provided further reflec-tion concerning the lsquochoicersquo element of the PL agenda Naomi was amazed at howthe whole class responded to this mini experiment and how Arthur in particularhad challenged her assumptions

Outcomes

Naomi was quick to criticise her own study not least in terms of research rigourShe felt that her interventions were too haphazard to allow for more conclusivefindings and that she should have carried out a more organised strategic interven-tion Personal experience of research in the school context had deepened her under-standing of its limitations and frustrations and of the challenge of meeting stringentacademic criteria Nevertheless she demonstrated good awareness of a range ofresearch tools and the ability to combine them appropriately to suit her researchquestion Her own criticism of her work demonstrated her awareness of the needfor rigour and trustworthiness (Foreman-Peck and Murray 2008 157) and she wasvery cautious about making any claims to truth The intervention aspect of herstudy could not be said to meet strict academic requirements for action researchThere was however evidence of powerful professional learning and the ability tobe lsquosurprisedrsquo (Gorard 2002 386) This came not from the intervention cycle butfrom the preparatory investigation which had in her own words sensitised her tothe potential for alternative explanations of perceived patterns of behaviour Itwould be impractical to apply this level of rigour to investigation of the needs ofevery pupil but Naomi felt that she would now observe all of her pupils through aslightly different lens open to new interpretations of challenging behaviour and awider range of appropriate responses The outcomes from her project were thereforequite different from what she had expected She saw her attempt to implement gov-ernment policy as having failed yet she had created new knowledge about possiblereasons for pupil behaviour which challenged her preconceptions and assumptionsand positioned her firmly as the school expert on Arthur

European Journal of Teacher Education 29

Participant researcher Susanne Stait

Participant researcher Susanne concentrated on Dave who was causing concern inYear 7 Dave found it very hard to concentrate hardly participated in class and wasprone to disruptive behaviour There was no extra support available for him as moreserious cases in the school monopolised learning support Susanne began with a sys-tematic research diary to note patterns using semi-structured interviews with thepupil and his language teacher for triangulation Analysis of these data suggestedideas to maximise participation which she built into a lesson design using an obser-vation schedule for completion by the class teacher and questionnaires for all thepupils to supplement her own impressions

The field diary revealed that Dave quickly lost concentration especially if thepace dropped to encourage wider participation This highlighted for Susanne someof the challenges inherent in implementing recommended good practice such asBlack et alrsquos (2002) lsquowait timersquo encouraging her to engage in a constructively criti-cal way with published research and its recommendations Dave worked best invery short and concrete activities ndash thinking or lsquowaitrsquo time encouraged off-task andpotentially disruptive behaviour In pair work he needed constant refocusing stop-ping frequently to distract others Alone with Susanne and the class teacher to catchup on a missed speaking assessment however he revised solidly for five minutesand achieved his target grade visibly enjoying the praise Dave responded well togame activities though preferred to play a less pressured role such as game hostwith set phrases and teacher support

Daversquos class teacher confirmed the need for very short well-focused pupil-ledactivities They decided to seat Dave with a reliable and willing pupil Jack whocould try to keep him focused but would also be prepared to speak up should hisown work suffer They discussed the need for stronger links between objective andactivity and more focused praise Dave surprised Susanne by saying that althoughhe felt he was not very good at French he actually liked it ndash his behaviour had ledher to believe otherwise She began to reinterpret poor behaviour as a lack of confi-dence rather than dislike countering with praise and encouragement rather thanrebuke Within this changed relationship Dave responded well to the idea of tryingto copy Jackrsquos level of attention for one lesson as an achievable first goal

For her intervention Susanne designed several short activities with as little tea-cher-led activity as possible and used her own impressions of the lesson along withdata collected from the class teacherrsquos completed observation schedule and pupilquestionnaires to judge its success Data revealed that most of the class includingDave were engaged and participating throughout Dave had found it hardest to con-centrate in the pair-work section but Jack had helped him refocus on the task Allpupils had enjoyed the high pace and the change and choice of activities thoughdifferent individuals had preferred different activities Susannersquos attempts to engageone pupil more fully appeared to benefit all though through the imposed rigour ofthe investigation she also became more aware of the differences between individu-als

Outcomes

As with Naomirsquos project Susannersquos implementation study offered weak warrantsfor any truth claims There was very limited evidence of change which could be

30 C Gray

purely due to novelty value Participation and enjoyment were not guarantees oflearning especially as lsquowait timersquo had been sacrificed for greater pace Once againthe production of knowledge came not through the actionimplementation processbut through closer engagement with pupils through the application of research toolssuch as interviews and questionnaires which encouraged her to question precon-ceived ideas about pupil behaviour Conducting the project also seemed to haveencouraged Susanne to lsquoownrsquo theoretical knowledge about recommendations foreffective teaching in a more personal way whilst simultaneously engaging criticallywith them for example questioning the practicalities of employing lsquowait timersquo witha class whose concentration span was limited Once again the real learning out-comes appeared not to be related to the implementation of government policyrather to recognising the need to investigate reality beneath its surface appearancein order to understand pupil behaviour more fully

Participant researcher Tammy Round

Participant researcher Tammy focused on Jane who had a special educational needin the autism spectrum She was concerned that Jane appeared not to interact withothers or to participate in activities such as chorusing or pair work Although Janeseemed happy in the classroom her lack of participation made it difficult to gaugewhether she was learning

Tammy started with a field diary to record thoughts and brief encounters withJane who frequented the lunchtime Language Club and regularly talked withTammy after lessons For triangulation she asked her mentor to focus on Janersquos lev-els of interaction during scheduled observations At first they used unstructuredobservation analysing this over time to develop a set of categories in a more sys-tematic semi-closed structured schedule From Tammyrsquos field diary Jane appearedto respond well to multiple-choice activities structured questions including the pro-vision of wait time the use of colour and of tangible props cheeky humour such asher favourite book titles laughing at mime animated acting in plays the appeal ofvisual images such as stereotypical pictures and animal flashcards dice rollinggames and a mixture of independent work completed within a whole-class activity

Tammy also gathered professional perspectives through interviews with Janersquoslearning support assistant (LSA) and form tutor The LSA surprised Tammy byrevealing that Jane continued her learning of German independently outside of les-son times Janersquos form tutor emphasised the need for Jane to build relationshipswith people which could take time Contrary to Tammyrsquos assumptions no one hadreceived any formal training or specific advice on how to support Jane they reliedon trial and error and relationship building There were no lsquoexpertsrsquo in school withany clear answers for her about creating effective learning conditions In effect dueto her intensive study Tammy herself became the school expert on Jane

For Tammy an important emphasis within PL was pupil voice ndash she wanted toobtain Janersquos views and involve her as an active participant in her learning AsJanersquos interactions with others were relatively brief this could pose a challenge Asa first step she conducted a whole-class questionnaire to identify class needs andpreferences in terms of learning activities learning style and environmentResponses confirmed most of Tammyrsquos field diary observations but also held sur-prises for example that Jane herself felt that chorusing pair work and taking partin plays helped her to learn areas where Tammy felt she participated poorly This

European Journal of Teacher Education 31

challenged Tammyrsquos definition of lsquoparticipationrsquo ndash as in the projects describedabove appearances were revealed to be misleading Most of the class includingJane preferred visual support such as pictures and colour and kinaesthetic activi-ties

Tammy then interviewed Jane informally using an unstructured approach duringwhich she also explored other topics such as pastimes Jane listed a few activitiesthat she enjoyed in class but beyond that was unsure and became distracted reach-ing into her bag for her book Tammy became engaged in a discussion of Janersquospreference for reading gruesome stories Although disappointing in terms of tangibleinformation related to her research question Tammy felt that the interview markeda milestone in her relationship with Jane and understanding of her as a person

Tammy began to emphasise the activities to which Jane and her peers said theyresponded well enlisting the help of her mentor to monitor Janersquos involvement Shefelt that she was beginning to build a relationship with Jane and encourage her totake more risks Though apparently interested and observing classmates attentivelyJane did not join in immediately with any new activity causing Tammy to wonderhow much she benefited She realised however that Jane may simply have neededmore time to build the confidence to join in with her peers and that her attentivenessindicated that she was participating mentally if not physically Tammy began toadapt activities to provide more thinking time and encourage independent work Keyactivities proved successful ndash at one point Jane completed a task early and wasoffered an extension task at another she volunteered to come to the board during awhole-class activity A rolling dice game engaged Jane successfully but failed toinvolve the majority of the class presenting Tammy with the dilemma of balancingthe needs of all pupils in the class Overall Tammy appeared to have succeeded inraising Janersquos levels of participation by developing a relationship with her and tailor-ing her teaching style to encourage involvement but she recognised that participa-tion did not guarantee learning and that the needs of all pupils had to be balanced

Outcomes

Again Tammy engaged critically with her research procedures and highlightedtheir limitations despite feeling that she had done as well as she could in the cir-cumstances Here too key learning had not been about how to implement govern-ment policy on PL rather the benefits of obtaining multiple perspectives on anindividual pupil Tammy felt that engagement in the project had enabled her todevelop a good relationship with Jane and encouraged her to question her ownteaching practice more systematically becoming more open to change The moni-toring of intervention though providing useful information for the development ofher practice had been less powerful in terms of knowledge production than hersystematic investigation of Janersquos situation prior to implementing change Throughthis Tammy had learnt to question her preconceptions and to become alert to awider range of possible interpretations of behaviour To her clear surprise she alsolearnt that her study turned her into the schoolrsquos expert on Jane

Participant researcher Emma Eacock

Participant researcher Emma also focused on participation but looked at the workof a class rather than one or two individuals investigating the possible causes of

32 C Gray

low levels of participation of pupils in a Year 7 class during question and answersessions The class included many pupils with a range of special educational needsand Emma suspected the influence of affective factors on their performance Shehad already begun to integrate lsquowait timersquo (Black et al 2002) as a regular featureinto her question and answer sessions but was concerned that participation stillremained low She developed an observation schedule for the class teacher to com-plete during a lesson focused on reading comprehension featuring 15 carefully pre-planned questions At the end of the lesson she distributed a questionnaire to collectpupilsrsquo perceptions of the subject their ability in the subject the importance of par-ticipation in class their attitudes towards error and their own ideas for improvedparticipation Pupils were asked how they felt when asked a question in class ifthey worried about giving a wrong answer and if so why and what they felt mighthelp them participate more confidently

Over half of the pupils said that they liked their German lessons and all demon-strated a degree of satisfaction with their own performance in the subject Theseresults were quite surprising for Emma questioning her assumptions based on theirovert behaviour Most felt that putting up their hand to answer a question wasimportant though Emma realised this could have been interpreted as a behaviourissue that is not shouting out rather than concerning the importance of engage-ment in whole-class activity for learning A quarter felt that an answer must be rightfor the pupil to raise their hand though two thirds said they were happy to contrib-ute even if they thought their answer might be wrong Emma surmised that some ofthe class would benefit from explicit reinforcement that error was not only accept-able but also useful Eleven of the 17 pupils said they sometimes put their hand up5 said usually 1 always and none never This confirmed Emmarsquos impressions andwas reflected in the observation data In the open questions 11 explicitly mentionednervousness lack of confidence shyness or embarrassment as reasons for holdingback Few strategies were mentioned for improving confidence pupils simply feltthey should listen more carefully and improve their performance

Emma then trialled a class activity called lsquoRescue Ryanrsquo Pupils worked ingroups of four to discuss the dilemma of the fictional character Ryan who had beenasked a question but was unsure of the answer and too nervous to reply Group sug-gestions were collated on the board labelled lsquocommunication strategiesrsquo and pro-vided as a help sheet to stick in their books These included asking for repetition orexplanation using their books taking a risk and guessing suggesting an answerand asking lsquois that rightrsquo providing the part of an answer that you are confidentwith and the popular lsquomillionairersquo game sequence of 5050 option phone a friendor ask the audience as used by an experienced colleague in the school Emma com-mented that this offered powerful potential the 5050 option could be tailored todifferentiate for pupil ability the audience lifeline required all pupils to be engagedand ready to answer lsquoPhone a friendrsquo risked over-dependence on a few pupils andwas modified to the person sitting two places to the pupilrsquos left

Pupils were given an opportunity to practise the strategies before a second les-son on reading comprehension carefully planned to parallel difficulty of text andquestions Participation data were collected by a colleague and supplemented byinformation on the use of strategies Comparison showed that 10 of the 17increased their participation whereas 7 decreased The level of increase was mark-edly higher than the level of decrease Of the 11 pupils who said they were affectedby affective barriers 9 increased their level of participation and 2 decreased by a

European Journal of Teacher Education 33

very small margin Pupils made use of the strategies to answer 11 of the 15questions posed Clearly this was a very small and limited investigation and anynumber of external factors could account for the changes observed For exampleconfidence and willingness could have increased simply because Emma hadengaged pupils in discussing the issue of participation and it was impossible toguarantee that text and questions were of similar difficulty ndash even if they werefamiliarity with procedures could account for any perceived change Neverthelessthere did seem to be limited evidence of positive influence from the interventionand Emma felt that it was worth pursuing

Outcomes

Emmarsquos work was more clearly focused on the implementation of good practiceand monitoring of the effects of change She recognised for herself the weakness ofany warrants for claims to truth and although keen to continue this work herselfwas very cautious about making any strong recommendations on the basis of suchlimited and inconclusive evidence She began to see the implementation of PL as aseries of feasible small changes in practice reminiscent perhaps of Gorardrsquos (2002)claim that lsquoit is as though ldquoresearchrdquo is being conducted to find evidence for alreadyexisting agendarsquo (381) Nevertheless as with the previous projects the most power-ful learning seemed to come not from the intervention itself but from preparatoryinvestigations Emma expressed surprise about pupilsrsquo reported positive attitudes tothe subject and satisfaction with their own level of progress This engagement withpupils and willingness to hear their voices had she felt resulted in a more produc-tive classroom environment Although this undermined any conclusions about theeffectiveness of her intervention it revealed greater understanding of the complexityof classroom dynamics and offered an additional source of professional learning

Discussion the use of Masterrsquos criteria to prompt professional learning

The summaries present only a brief outline of each project To achieve the Masterrsquoscriteria the students used government and academic literature to define the topicand tease out contradictions and inconsistencies identified the potential for carryingout small-scale research debated the concept of case study chose and refined a setof triangulating tools addressed the complex ethical issues arising and learnt howto analyse and present data with due caution They had to justify their proceduresand results in the face of strong challenge from peers and tutors such as they mightmeet when trying to persuade professional colleagues of the need for changes inpractice Each found herself positioned as expert in the field even in discussionswith experienced teachers thus demonstrating the power of knowledge in terms ofestablishing status Their writing also finds them engaging critically with publishedresearch as well as government directives for example questioning the practicalityof lsquowait timersquo when dealing with short attention spans and of the PL agenda itselfin the face of crowded classrooms and timetables The empirical data that theyobtained were very limited and it would be easy to criticise the rigour of theirresearch methods from the standpoint of a skilled and experienced universityresearcher this would however be unjust For each person the project representsthe third in a series of six small-scale assignments designed to introduce pre-serviceteachers to the practical application of research methods as a tool for professional

34 C Gray

development and induction into the standards required for a dissertation should theywish to complete the degree As their priority is learning to teach well the writersare naturally concerned with the immediate impact of their findings on the develop-ment of their own practice and the assignment brief explicitly poses the challengeof implementing government policy on PL in order to reflect their practical con-cerns and present a relevant teaching challenge Their work does however revealan awareness of some of the criticisms of teacher research summarised in the intro-duction to this article and an attempt to meet those demands for rigour Resultsfrom their interventions are tentative and any conclusions drawn are duly cautiousin light of the relative weakness of the evidence base thus answering any criticismsabout justifiable warrants There is undeniably a sense of surprise allied to an ele-ment of knowledge creation and some evidence of impact on the beliefs systemThis comes not from the monitoring of an intervention rather from the use ofresearch tools to gain deeper insight into a situation as a preparatory phase beforeplanning the intervention itself Naomi Susanne Tammy and Emma all expressgenuine surprise as their in-depth studies propose new ways of interpreting theirclassrooms and the behaviour of their pupils Rather than producing clear guidelinesfor effective practice which is what they might have hoped for as developing teach-ers they have deepened their understanding of classroom interaction and challengedsome of their own firmly held beliefs Though disappointing their desire for clearanswers about practice the process appears to have been empowering in terms ofpositioning them as expert knowers and as potential creators of new knowledgeboth for themselves and for colleagues Engagement in such small-scale projectscould thus be seen as a powerful tool for professional development whatever thewarrants for generalisable truth It could be argued that the requirements imposedby the institution to develop understanding and use of research methods to improvethe rigour of enquiries has actually led to greater not lesser practical relevance anda more mature and professional questioning approach to the implementation ofgovernment policy Using the research format to gain greater understanding ofpupilsrsquo perspectives has led to a questioning of current beliefs and practice whichmay in turn lead to longer term and more deeply seated changes in behaviour thana successful small-scale intervention study This resonates with findings from theinternational studies discussed earlier

There is no expectation that graduates of the course will become universityresearchers though increasing numbers are returning to complete their Masterrsquosstudies with a dissertation once settled into employment We agree with Postholm(2009) that they lsquodo not necessarily have to become a researcher in the originalmeaning of the termrsquo (564) There is also no expectation that as future teachers theywill engage in such time-consuming projects as a normal part of their professionallearning We recognise that engagement in research remains a minority activity forpractising teachers (Borg 2010 407) though the students may be more favourablypositioned to explore future research opportunities having discovered the power ofresearch to reveal new information and explanations We aim for the developmentof a lsquoresearch stance and attitudersquo (Postholm 2009 564) Anonymous student evalu-ations at the end of the course consistently acknowledge the learning value of theassignments at key points in progress We are aware that the robustness of theresearch undertaken by students could be improved and continue to work at thisyear-on-year for example using Fosterrsquos (1999) critique of teacher action researchto emphasise the requirements of rigour and caution We are perhaps misleading

European Journal of Teacher Education 35

students by encouraging and simultaneously disappointing their expectations ofuseful practical outcomes from their projects ndash they begin to realise that researchcannot provide quick answers to complex problems but that more in-depth knowl-edge about a problem can be enriching and empowering even if it produces noconclusive results We tread a fine line between presenting research as a route tolsquodiscovery learningrsquo and being over-demanding in our academic expectations whenstudent teachersrsquo priority is classroom survival Successful integration of theory andpractice is dependent upon treading this tightrope endeavouring to facilitate futureteachersrsquo engagement with educational research There is sometimes a sense of pro-tectionism within academic circles defensively closing doors to maintain statusNaomi Susanne Tammy and Emmarsquos writings show that it is possible as a noviceresearcher to understand the potential and pitfalls of research to generate newknowledge and to undergo deep personal learning through designing and imple-menting a small-scale project To us this seems justification enough to continue todevelop our work even though we might appear to stand outside more generaltrends in UK teacher education

Conclusion

In conclusion this discussion adds to the positive voices in the international debateabout the appropriateness of research training in pre-service education Whether itis more suited to undergraduate or postgraduate teacher education depends upon thenature of the specific course Reis-Jorge (2007) in Portugal and Maaranen andKokfors (2008) in Finland seem to suggest that the highly structured formatrequired for a Masterrsquos dissertation leads to low transfer into ongoing teacher devel-opment and often a separation of research skills into the lsquoacademic qualificationsrsquobox On the other hand Diezman (2005) recommends offering a Research Pathwayto develop high-capacity research for certain pre-service Bachelor of Education stu-dents in the Australian teacher education system Volk (2010) investigating in-ser-vice utilisation of research skills learnt in pre-service training in the Middle Eastseems to sit on the fence On the one hand he questions the length of time andeffort spent in one particular college on this aspect of teacher preparation yet onthe other he still feels that it is worth introducing research skills at BEd Level(330) In our own situation as described above although the student teachers areworking at postgraduate level few have studied education as part of their firstdegree and even fewer have been introduced to the largely qualitative methods ofdata collection required for small-scale case study in a social science setting Theyonly have one year ndash 10 calendar months ndash in which to develop their practicalteaching skills and meet the academic Masterrsquos Level requirements Two thirds ofthat time must by law be spent in partner schools for lsquoon-the-jobrsquo training withexperienced teacher mentors Although this can pose a danger leading to a desireto lsquofit inrsquo with local practice it does provide student teachers with a wealth of prac-tical problems to investigate highlighted as necessary for success by Volk (2010317) The challenge is to develop assignments that offer research tools as a way ofunderstanding such problems more deeply thus opening up wider possibilities forchange As to whether or not these formalised research skills are used later as anormal part of personal teacher development our view coincides with that of Post-holm (2009) We want students to see the value of a research approach in providingemotional distance and deeper knowledge however they may use this learning laterAny tool learnt in a pre-service course is inevitably measured for applicability and

36 C Gray

adapted for use once the student becomes an independent practitioner and we canask no more of the research skills built into our course than of any other element ofpreparation We hope nevertheless that this will encourage more colleagues world-wide to introduce research skills as investigative and discovery tools to support lear-ner teachers in lsquoowningrsquo knowledge gained through their preparation courses

Notes on contributorCarol Gray is senior lecturer in modern foreign languages education She joined the InitialTeacher Education team in 1993 after teaching German and French to A Level in a range ofsecondary schools including special educational needs (visual impairment) She haspublished widely in the field of modern foreign languages education focusing on ICT usespecial needs grammar teaching and initial and continuing teacher development

References

Bartlett S and D Burton 2006 Practitioner research or description of classroom practiceA discussion of teachers investigating their classrooms Educational Action Research14 no 3 395ndash405

Black P C Harrison C Lee B Marshall and D Wiliam 2002 Working inside the blackbox Assessment for Learning Series 86 London GL Assessment

Borg S 2010 Language teacher research engagement Language Teaching 43 no 4391ndash429

Burton D 2007 Psycho-pedagogy and personalised learning Journal of Education forTeaching 33 no 1 5ndash17

Campbell RJ W Robinson J Neelands R Hewston and L Mazzoli 2007 Personalisedlearning Ambiguities in theory and practice British Journal of Educational Studies55 no 2 135ndash54

Courcier I 2007 Teachersrsquo perceptions of personalised learning Evaluation and Researchin Education 20 no 2 59ndash78

Department for Education 2010a The importance of teaching The Schools White Paper2010 London Stationery Office DfES httpwwweducationgovukb0068570the-importance-of-teaching

Department for Education 2010b The case for change London Stationery Office DfEShttpwwweducationgovukpublicationseOrderingDownloadDFE-00564-2010pdf

Department for Education and Skills (DfES) 2000 Best practice research scholarshipsGuidance notes for teacher applications London Author

DfES 2006 2020 Vision Report of the Teaching and Learning in 2020 review groupLondon Author

DfES 2007 The five components of personalised learning DfES httpwwwstandardsdfesgovukpersonalisedlearningfive

Diezmann CM 2005 Growing scholarly teachers and educational researchers a curriculumfor a research pathway in preservice teacher education Asia Pacific Journal of TeacherEducation 33 no 2 181ndash93

Edwards A J Sebba and M Rickinson 2007 Working with users Some implications foreducational research British Educational Research Journal 33 no 5 647ndash61

Foreman-Peck L and J Murray 2008 Action research and policy Journal of Philosophyof Education 42 no S1 145ndash63

Foster 1999 lsquoNever mind the quality feel the impactrsquo A methodological assessment ofteacher research sponsored by the Teacher Training Agency British Journal ofEducational Studies 47 no 4 380ndash98

Gorard S 2002 Political control A way forward for educational research British Journalof Educational Studies 50 no 3 378ndash89

Guillaume AM and GL Rudney 1993 Student teachersrsquo growth towards independenceAn analysis of their changing concerns Teaching and Teacher Education 9 no 165ndash80

European Journal of Teacher Education 37

Foster also criticised the authors of project accounts for being preoccupied with thelsquoapparent practical impact of their researchrsquo (384) As their prime role is that ofpractitioner this is inevitable and perhaps an unreasonable criticism Neverthelessattempts to use research as a learning tool in teacher education courses will need tobe alert to such challenges

By contrast Bartlett and Burton (2006) highlighted the development of knowl-edge prompted by engagement in these projects not only in terms of professionalknowledge but also in terms of learning about research They claimed that it wasunfair to judge research conducted by teachers by the standards of experienced pro-fessional researchers

There is a parallel debate concerning the involvement of teachers in research aspart of accredited higher degree-level work for example Masterrsquos dissertations ordoctorates Reis-Jorge (2007) for example writing in Portugal concluded that thehighly-structured nature of the academic format of doing and reporting researchrequired for a Masterrsquos thesis lsquomay fall short of providing teachers with skills andtools for reflection that are easily transferable to practicersquo (402) More recent studiesby Borg (2010) and Volk (2010) showed that even where teachers successfullycompleted Masterrsquos-level research there was little evidence that the skills andknowledge demonstrated during academic study were continued into practice

Internationally therefore there is interest in the potential for teacher engagementin research as a powerful development tool though two major issues need to beaddressed First the highly formalised structures required in research that forms partof a higher degree may not be entirely appropriate for more informal ongoingdevelopment work in schools risking being seen as divorced from that processSecond questions might be asked about the warrants of teacher research conductedoutside of that structural format

This poses particular challenges for university-based initial teacher education(ITE) in the UK which finds itself at the cusp of this debate and subject to counter-vailing forces From the early-1990s UK government intervention into ITE hasincreased the role and authority of schools emphasising practical skills over aca-demic knowledge This has been particularly keenly felt in England where unlikein Scotland Wales and Northern Ireland there is no devolved education authorityto interpret UK policy Competing employment-based routes into teaching wereintroduced to operate independently of higher education such as the Graduate Tea-cher Programme and School-Centred Initial Teacher Training Despite suchschemes the most popular route into secondary school teaching in England remainsthe Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) a one-year teacher training courseprovided by higher education institutions (HEIs) for university graduates The cur-rent government seems set to further challenge this near monopoly aiming todecrease the numbers of new teachers trained in universities (DfE 2010a 2010b)Some feel that universities themselves have succumbed too easily to governmentalpressure over-emphasising lsquothe practical problems of classroom control and man-agementrsquo (Young 2011 26)

Concurrently postgraduate education itself has been subject to an overhaul toensure parity of academic standards An independent body the Quality AssuranceAgency for Higher Education (QAA) was established in 1997 with the remit ofcreating a new qualifications framework as a basis for external quality assurance(QAA 2009) From September 2003 all postgraduate courses including ITE wererequired to comply with Masterrsquos benchmarks calling for systematic understanding

26 C Gray

of knowledge critical awareness of current problems in the field an understandingof how established research techniques are used to create knowledge in the fieldand original practical application of these academic skills (QAA 2001) This posesa challenge Even literature that is supportive of the teacher-as-researcher movementsometimes questions its value for pre-service rather than experienced teachers (Borg2010 Volk 2010) and there have been calls from within ITE itself for the develop-ment of a set of professional Masterrsquos criteria more appropriate to the work oflearning to teach (Heilbronn 2008) By contrast as early as 1993 Kaestle was argu-ing for the introduction of research skills training into ITE to improve the reputationof educational research

As a Certificate constitutes one third of a Masterrsquos degree (ie 60 of the 180credits required for a full Masterrsquos) there is some leeway for individual institutionsMost have chosen to enhance existing provision to meet the majority of therequired outcomes as allowable within the Framework for a short course whilstreserving more stringent engagement with the research agenda for optional in-ser-vice work on part-time Masterrsquos courses They can also award a Professional PGCEto students who are unable or unwilling to engage with the research agenda Otherslike ourselves have embraced research as a balance to the danger of seeking todevelop teaching machines (Marshall 2011) working to embed Masterrsquos-level skillsthroughout the course and recognising that the sheer volume of work completed byPGCE students should entitle them to a Diploma (ie twice the number of creditsas a Certificate) providing their work meets the Masterrsquos criteria Postgraduate Cer-tificate in Education students Naomi Hull Susanne Stait Tammy Round and EmmaEacock have kindly agreed to the publication of summaries of samples of theirPGCE work from the academic year 2007ndash2008 as an illustration of how by seek-ing to integrate theory and practice to meet institutional Masterrsquos criteria they wereable to generate practically useful new knowledge alongside greater understandingof the complex nature and challenges of academic research

An illustration of engagement with Masterrsquos-level work

The participant researchers and the task

Participant researchers Naomi Hull Susanne Stait Tammy Round and EmmaEacock were part of the first cohort of Modern Foreign Language PGCE studentsto tackle a new assignment addressing the recently introduced government initiativeof Personalised Learning (PL) a theme that at the time teachers government andacademics alike were struggling to define The course follows a similar design tothat described by Maaranen and Krokfors (2008) with a gradual introduction fromSeptember to a range of research methods each linked to its practical application ina small-scale pedagogical enquiry The general requirements for each assignmentare analysis of government documentation a review of academic and professionalliterature to critique the ideas in that documentation the use of literature on selectedresearch methods to design a relevant and feasible small-scale study to carry out onteaching placements (which by law constitute 24 of the 36 course weeks) and anal-ysis and discussion integrating the different knowledge sources to draw out personallearning outcomes The explicit aim is to introduce student teachers to a range ofinformation sources including a variety of research tools with which they engagecritically to gain confidence in making well-informed though flexible and cautious

European Journal of Teacher Education 27

professional decisions Earlier assignments require an investigation of teachersrsquo useof target language in the classroom through structured observation and interviewand a critique of their own practice of teaching grammar through self-observationwith the support of a critical friend using video footage plus pupil questionnairesand interviews along with samples of pupil work The third task is to carry out asmall-scale case study using a variety of triangulating research tools to investigatethe potential for implementing PL in their classrooms

The main focus of this article is on the case studies themselves and space pre-cludes full discussion of the sources used to construct the conceptual frameworksand research design As a recent government initiative PL featured minimally inthe academic press with articles focusing largely on the challenges of defining andimplementing it and its ideological foundation linked closely with the highly regu-lated curriculum (Burton 2007 Courcier 2007 Campbell et al 2007 Underwoodand Banyard 2008) Government documentation defined it as lsquotaking a highly struc-tured and responsive approach to each childrsquos and young personrsquos learning in orderthat all are able to progress achieve and participatersquo (DfES 2006 6) Implementa-tion was to focus on five key areas Assessment for Learning Effective Teachingand Learning Curriculum Choice and Entitlement School Organisation and Beyondthe Classroom (DfES 2007) Focusing on the first two requiring knowledge of eachpupilrsquos strengths and weaknesses and use of this to inform planning and set individ-ual targets plus use of a variety of strategies to engage and stretch students andhelp them take responsibility for their own learning our authors all independentlyrecognised pupil participation as a key challenge If pupils did not participate howcould their learning needs be identified and met Each independently decided tofocus their case study on pupils who were causing concern on school placementprecisely due to their apparent lack of participation

The case studies

Participant researcher Naomi Hull

Participant researcher Naomi chose a Year 7 German class where lack of motiva-tion appeared widespread She carried out intensive data collection for two pupilswho were on the schoolrsquos special needs register for literacy difficulties though dueto time constraints and word limitations she restricted herself to a detailed analysisof data concerning Arthur (pseudonyms are used for all pupils in these studies)identified as weak in the subject and lacking concentration often displaying unhelp-ful behaviour She conducted semi-structured interviews with the pupils their formtutors and their English teacher For triangulation and to give all pupils a balancingvoice she devised a questionnaire asking class members to comment on a range oflearning activities She used the data to adapt her classroom practice To monitoreffects she created a pro-forma to systematise her field diary plus a behaviourobservation schedule using predetermined categories for the regular supporting tea-cher to complete for triangulation Although Naomi intended her categories to bemutually exclusive and exhaustive (Robson 2002) the observing teacher oftenticked several boxes thus complicating the process of analysis Examples of pupilsrsquowork were collected

Detailed analysis revealed that Arthur preferred illustrations and drawing butlike many peers saw listening activities as unenjoyable and unhelpful Naomi there-

28 C Gray

fore concentrated on developing techniques for listening using raps and extra sup-port mechanisms Many pupils appeared to benefit but Arthur continued to disen-gage She included more visual work and noted that the only homework completedby Arthur was to draw and label a picture of his bedroom His text was however amixture of German and English demonstrating limited confidence lack of learningand disregard of the support provided He rejected attempts to provide lsquoeasierrsquocopying work and patterns of negative behaviour and work avoidance persistedNevertheless Naomi realised through staff interviews that Arthurrsquos behaviour wasuniversal allowing her to develop greater emotional objectivity Detailed observa-tion suggested a general lack of confidence and awkwardness in a pupil whosephysical maturity appeared to outstrip mental development Field notes and inter-view data suggested avoidance due to fear of failure Naomirsquos resulting greaterpatience and understanding helped improve relationships Naomi suppressed herscepticism and trialled a flexible learning environment to tackle class-wide lack ofmotivation Pupils were given a set of lsquolevelledrsquo worksheets were to choose andcomplete at least two either independently or with a partner and would receive amerit for each completed successfully To Naomirsquos great surprise Arthur remainedon task throughout and completed five worksheets He worked gradually towardsthe harder tasks and made effective use of scaffolding This provided further reflec-tion concerning the lsquochoicersquo element of the PL agenda Naomi was amazed at howthe whole class responded to this mini experiment and how Arthur in particularhad challenged her assumptions

Outcomes

Naomi was quick to criticise her own study not least in terms of research rigourShe felt that her interventions were too haphazard to allow for more conclusivefindings and that she should have carried out a more organised strategic interven-tion Personal experience of research in the school context had deepened her under-standing of its limitations and frustrations and of the challenge of meeting stringentacademic criteria Nevertheless she demonstrated good awareness of a range ofresearch tools and the ability to combine them appropriately to suit her researchquestion Her own criticism of her work demonstrated her awareness of the needfor rigour and trustworthiness (Foreman-Peck and Murray 2008 157) and she wasvery cautious about making any claims to truth The intervention aspect of herstudy could not be said to meet strict academic requirements for action researchThere was however evidence of powerful professional learning and the ability tobe lsquosurprisedrsquo (Gorard 2002 386) This came not from the intervention cycle butfrom the preparatory investigation which had in her own words sensitised her tothe potential for alternative explanations of perceived patterns of behaviour Itwould be impractical to apply this level of rigour to investigation of the needs ofevery pupil but Naomi felt that she would now observe all of her pupils through aslightly different lens open to new interpretations of challenging behaviour and awider range of appropriate responses The outcomes from her project were thereforequite different from what she had expected She saw her attempt to implement gov-ernment policy as having failed yet she had created new knowledge about possiblereasons for pupil behaviour which challenged her preconceptions and assumptionsand positioned her firmly as the school expert on Arthur

European Journal of Teacher Education 29

Participant researcher Susanne Stait

Participant researcher Susanne concentrated on Dave who was causing concern inYear 7 Dave found it very hard to concentrate hardly participated in class and wasprone to disruptive behaviour There was no extra support available for him as moreserious cases in the school monopolised learning support Susanne began with a sys-tematic research diary to note patterns using semi-structured interviews with thepupil and his language teacher for triangulation Analysis of these data suggestedideas to maximise participation which she built into a lesson design using an obser-vation schedule for completion by the class teacher and questionnaires for all thepupils to supplement her own impressions

The field diary revealed that Dave quickly lost concentration especially if thepace dropped to encourage wider participation This highlighted for Susanne someof the challenges inherent in implementing recommended good practice such asBlack et alrsquos (2002) lsquowait timersquo encouraging her to engage in a constructively criti-cal way with published research and its recommendations Dave worked best invery short and concrete activities ndash thinking or lsquowaitrsquo time encouraged off-task andpotentially disruptive behaviour In pair work he needed constant refocusing stop-ping frequently to distract others Alone with Susanne and the class teacher to catchup on a missed speaking assessment however he revised solidly for five minutesand achieved his target grade visibly enjoying the praise Dave responded well togame activities though preferred to play a less pressured role such as game hostwith set phrases and teacher support

Daversquos class teacher confirmed the need for very short well-focused pupil-ledactivities They decided to seat Dave with a reliable and willing pupil Jack whocould try to keep him focused but would also be prepared to speak up should hisown work suffer They discussed the need for stronger links between objective andactivity and more focused praise Dave surprised Susanne by saying that althoughhe felt he was not very good at French he actually liked it ndash his behaviour had ledher to believe otherwise She began to reinterpret poor behaviour as a lack of confi-dence rather than dislike countering with praise and encouragement rather thanrebuke Within this changed relationship Dave responded well to the idea of tryingto copy Jackrsquos level of attention for one lesson as an achievable first goal

For her intervention Susanne designed several short activities with as little tea-cher-led activity as possible and used her own impressions of the lesson along withdata collected from the class teacherrsquos completed observation schedule and pupilquestionnaires to judge its success Data revealed that most of the class includingDave were engaged and participating throughout Dave had found it hardest to con-centrate in the pair-work section but Jack had helped him refocus on the task Allpupils had enjoyed the high pace and the change and choice of activities thoughdifferent individuals had preferred different activities Susannersquos attempts to engageone pupil more fully appeared to benefit all though through the imposed rigour ofthe investigation she also became more aware of the differences between individu-als

Outcomes

As with Naomirsquos project Susannersquos implementation study offered weak warrantsfor any truth claims There was very limited evidence of change which could be

30 C Gray

purely due to novelty value Participation and enjoyment were not guarantees oflearning especially as lsquowait timersquo had been sacrificed for greater pace Once againthe production of knowledge came not through the actionimplementation processbut through closer engagement with pupils through the application of research toolssuch as interviews and questionnaires which encouraged her to question precon-ceived ideas about pupil behaviour Conducting the project also seemed to haveencouraged Susanne to lsquoownrsquo theoretical knowledge about recommendations foreffective teaching in a more personal way whilst simultaneously engaging criticallywith them for example questioning the practicalities of employing lsquowait timersquo witha class whose concentration span was limited Once again the real learning out-comes appeared not to be related to the implementation of government policyrather to recognising the need to investigate reality beneath its surface appearancein order to understand pupil behaviour more fully

Participant researcher Tammy Round

Participant researcher Tammy focused on Jane who had a special educational needin the autism spectrum She was concerned that Jane appeared not to interact withothers or to participate in activities such as chorusing or pair work Although Janeseemed happy in the classroom her lack of participation made it difficult to gaugewhether she was learning

Tammy started with a field diary to record thoughts and brief encounters withJane who frequented the lunchtime Language Club and regularly talked withTammy after lessons For triangulation she asked her mentor to focus on Janersquos lev-els of interaction during scheduled observations At first they used unstructuredobservation analysing this over time to develop a set of categories in a more sys-tematic semi-closed structured schedule From Tammyrsquos field diary Jane appearedto respond well to multiple-choice activities structured questions including the pro-vision of wait time the use of colour and of tangible props cheeky humour such asher favourite book titles laughing at mime animated acting in plays the appeal ofvisual images such as stereotypical pictures and animal flashcards dice rollinggames and a mixture of independent work completed within a whole-class activity

Tammy also gathered professional perspectives through interviews with Janersquoslearning support assistant (LSA) and form tutor The LSA surprised Tammy byrevealing that Jane continued her learning of German independently outside of les-son times Janersquos form tutor emphasised the need for Jane to build relationshipswith people which could take time Contrary to Tammyrsquos assumptions no one hadreceived any formal training or specific advice on how to support Jane they reliedon trial and error and relationship building There were no lsquoexpertsrsquo in school withany clear answers for her about creating effective learning conditions In effect dueto her intensive study Tammy herself became the school expert on Jane

For Tammy an important emphasis within PL was pupil voice ndash she wanted toobtain Janersquos views and involve her as an active participant in her learning AsJanersquos interactions with others were relatively brief this could pose a challenge Asa first step she conducted a whole-class questionnaire to identify class needs andpreferences in terms of learning activities learning style and environmentResponses confirmed most of Tammyrsquos field diary observations but also held sur-prises for example that Jane herself felt that chorusing pair work and taking partin plays helped her to learn areas where Tammy felt she participated poorly This

European Journal of Teacher Education 31

challenged Tammyrsquos definition of lsquoparticipationrsquo ndash as in the projects describedabove appearances were revealed to be misleading Most of the class includingJane preferred visual support such as pictures and colour and kinaesthetic activi-ties

Tammy then interviewed Jane informally using an unstructured approach duringwhich she also explored other topics such as pastimes Jane listed a few activitiesthat she enjoyed in class but beyond that was unsure and became distracted reach-ing into her bag for her book Tammy became engaged in a discussion of Janersquospreference for reading gruesome stories Although disappointing in terms of tangibleinformation related to her research question Tammy felt that the interview markeda milestone in her relationship with Jane and understanding of her as a person

Tammy began to emphasise the activities to which Jane and her peers said theyresponded well enlisting the help of her mentor to monitor Janersquos involvement Shefelt that she was beginning to build a relationship with Jane and encourage her totake more risks Though apparently interested and observing classmates attentivelyJane did not join in immediately with any new activity causing Tammy to wonderhow much she benefited She realised however that Jane may simply have neededmore time to build the confidence to join in with her peers and that her attentivenessindicated that she was participating mentally if not physically Tammy began toadapt activities to provide more thinking time and encourage independent work Keyactivities proved successful ndash at one point Jane completed a task early and wasoffered an extension task at another she volunteered to come to the board during awhole-class activity A rolling dice game engaged Jane successfully but failed toinvolve the majority of the class presenting Tammy with the dilemma of balancingthe needs of all pupils in the class Overall Tammy appeared to have succeeded inraising Janersquos levels of participation by developing a relationship with her and tailor-ing her teaching style to encourage involvement but she recognised that participa-tion did not guarantee learning and that the needs of all pupils had to be balanced

Outcomes

Again Tammy engaged critically with her research procedures and highlightedtheir limitations despite feeling that she had done as well as she could in the cir-cumstances Here too key learning had not been about how to implement govern-ment policy on PL rather the benefits of obtaining multiple perspectives on anindividual pupil Tammy felt that engagement in the project had enabled her todevelop a good relationship with Jane and encouraged her to question her ownteaching practice more systematically becoming more open to change The moni-toring of intervention though providing useful information for the development ofher practice had been less powerful in terms of knowledge production than hersystematic investigation of Janersquos situation prior to implementing change Throughthis Tammy had learnt to question her preconceptions and to become alert to awider range of possible interpretations of behaviour To her clear surprise she alsolearnt that her study turned her into the schoolrsquos expert on Jane

Participant researcher Emma Eacock

Participant researcher Emma also focused on participation but looked at the workof a class rather than one or two individuals investigating the possible causes of

32 C Gray

low levels of participation of pupils in a Year 7 class during question and answersessions The class included many pupils with a range of special educational needsand Emma suspected the influence of affective factors on their performance Shehad already begun to integrate lsquowait timersquo (Black et al 2002) as a regular featureinto her question and answer sessions but was concerned that participation stillremained low She developed an observation schedule for the class teacher to com-plete during a lesson focused on reading comprehension featuring 15 carefully pre-planned questions At the end of the lesson she distributed a questionnaire to collectpupilsrsquo perceptions of the subject their ability in the subject the importance of par-ticipation in class their attitudes towards error and their own ideas for improvedparticipation Pupils were asked how they felt when asked a question in class ifthey worried about giving a wrong answer and if so why and what they felt mighthelp them participate more confidently

Over half of the pupils said that they liked their German lessons and all demon-strated a degree of satisfaction with their own performance in the subject Theseresults were quite surprising for Emma questioning her assumptions based on theirovert behaviour Most felt that putting up their hand to answer a question wasimportant though Emma realised this could have been interpreted as a behaviourissue that is not shouting out rather than concerning the importance of engage-ment in whole-class activity for learning A quarter felt that an answer must be rightfor the pupil to raise their hand though two thirds said they were happy to contrib-ute even if they thought their answer might be wrong Emma surmised that some ofthe class would benefit from explicit reinforcement that error was not only accept-able but also useful Eleven of the 17 pupils said they sometimes put their hand up5 said usually 1 always and none never This confirmed Emmarsquos impressions andwas reflected in the observation data In the open questions 11 explicitly mentionednervousness lack of confidence shyness or embarrassment as reasons for holdingback Few strategies were mentioned for improving confidence pupils simply feltthey should listen more carefully and improve their performance

Emma then trialled a class activity called lsquoRescue Ryanrsquo Pupils worked ingroups of four to discuss the dilemma of the fictional character Ryan who had beenasked a question but was unsure of the answer and too nervous to reply Group sug-gestions were collated on the board labelled lsquocommunication strategiesrsquo and pro-vided as a help sheet to stick in their books These included asking for repetition orexplanation using their books taking a risk and guessing suggesting an answerand asking lsquois that rightrsquo providing the part of an answer that you are confidentwith and the popular lsquomillionairersquo game sequence of 5050 option phone a friendor ask the audience as used by an experienced colleague in the school Emma com-mented that this offered powerful potential the 5050 option could be tailored todifferentiate for pupil ability the audience lifeline required all pupils to be engagedand ready to answer lsquoPhone a friendrsquo risked over-dependence on a few pupils andwas modified to the person sitting two places to the pupilrsquos left

Pupils were given an opportunity to practise the strategies before a second les-son on reading comprehension carefully planned to parallel difficulty of text andquestions Participation data were collected by a colleague and supplemented byinformation on the use of strategies Comparison showed that 10 of the 17increased their participation whereas 7 decreased The level of increase was mark-edly higher than the level of decrease Of the 11 pupils who said they were affectedby affective barriers 9 increased their level of participation and 2 decreased by a

European Journal of Teacher Education 33

very small margin Pupils made use of the strategies to answer 11 of the 15questions posed Clearly this was a very small and limited investigation and anynumber of external factors could account for the changes observed For exampleconfidence and willingness could have increased simply because Emma hadengaged pupils in discussing the issue of participation and it was impossible toguarantee that text and questions were of similar difficulty ndash even if they werefamiliarity with procedures could account for any perceived change Neverthelessthere did seem to be limited evidence of positive influence from the interventionand Emma felt that it was worth pursuing

Outcomes

Emmarsquos work was more clearly focused on the implementation of good practiceand monitoring of the effects of change She recognised for herself the weakness ofany warrants for claims to truth and although keen to continue this work herselfwas very cautious about making any strong recommendations on the basis of suchlimited and inconclusive evidence She began to see the implementation of PL as aseries of feasible small changes in practice reminiscent perhaps of Gorardrsquos (2002)claim that lsquoit is as though ldquoresearchrdquo is being conducted to find evidence for alreadyexisting agendarsquo (381) Nevertheless as with the previous projects the most power-ful learning seemed to come not from the intervention itself but from preparatoryinvestigations Emma expressed surprise about pupilsrsquo reported positive attitudes tothe subject and satisfaction with their own level of progress This engagement withpupils and willingness to hear their voices had she felt resulted in a more produc-tive classroom environment Although this undermined any conclusions about theeffectiveness of her intervention it revealed greater understanding of the complexityof classroom dynamics and offered an additional source of professional learning

Discussion the use of Masterrsquos criteria to prompt professional learning

The summaries present only a brief outline of each project To achieve the Masterrsquoscriteria the students used government and academic literature to define the topicand tease out contradictions and inconsistencies identified the potential for carryingout small-scale research debated the concept of case study chose and refined a setof triangulating tools addressed the complex ethical issues arising and learnt howto analyse and present data with due caution They had to justify their proceduresand results in the face of strong challenge from peers and tutors such as they mightmeet when trying to persuade professional colleagues of the need for changes inpractice Each found herself positioned as expert in the field even in discussionswith experienced teachers thus demonstrating the power of knowledge in terms ofestablishing status Their writing also finds them engaging critically with publishedresearch as well as government directives for example questioning the practicalityof lsquowait timersquo when dealing with short attention spans and of the PL agenda itselfin the face of crowded classrooms and timetables The empirical data that theyobtained were very limited and it would be easy to criticise the rigour of theirresearch methods from the standpoint of a skilled and experienced universityresearcher this would however be unjust For each person the project representsthe third in a series of six small-scale assignments designed to introduce pre-serviceteachers to the practical application of research methods as a tool for professional

34 C Gray

development and induction into the standards required for a dissertation should theywish to complete the degree As their priority is learning to teach well the writersare naturally concerned with the immediate impact of their findings on the develop-ment of their own practice and the assignment brief explicitly poses the challengeof implementing government policy on PL in order to reflect their practical con-cerns and present a relevant teaching challenge Their work does however revealan awareness of some of the criticisms of teacher research summarised in the intro-duction to this article and an attempt to meet those demands for rigour Resultsfrom their interventions are tentative and any conclusions drawn are duly cautiousin light of the relative weakness of the evidence base thus answering any criticismsabout justifiable warrants There is undeniably a sense of surprise allied to an ele-ment of knowledge creation and some evidence of impact on the beliefs systemThis comes not from the monitoring of an intervention rather from the use ofresearch tools to gain deeper insight into a situation as a preparatory phase beforeplanning the intervention itself Naomi Susanne Tammy and Emma all expressgenuine surprise as their in-depth studies propose new ways of interpreting theirclassrooms and the behaviour of their pupils Rather than producing clear guidelinesfor effective practice which is what they might have hoped for as developing teach-ers they have deepened their understanding of classroom interaction and challengedsome of their own firmly held beliefs Though disappointing their desire for clearanswers about practice the process appears to have been empowering in terms ofpositioning them as expert knowers and as potential creators of new knowledgeboth for themselves and for colleagues Engagement in such small-scale projectscould thus be seen as a powerful tool for professional development whatever thewarrants for generalisable truth It could be argued that the requirements imposedby the institution to develop understanding and use of research methods to improvethe rigour of enquiries has actually led to greater not lesser practical relevance anda more mature and professional questioning approach to the implementation ofgovernment policy Using the research format to gain greater understanding ofpupilsrsquo perspectives has led to a questioning of current beliefs and practice whichmay in turn lead to longer term and more deeply seated changes in behaviour thana successful small-scale intervention study This resonates with findings from theinternational studies discussed earlier

There is no expectation that graduates of the course will become universityresearchers though increasing numbers are returning to complete their Masterrsquosstudies with a dissertation once settled into employment We agree with Postholm(2009) that they lsquodo not necessarily have to become a researcher in the originalmeaning of the termrsquo (564) There is also no expectation that as future teachers theywill engage in such time-consuming projects as a normal part of their professionallearning We recognise that engagement in research remains a minority activity forpractising teachers (Borg 2010 407) though the students may be more favourablypositioned to explore future research opportunities having discovered the power ofresearch to reveal new information and explanations We aim for the developmentof a lsquoresearch stance and attitudersquo (Postholm 2009 564) Anonymous student evalu-ations at the end of the course consistently acknowledge the learning value of theassignments at key points in progress We are aware that the robustness of theresearch undertaken by students could be improved and continue to work at thisyear-on-year for example using Fosterrsquos (1999) critique of teacher action researchto emphasise the requirements of rigour and caution We are perhaps misleading

European Journal of Teacher Education 35

students by encouraging and simultaneously disappointing their expectations ofuseful practical outcomes from their projects ndash they begin to realise that researchcannot provide quick answers to complex problems but that more in-depth knowl-edge about a problem can be enriching and empowering even if it produces noconclusive results We tread a fine line between presenting research as a route tolsquodiscovery learningrsquo and being over-demanding in our academic expectations whenstudent teachersrsquo priority is classroom survival Successful integration of theory andpractice is dependent upon treading this tightrope endeavouring to facilitate futureteachersrsquo engagement with educational research There is sometimes a sense of pro-tectionism within academic circles defensively closing doors to maintain statusNaomi Susanne Tammy and Emmarsquos writings show that it is possible as a noviceresearcher to understand the potential and pitfalls of research to generate newknowledge and to undergo deep personal learning through designing and imple-menting a small-scale project To us this seems justification enough to continue todevelop our work even though we might appear to stand outside more generaltrends in UK teacher education

Conclusion

In conclusion this discussion adds to the positive voices in the international debateabout the appropriateness of research training in pre-service education Whether itis more suited to undergraduate or postgraduate teacher education depends upon thenature of the specific course Reis-Jorge (2007) in Portugal and Maaranen andKokfors (2008) in Finland seem to suggest that the highly structured formatrequired for a Masterrsquos dissertation leads to low transfer into ongoing teacher devel-opment and often a separation of research skills into the lsquoacademic qualificationsrsquobox On the other hand Diezman (2005) recommends offering a Research Pathwayto develop high-capacity research for certain pre-service Bachelor of Education stu-dents in the Australian teacher education system Volk (2010) investigating in-ser-vice utilisation of research skills learnt in pre-service training in the Middle Eastseems to sit on the fence On the one hand he questions the length of time andeffort spent in one particular college on this aspect of teacher preparation yet onthe other he still feels that it is worth introducing research skills at BEd Level(330) In our own situation as described above although the student teachers areworking at postgraduate level few have studied education as part of their firstdegree and even fewer have been introduced to the largely qualitative methods ofdata collection required for small-scale case study in a social science setting Theyonly have one year ndash 10 calendar months ndash in which to develop their practicalteaching skills and meet the academic Masterrsquos Level requirements Two thirds ofthat time must by law be spent in partner schools for lsquoon-the-jobrsquo training withexperienced teacher mentors Although this can pose a danger leading to a desireto lsquofit inrsquo with local practice it does provide student teachers with a wealth of prac-tical problems to investigate highlighted as necessary for success by Volk (2010317) The challenge is to develop assignments that offer research tools as a way ofunderstanding such problems more deeply thus opening up wider possibilities forchange As to whether or not these formalised research skills are used later as anormal part of personal teacher development our view coincides with that of Post-holm (2009) We want students to see the value of a research approach in providingemotional distance and deeper knowledge however they may use this learning laterAny tool learnt in a pre-service course is inevitably measured for applicability and

36 C Gray

adapted for use once the student becomes an independent practitioner and we canask no more of the research skills built into our course than of any other element ofpreparation We hope nevertheless that this will encourage more colleagues world-wide to introduce research skills as investigative and discovery tools to support lear-ner teachers in lsquoowningrsquo knowledge gained through their preparation courses

Notes on contributorCarol Gray is senior lecturer in modern foreign languages education She joined the InitialTeacher Education team in 1993 after teaching German and French to A Level in a range ofsecondary schools including special educational needs (visual impairment) She haspublished widely in the field of modern foreign languages education focusing on ICT usespecial needs grammar teaching and initial and continuing teacher development

References

Bartlett S and D Burton 2006 Practitioner research or description of classroom practiceA discussion of teachers investigating their classrooms Educational Action Research14 no 3 395ndash405

Black P C Harrison C Lee B Marshall and D Wiliam 2002 Working inside the blackbox Assessment for Learning Series 86 London GL Assessment

Borg S 2010 Language teacher research engagement Language Teaching 43 no 4391ndash429

Burton D 2007 Psycho-pedagogy and personalised learning Journal of Education forTeaching 33 no 1 5ndash17

Campbell RJ W Robinson J Neelands R Hewston and L Mazzoli 2007 Personalisedlearning Ambiguities in theory and practice British Journal of Educational Studies55 no 2 135ndash54

Courcier I 2007 Teachersrsquo perceptions of personalised learning Evaluation and Researchin Education 20 no 2 59ndash78

Department for Education 2010a The importance of teaching The Schools White Paper2010 London Stationery Office DfES httpwwweducationgovukb0068570the-importance-of-teaching

Department for Education 2010b The case for change London Stationery Office DfEShttpwwweducationgovukpublicationseOrderingDownloadDFE-00564-2010pdf

Department for Education and Skills (DfES) 2000 Best practice research scholarshipsGuidance notes for teacher applications London Author

DfES 2006 2020 Vision Report of the Teaching and Learning in 2020 review groupLondon Author

DfES 2007 The five components of personalised learning DfES httpwwwstandardsdfesgovukpersonalisedlearningfive

Diezmann CM 2005 Growing scholarly teachers and educational researchers a curriculumfor a research pathway in preservice teacher education Asia Pacific Journal of TeacherEducation 33 no 2 181ndash93

Edwards A J Sebba and M Rickinson 2007 Working with users Some implications foreducational research British Educational Research Journal 33 no 5 647ndash61

Foreman-Peck L and J Murray 2008 Action research and policy Journal of Philosophyof Education 42 no S1 145ndash63

Foster 1999 lsquoNever mind the quality feel the impactrsquo A methodological assessment ofteacher research sponsored by the Teacher Training Agency British Journal ofEducational Studies 47 no 4 380ndash98

Gorard S 2002 Political control A way forward for educational research British Journalof Educational Studies 50 no 3 378ndash89

Guillaume AM and GL Rudney 1993 Student teachersrsquo growth towards independenceAn analysis of their changing concerns Teaching and Teacher Education 9 no 165ndash80

European Journal of Teacher Education 37

of knowledge critical awareness of current problems in the field an understandingof how established research techniques are used to create knowledge in the fieldand original practical application of these academic skills (QAA 2001) This posesa challenge Even literature that is supportive of the teacher-as-researcher movementsometimes questions its value for pre-service rather than experienced teachers (Borg2010 Volk 2010) and there have been calls from within ITE itself for the develop-ment of a set of professional Masterrsquos criteria more appropriate to the work oflearning to teach (Heilbronn 2008) By contrast as early as 1993 Kaestle was argu-ing for the introduction of research skills training into ITE to improve the reputationof educational research

As a Certificate constitutes one third of a Masterrsquos degree (ie 60 of the 180credits required for a full Masterrsquos) there is some leeway for individual institutionsMost have chosen to enhance existing provision to meet the majority of therequired outcomes as allowable within the Framework for a short course whilstreserving more stringent engagement with the research agenda for optional in-ser-vice work on part-time Masterrsquos courses They can also award a Professional PGCEto students who are unable or unwilling to engage with the research agenda Otherslike ourselves have embraced research as a balance to the danger of seeking todevelop teaching machines (Marshall 2011) working to embed Masterrsquos-level skillsthroughout the course and recognising that the sheer volume of work completed byPGCE students should entitle them to a Diploma (ie twice the number of creditsas a Certificate) providing their work meets the Masterrsquos criteria Postgraduate Cer-tificate in Education students Naomi Hull Susanne Stait Tammy Round and EmmaEacock have kindly agreed to the publication of summaries of samples of theirPGCE work from the academic year 2007ndash2008 as an illustration of how by seek-ing to integrate theory and practice to meet institutional Masterrsquos criteria they wereable to generate practically useful new knowledge alongside greater understandingof the complex nature and challenges of academic research

An illustration of engagement with Masterrsquos-level work

The participant researchers and the task

Participant researchers Naomi Hull Susanne Stait Tammy Round and EmmaEacock were part of the first cohort of Modern Foreign Language PGCE studentsto tackle a new assignment addressing the recently introduced government initiativeof Personalised Learning (PL) a theme that at the time teachers government andacademics alike were struggling to define The course follows a similar design tothat described by Maaranen and Krokfors (2008) with a gradual introduction fromSeptember to a range of research methods each linked to its practical application ina small-scale pedagogical enquiry The general requirements for each assignmentare analysis of government documentation a review of academic and professionalliterature to critique the ideas in that documentation the use of literature on selectedresearch methods to design a relevant and feasible small-scale study to carry out onteaching placements (which by law constitute 24 of the 36 course weeks) and anal-ysis and discussion integrating the different knowledge sources to draw out personallearning outcomes The explicit aim is to introduce student teachers to a range ofinformation sources including a variety of research tools with which they engagecritically to gain confidence in making well-informed though flexible and cautious

European Journal of Teacher Education 27

professional decisions Earlier assignments require an investigation of teachersrsquo useof target language in the classroom through structured observation and interviewand a critique of their own practice of teaching grammar through self-observationwith the support of a critical friend using video footage plus pupil questionnairesand interviews along with samples of pupil work The third task is to carry out asmall-scale case study using a variety of triangulating research tools to investigatethe potential for implementing PL in their classrooms

The main focus of this article is on the case studies themselves and space pre-cludes full discussion of the sources used to construct the conceptual frameworksand research design As a recent government initiative PL featured minimally inthe academic press with articles focusing largely on the challenges of defining andimplementing it and its ideological foundation linked closely with the highly regu-lated curriculum (Burton 2007 Courcier 2007 Campbell et al 2007 Underwoodand Banyard 2008) Government documentation defined it as lsquotaking a highly struc-tured and responsive approach to each childrsquos and young personrsquos learning in orderthat all are able to progress achieve and participatersquo (DfES 2006 6) Implementa-tion was to focus on five key areas Assessment for Learning Effective Teachingand Learning Curriculum Choice and Entitlement School Organisation and Beyondthe Classroom (DfES 2007) Focusing on the first two requiring knowledge of eachpupilrsquos strengths and weaknesses and use of this to inform planning and set individ-ual targets plus use of a variety of strategies to engage and stretch students andhelp them take responsibility for their own learning our authors all independentlyrecognised pupil participation as a key challenge If pupils did not participate howcould their learning needs be identified and met Each independently decided tofocus their case study on pupils who were causing concern on school placementprecisely due to their apparent lack of participation

The case studies

Participant researcher Naomi Hull

Participant researcher Naomi chose a Year 7 German class where lack of motiva-tion appeared widespread She carried out intensive data collection for two pupilswho were on the schoolrsquos special needs register for literacy difficulties though dueto time constraints and word limitations she restricted herself to a detailed analysisof data concerning Arthur (pseudonyms are used for all pupils in these studies)identified as weak in the subject and lacking concentration often displaying unhelp-ful behaviour She conducted semi-structured interviews with the pupils their formtutors and their English teacher For triangulation and to give all pupils a balancingvoice she devised a questionnaire asking class members to comment on a range oflearning activities She used the data to adapt her classroom practice To monitoreffects she created a pro-forma to systematise her field diary plus a behaviourobservation schedule using predetermined categories for the regular supporting tea-cher to complete for triangulation Although Naomi intended her categories to bemutually exclusive and exhaustive (Robson 2002) the observing teacher oftenticked several boxes thus complicating the process of analysis Examples of pupilsrsquowork were collected

Detailed analysis revealed that Arthur preferred illustrations and drawing butlike many peers saw listening activities as unenjoyable and unhelpful Naomi there-

28 C Gray

fore concentrated on developing techniques for listening using raps and extra sup-port mechanisms Many pupils appeared to benefit but Arthur continued to disen-gage She included more visual work and noted that the only homework completedby Arthur was to draw and label a picture of his bedroom His text was however amixture of German and English demonstrating limited confidence lack of learningand disregard of the support provided He rejected attempts to provide lsquoeasierrsquocopying work and patterns of negative behaviour and work avoidance persistedNevertheless Naomi realised through staff interviews that Arthurrsquos behaviour wasuniversal allowing her to develop greater emotional objectivity Detailed observa-tion suggested a general lack of confidence and awkwardness in a pupil whosephysical maturity appeared to outstrip mental development Field notes and inter-view data suggested avoidance due to fear of failure Naomirsquos resulting greaterpatience and understanding helped improve relationships Naomi suppressed herscepticism and trialled a flexible learning environment to tackle class-wide lack ofmotivation Pupils were given a set of lsquolevelledrsquo worksheets were to choose andcomplete at least two either independently or with a partner and would receive amerit for each completed successfully To Naomirsquos great surprise Arthur remainedon task throughout and completed five worksheets He worked gradually towardsthe harder tasks and made effective use of scaffolding This provided further reflec-tion concerning the lsquochoicersquo element of the PL agenda Naomi was amazed at howthe whole class responded to this mini experiment and how Arthur in particularhad challenged her assumptions

Outcomes

Naomi was quick to criticise her own study not least in terms of research rigourShe felt that her interventions were too haphazard to allow for more conclusivefindings and that she should have carried out a more organised strategic interven-tion Personal experience of research in the school context had deepened her under-standing of its limitations and frustrations and of the challenge of meeting stringentacademic criteria Nevertheless she demonstrated good awareness of a range ofresearch tools and the ability to combine them appropriately to suit her researchquestion Her own criticism of her work demonstrated her awareness of the needfor rigour and trustworthiness (Foreman-Peck and Murray 2008 157) and she wasvery cautious about making any claims to truth The intervention aspect of herstudy could not be said to meet strict academic requirements for action researchThere was however evidence of powerful professional learning and the ability tobe lsquosurprisedrsquo (Gorard 2002 386) This came not from the intervention cycle butfrom the preparatory investigation which had in her own words sensitised her tothe potential for alternative explanations of perceived patterns of behaviour Itwould be impractical to apply this level of rigour to investigation of the needs ofevery pupil but Naomi felt that she would now observe all of her pupils through aslightly different lens open to new interpretations of challenging behaviour and awider range of appropriate responses The outcomes from her project were thereforequite different from what she had expected She saw her attempt to implement gov-ernment policy as having failed yet she had created new knowledge about possiblereasons for pupil behaviour which challenged her preconceptions and assumptionsand positioned her firmly as the school expert on Arthur

European Journal of Teacher Education 29

Participant researcher Susanne Stait

Participant researcher Susanne concentrated on Dave who was causing concern inYear 7 Dave found it very hard to concentrate hardly participated in class and wasprone to disruptive behaviour There was no extra support available for him as moreserious cases in the school monopolised learning support Susanne began with a sys-tematic research diary to note patterns using semi-structured interviews with thepupil and his language teacher for triangulation Analysis of these data suggestedideas to maximise participation which she built into a lesson design using an obser-vation schedule for completion by the class teacher and questionnaires for all thepupils to supplement her own impressions

The field diary revealed that Dave quickly lost concentration especially if thepace dropped to encourage wider participation This highlighted for Susanne someof the challenges inherent in implementing recommended good practice such asBlack et alrsquos (2002) lsquowait timersquo encouraging her to engage in a constructively criti-cal way with published research and its recommendations Dave worked best invery short and concrete activities ndash thinking or lsquowaitrsquo time encouraged off-task andpotentially disruptive behaviour In pair work he needed constant refocusing stop-ping frequently to distract others Alone with Susanne and the class teacher to catchup on a missed speaking assessment however he revised solidly for five minutesand achieved his target grade visibly enjoying the praise Dave responded well togame activities though preferred to play a less pressured role such as game hostwith set phrases and teacher support

Daversquos class teacher confirmed the need for very short well-focused pupil-ledactivities They decided to seat Dave with a reliable and willing pupil Jack whocould try to keep him focused but would also be prepared to speak up should hisown work suffer They discussed the need for stronger links between objective andactivity and more focused praise Dave surprised Susanne by saying that althoughhe felt he was not very good at French he actually liked it ndash his behaviour had ledher to believe otherwise She began to reinterpret poor behaviour as a lack of confi-dence rather than dislike countering with praise and encouragement rather thanrebuke Within this changed relationship Dave responded well to the idea of tryingto copy Jackrsquos level of attention for one lesson as an achievable first goal

For her intervention Susanne designed several short activities with as little tea-cher-led activity as possible and used her own impressions of the lesson along withdata collected from the class teacherrsquos completed observation schedule and pupilquestionnaires to judge its success Data revealed that most of the class includingDave were engaged and participating throughout Dave had found it hardest to con-centrate in the pair-work section but Jack had helped him refocus on the task Allpupils had enjoyed the high pace and the change and choice of activities thoughdifferent individuals had preferred different activities Susannersquos attempts to engageone pupil more fully appeared to benefit all though through the imposed rigour ofthe investigation she also became more aware of the differences between individu-als

Outcomes

As with Naomirsquos project Susannersquos implementation study offered weak warrantsfor any truth claims There was very limited evidence of change which could be

30 C Gray

purely due to novelty value Participation and enjoyment were not guarantees oflearning especially as lsquowait timersquo had been sacrificed for greater pace Once againthe production of knowledge came not through the actionimplementation processbut through closer engagement with pupils through the application of research toolssuch as interviews and questionnaires which encouraged her to question precon-ceived ideas about pupil behaviour Conducting the project also seemed to haveencouraged Susanne to lsquoownrsquo theoretical knowledge about recommendations foreffective teaching in a more personal way whilst simultaneously engaging criticallywith them for example questioning the practicalities of employing lsquowait timersquo witha class whose concentration span was limited Once again the real learning out-comes appeared not to be related to the implementation of government policyrather to recognising the need to investigate reality beneath its surface appearancein order to understand pupil behaviour more fully

Participant researcher Tammy Round

Participant researcher Tammy focused on Jane who had a special educational needin the autism spectrum She was concerned that Jane appeared not to interact withothers or to participate in activities such as chorusing or pair work Although Janeseemed happy in the classroom her lack of participation made it difficult to gaugewhether she was learning

Tammy started with a field diary to record thoughts and brief encounters withJane who frequented the lunchtime Language Club and regularly talked withTammy after lessons For triangulation she asked her mentor to focus on Janersquos lev-els of interaction during scheduled observations At first they used unstructuredobservation analysing this over time to develop a set of categories in a more sys-tematic semi-closed structured schedule From Tammyrsquos field diary Jane appearedto respond well to multiple-choice activities structured questions including the pro-vision of wait time the use of colour and of tangible props cheeky humour such asher favourite book titles laughing at mime animated acting in plays the appeal ofvisual images such as stereotypical pictures and animal flashcards dice rollinggames and a mixture of independent work completed within a whole-class activity

Tammy also gathered professional perspectives through interviews with Janersquoslearning support assistant (LSA) and form tutor The LSA surprised Tammy byrevealing that Jane continued her learning of German independently outside of les-son times Janersquos form tutor emphasised the need for Jane to build relationshipswith people which could take time Contrary to Tammyrsquos assumptions no one hadreceived any formal training or specific advice on how to support Jane they reliedon trial and error and relationship building There were no lsquoexpertsrsquo in school withany clear answers for her about creating effective learning conditions In effect dueto her intensive study Tammy herself became the school expert on Jane

For Tammy an important emphasis within PL was pupil voice ndash she wanted toobtain Janersquos views and involve her as an active participant in her learning AsJanersquos interactions with others were relatively brief this could pose a challenge Asa first step she conducted a whole-class questionnaire to identify class needs andpreferences in terms of learning activities learning style and environmentResponses confirmed most of Tammyrsquos field diary observations but also held sur-prises for example that Jane herself felt that chorusing pair work and taking partin plays helped her to learn areas where Tammy felt she participated poorly This

European Journal of Teacher Education 31

challenged Tammyrsquos definition of lsquoparticipationrsquo ndash as in the projects describedabove appearances were revealed to be misleading Most of the class includingJane preferred visual support such as pictures and colour and kinaesthetic activi-ties

Tammy then interviewed Jane informally using an unstructured approach duringwhich she also explored other topics such as pastimes Jane listed a few activitiesthat she enjoyed in class but beyond that was unsure and became distracted reach-ing into her bag for her book Tammy became engaged in a discussion of Janersquospreference for reading gruesome stories Although disappointing in terms of tangibleinformation related to her research question Tammy felt that the interview markeda milestone in her relationship with Jane and understanding of her as a person

Tammy began to emphasise the activities to which Jane and her peers said theyresponded well enlisting the help of her mentor to monitor Janersquos involvement Shefelt that she was beginning to build a relationship with Jane and encourage her totake more risks Though apparently interested and observing classmates attentivelyJane did not join in immediately with any new activity causing Tammy to wonderhow much she benefited She realised however that Jane may simply have neededmore time to build the confidence to join in with her peers and that her attentivenessindicated that she was participating mentally if not physically Tammy began toadapt activities to provide more thinking time and encourage independent work Keyactivities proved successful ndash at one point Jane completed a task early and wasoffered an extension task at another she volunteered to come to the board during awhole-class activity A rolling dice game engaged Jane successfully but failed toinvolve the majority of the class presenting Tammy with the dilemma of balancingthe needs of all pupils in the class Overall Tammy appeared to have succeeded inraising Janersquos levels of participation by developing a relationship with her and tailor-ing her teaching style to encourage involvement but she recognised that participa-tion did not guarantee learning and that the needs of all pupils had to be balanced

Outcomes

Again Tammy engaged critically with her research procedures and highlightedtheir limitations despite feeling that she had done as well as she could in the cir-cumstances Here too key learning had not been about how to implement govern-ment policy on PL rather the benefits of obtaining multiple perspectives on anindividual pupil Tammy felt that engagement in the project had enabled her todevelop a good relationship with Jane and encouraged her to question her ownteaching practice more systematically becoming more open to change The moni-toring of intervention though providing useful information for the development ofher practice had been less powerful in terms of knowledge production than hersystematic investigation of Janersquos situation prior to implementing change Throughthis Tammy had learnt to question her preconceptions and to become alert to awider range of possible interpretations of behaviour To her clear surprise she alsolearnt that her study turned her into the schoolrsquos expert on Jane

Participant researcher Emma Eacock

Participant researcher Emma also focused on participation but looked at the workof a class rather than one or two individuals investigating the possible causes of

32 C Gray

low levels of participation of pupils in a Year 7 class during question and answersessions The class included many pupils with a range of special educational needsand Emma suspected the influence of affective factors on their performance Shehad already begun to integrate lsquowait timersquo (Black et al 2002) as a regular featureinto her question and answer sessions but was concerned that participation stillremained low She developed an observation schedule for the class teacher to com-plete during a lesson focused on reading comprehension featuring 15 carefully pre-planned questions At the end of the lesson she distributed a questionnaire to collectpupilsrsquo perceptions of the subject their ability in the subject the importance of par-ticipation in class their attitudes towards error and their own ideas for improvedparticipation Pupils were asked how they felt when asked a question in class ifthey worried about giving a wrong answer and if so why and what they felt mighthelp them participate more confidently

Over half of the pupils said that they liked their German lessons and all demon-strated a degree of satisfaction with their own performance in the subject Theseresults were quite surprising for Emma questioning her assumptions based on theirovert behaviour Most felt that putting up their hand to answer a question wasimportant though Emma realised this could have been interpreted as a behaviourissue that is not shouting out rather than concerning the importance of engage-ment in whole-class activity for learning A quarter felt that an answer must be rightfor the pupil to raise their hand though two thirds said they were happy to contrib-ute even if they thought their answer might be wrong Emma surmised that some ofthe class would benefit from explicit reinforcement that error was not only accept-able but also useful Eleven of the 17 pupils said they sometimes put their hand up5 said usually 1 always and none never This confirmed Emmarsquos impressions andwas reflected in the observation data In the open questions 11 explicitly mentionednervousness lack of confidence shyness or embarrassment as reasons for holdingback Few strategies were mentioned for improving confidence pupils simply feltthey should listen more carefully and improve their performance

Emma then trialled a class activity called lsquoRescue Ryanrsquo Pupils worked ingroups of four to discuss the dilemma of the fictional character Ryan who had beenasked a question but was unsure of the answer and too nervous to reply Group sug-gestions were collated on the board labelled lsquocommunication strategiesrsquo and pro-vided as a help sheet to stick in their books These included asking for repetition orexplanation using their books taking a risk and guessing suggesting an answerand asking lsquois that rightrsquo providing the part of an answer that you are confidentwith and the popular lsquomillionairersquo game sequence of 5050 option phone a friendor ask the audience as used by an experienced colleague in the school Emma com-mented that this offered powerful potential the 5050 option could be tailored todifferentiate for pupil ability the audience lifeline required all pupils to be engagedand ready to answer lsquoPhone a friendrsquo risked over-dependence on a few pupils andwas modified to the person sitting two places to the pupilrsquos left

Pupils were given an opportunity to practise the strategies before a second les-son on reading comprehension carefully planned to parallel difficulty of text andquestions Participation data were collected by a colleague and supplemented byinformation on the use of strategies Comparison showed that 10 of the 17increased their participation whereas 7 decreased The level of increase was mark-edly higher than the level of decrease Of the 11 pupils who said they were affectedby affective barriers 9 increased their level of participation and 2 decreased by a

European Journal of Teacher Education 33

very small margin Pupils made use of the strategies to answer 11 of the 15questions posed Clearly this was a very small and limited investigation and anynumber of external factors could account for the changes observed For exampleconfidence and willingness could have increased simply because Emma hadengaged pupils in discussing the issue of participation and it was impossible toguarantee that text and questions were of similar difficulty ndash even if they werefamiliarity with procedures could account for any perceived change Neverthelessthere did seem to be limited evidence of positive influence from the interventionand Emma felt that it was worth pursuing

Outcomes

Emmarsquos work was more clearly focused on the implementation of good practiceand monitoring of the effects of change She recognised for herself the weakness ofany warrants for claims to truth and although keen to continue this work herselfwas very cautious about making any strong recommendations on the basis of suchlimited and inconclusive evidence She began to see the implementation of PL as aseries of feasible small changes in practice reminiscent perhaps of Gorardrsquos (2002)claim that lsquoit is as though ldquoresearchrdquo is being conducted to find evidence for alreadyexisting agendarsquo (381) Nevertheless as with the previous projects the most power-ful learning seemed to come not from the intervention itself but from preparatoryinvestigations Emma expressed surprise about pupilsrsquo reported positive attitudes tothe subject and satisfaction with their own level of progress This engagement withpupils and willingness to hear their voices had she felt resulted in a more produc-tive classroom environment Although this undermined any conclusions about theeffectiveness of her intervention it revealed greater understanding of the complexityof classroom dynamics and offered an additional source of professional learning

Discussion the use of Masterrsquos criteria to prompt professional learning

The summaries present only a brief outline of each project To achieve the Masterrsquoscriteria the students used government and academic literature to define the topicand tease out contradictions and inconsistencies identified the potential for carryingout small-scale research debated the concept of case study chose and refined a setof triangulating tools addressed the complex ethical issues arising and learnt howto analyse and present data with due caution They had to justify their proceduresand results in the face of strong challenge from peers and tutors such as they mightmeet when trying to persuade professional colleagues of the need for changes inpractice Each found herself positioned as expert in the field even in discussionswith experienced teachers thus demonstrating the power of knowledge in terms ofestablishing status Their writing also finds them engaging critically with publishedresearch as well as government directives for example questioning the practicalityof lsquowait timersquo when dealing with short attention spans and of the PL agenda itselfin the face of crowded classrooms and timetables The empirical data that theyobtained were very limited and it would be easy to criticise the rigour of theirresearch methods from the standpoint of a skilled and experienced universityresearcher this would however be unjust For each person the project representsthe third in a series of six small-scale assignments designed to introduce pre-serviceteachers to the practical application of research methods as a tool for professional

34 C Gray

development and induction into the standards required for a dissertation should theywish to complete the degree As their priority is learning to teach well the writersare naturally concerned with the immediate impact of their findings on the develop-ment of their own practice and the assignment brief explicitly poses the challengeof implementing government policy on PL in order to reflect their practical con-cerns and present a relevant teaching challenge Their work does however revealan awareness of some of the criticisms of teacher research summarised in the intro-duction to this article and an attempt to meet those demands for rigour Resultsfrom their interventions are tentative and any conclusions drawn are duly cautiousin light of the relative weakness of the evidence base thus answering any criticismsabout justifiable warrants There is undeniably a sense of surprise allied to an ele-ment of knowledge creation and some evidence of impact on the beliefs systemThis comes not from the monitoring of an intervention rather from the use ofresearch tools to gain deeper insight into a situation as a preparatory phase beforeplanning the intervention itself Naomi Susanne Tammy and Emma all expressgenuine surprise as their in-depth studies propose new ways of interpreting theirclassrooms and the behaviour of their pupils Rather than producing clear guidelinesfor effective practice which is what they might have hoped for as developing teach-ers they have deepened their understanding of classroom interaction and challengedsome of their own firmly held beliefs Though disappointing their desire for clearanswers about practice the process appears to have been empowering in terms ofpositioning them as expert knowers and as potential creators of new knowledgeboth for themselves and for colleagues Engagement in such small-scale projectscould thus be seen as a powerful tool for professional development whatever thewarrants for generalisable truth It could be argued that the requirements imposedby the institution to develop understanding and use of research methods to improvethe rigour of enquiries has actually led to greater not lesser practical relevance anda more mature and professional questioning approach to the implementation ofgovernment policy Using the research format to gain greater understanding ofpupilsrsquo perspectives has led to a questioning of current beliefs and practice whichmay in turn lead to longer term and more deeply seated changes in behaviour thana successful small-scale intervention study This resonates with findings from theinternational studies discussed earlier

There is no expectation that graduates of the course will become universityresearchers though increasing numbers are returning to complete their Masterrsquosstudies with a dissertation once settled into employment We agree with Postholm(2009) that they lsquodo not necessarily have to become a researcher in the originalmeaning of the termrsquo (564) There is also no expectation that as future teachers theywill engage in such time-consuming projects as a normal part of their professionallearning We recognise that engagement in research remains a minority activity forpractising teachers (Borg 2010 407) though the students may be more favourablypositioned to explore future research opportunities having discovered the power ofresearch to reveal new information and explanations We aim for the developmentof a lsquoresearch stance and attitudersquo (Postholm 2009 564) Anonymous student evalu-ations at the end of the course consistently acknowledge the learning value of theassignments at key points in progress We are aware that the robustness of theresearch undertaken by students could be improved and continue to work at thisyear-on-year for example using Fosterrsquos (1999) critique of teacher action researchto emphasise the requirements of rigour and caution We are perhaps misleading

European Journal of Teacher Education 35

students by encouraging and simultaneously disappointing their expectations ofuseful practical outcomes from their projects ndash they begin to realise that researchcannot provide quick answers to complex problems but that more in-depth knowl-edge about a problem can be enriching and empowering even if it produces noconclusive results We tread a fine line between presenting research as a route tolsquodiscovery learningrsquo and being over-demanding in our academic expectations whenstudent teachersrsquo priority is classroom survival Successful integration of theory andpractice is dependent upon treading this tightrope endeavouring to facilitate futureteachersrsquo engagement with educational research There is sometimes a sense of pro-tectionism within academic circles defensively closing doors to maintain statusNaomi Susanne Tammy and Emmarsquos writings show that it is possible as a noviceresearcher to understand the potential and pitfalls of research to generate newknowledge and to undergo deep personal learning through designing and imple-menting a small-scale project To us this seems justification enough to continue todevelop our work even though we might appear to stand outside more generaltrends in UK teacher education

Conclusion

In conclusion this discussion adds to the positive voices in the international debateabout the appropriateness of research training in pre-service education Whether itis more suited to undergraduate or postgraduate teacher education depends upon thenature of the specific course Reis-Jorge (2007) in Portugal and Maaranen andKokfors (2008) in Finland seem to suggest that the highly structured formatrequired for a Masterrsquos dissertation leads to low transfer into ongoing teacher devel-opment and often a separation of research skills into the lsquoacademic qualificationsrsquobox On the other hand Diezman (2005) recommends offering a Research Pathwayto develop high-capacity research for certain pre-service Bachelor of Education stu-dents in the Australian teacher education system Volk (2010) investigating in-ser-vice utilisation of research skills learnt in pre-service training in the Middle Eastseems to sit on the fence On the one hand he questions the length of time andeffort spent in one particular college on this aspect of teacher preparation yet onthe other he still feels that it is worth introducing research skills at BEd Level(330) In our own situation as described above although the student teachers areworking at postgraduate level few have studied education as part of their firstdegree and even fewer have been introduced to the largely qualitative methods ofdata collection required for small-scale case study in a social science setting Theyonly have one year ndash 10 calendar months ndash in which to develop their practicalteaching skills and meet the academic Masterrsquos Level requirements Two thirds ofthat time must by law be spent in partner schools for lsquoon-the-jobrsquo training withexperienced teacher mentors Although this can pose a danger leading to a desireto lsquofit inrsquo with local practice it does provide student teachers with a wealth of prac-tical problems to investigate highlighted as necessary for success by Volk (2010317) The challenge is to develop assignments that offer research tools as a way ofunderstanding such problems more deeply thus opening up wider possibilities forchange As to whether or not these formalised research skills are used later as anormal part of personal teacher development our view coincides with that of Post-holm (2009) We want students to see the value of a research approach in providingemotional distance and deeper knowledge however they may use this learning laterAny tool learnt in a pre-service course is inevitably measured for applicability and

36 C Gray

adapted for use once the student becomes an independent practitioner and we canask no more of the research skills built into our course than of any other element ofpreparation We hope nevertheless that this will encourage more colleagues world-wide to introduce research skills as investigative and discovery tools to support lear-ner teachers in lsquoowningrsquo knowledge gained through their preparation courses

Notes on contributorCarol Gray is senior lecturer in modern foreign languages education She joined the InitialTeacher Education team in 1993 after teaching German and French to A Level in a range ofsecondary schools including special educational needs (visual impairment) She haspublished widely in the field of modern foreign languages education focusing on ICT usespecial needs grammar teaching and initial and continuing teacher development

References

Bartlett S and D Burton 2006 Practitioner research or description of classroom practiceA discussion of teachers investigating their classrooms Educational Action Research14 no 3 395ndash405

Black P C Harrison C Lee B Marshall and D Wiliam 2002 Working inside the blackbox Assessment for Learning Series 86 London GL Assessment

Borg S 2010 Language teacher research engagement Language Teaching 43 no 4391ndash429

Burton D 2007 Psycho-pedagogy and personalised learning Journal of Education forTeaching 33 no 1 5ndash17

Campbell RJ W Robinson J Neelands R Hewston and L Mazzoli 2007 Personalisedlearning Ambiguities in theory and practice British Journal of Educational Studies55 no 2 135ndash54

Courcier I 2007 Teachersrsquo perceptions of personalised learning Evaluation and Researchin Education 20 no 2 59ndash78

Department for Education 2010a The importance of teaching The Schools White Paper2010 London Stationery Office DfES httpwwweducationgovukb0068570the-importance-of-teaching

Department for Education 2010b The case for change London Stationery Office DfEShttpwwweducationgovukpublicationseOrderingDownloadDFE-00564-2010pdf

Department for Education and Skills (DfES) 2000 Best practice research scholarshipsGuidance notes for teacher applications London Author

DfES 2006 2020 Vision Report of the Teaching and Learning in 2020 review groupLondon Author

DfES 2007 The five components of personalised learning DfES httpwwwstandardsdfesgovukpersonalisedlearningfive

Diezmann CM 2005 Growing scholarly teachers and educational researchers a curriculumfor a research pathway in preservice teacher education Asia Pacific Journal of TeacherEducation 33 no 2 181ndash93

Edwards A J Sebba and M Rickinson 2007 Working with users Some implications foreducational research British Educational Research Journal 33 no 5 647ndash61

Foreman-Peck L and J Murray 2008 Action research and policy Journal of Philosophyof Education 42 no S1 145ndash63

Foster 1999 lsquoNever mind the quality feel the impactrsquo A methodological assessment ofteacher research sponsored by the Teacher Training Agency British Journal ofEducational Studies 47 no 4 380ndash98

Gorard S 2002 Political control A way forward for educational research British Journalof Educational Studies 50 no 3 378ndash89

Guillaume AM and GL Rudney 1993 Student teachersrsquo growth towards independenceAn analysis of their changing concerns Teaching and Teacher Education 9 no 165ndash80

European Journal of Teacher Education 37

professional decisions Earlier assignments require an investigation of teachersrsquo useof target language in the classroom through structured observation and interviewand a critique of their own practice of teaching grammar through self-observationwith the support of a critical friend using video footage plus pupil questionnairesand interviews along with samples of pupil work The third task is to carry out asmall-scale case study using a variety of triangulating research tools to investigatethe potential for implementing PL in their classrooms

The main focus of this article is on the case studies themselves and space pre-cludes full discussion of the sources used to construct the conceptual frameworksand research design As a recent government initiative PL featured minimally inthe academic press with articles focusing largely on the challenges of defining andimplementing it and its ideological foundation linked closely with the highly regu-lated curriculum (Burton 2007 Courcier 2007 Campbell et al 2007 Underwoodand Banyard 2008) Government documentation defined it as lsquotaking a highly struc-tured and responsive approach to each childrsquos and young personrsquos learning in orderthat all are able to progress achieve and participatersquo (DfES 2006 6) Implementa-tion was to focus on five key areas Assessment for Learning Effective Teachingand Learning Curriculum Choice and Entitlement School Organisation and Beyondthe Classroom (DfES 2007) Focusing on the first two requiring knowledge of eachpupilrsquos strengths and weaknesses and use of this to inform planning and set individ-ual targets plus use of a variety of strategies to engage and stretch students andhelp them take responsibility for their own learning our authors all independentlyrecognised pupil participation as a key challenge If pupils did not participate howcould their learning needs be identified and met Each independently decided tofocus their case study on pupils who were causing concern on school placementprecisely due to their apparent lack of participation

The case studies

Participant researcher Naomi Hull

Participant researcher Naomi chose a Year 7 German class where lack of motiva-tion appeared widespread She carried out intensive data collection for two pupilswho were on the schoolrsquos special needs register for literacy difficulties though dueto time constraints and word limitations she restricted herself to a detailed analysisof data concerning Arthur (pseudonyms are used for all pupils in these studies)identified as weak in the subject and lacking concentration often displaying unhelp-ful behaviour She conducted semi-structured interviews with the pupils their formtutors and their English teacher For triangulation and to give all pupils a balancingvoice she devised a questionnaire asking class members to comment on a range oflearning activities She used the data to adapt her classroom practice To monitoreffects she created a pro-forma to systematise her field diary plus a behaviourobservation schedule using predetermined categories for the regular supporting tea-cher to complete for triangulation Although Naomi intended her categories to bemutually exclusive and exhaustive (Robson 2002) the observing teacher oftenticked several boxes thus complicating the process of analysis Examples of pupilsrsquowork were collected

Detailed analysis revealed that Arthur preferred illustrations and drawing butlike many peers saw listening activities as unenjoyable and unhelpful Naomi there-

28 C Gray

fore concentrated on developing techniques for listening using raps and extra sup-port mechanisms Many pupils appeared to benefit but Arthur continued to disen-gage She included more visual work and noted that the only homework completedby Arthur was to draw and label a picture of his bedroom His text was however amixture of German and English demonstrating limited confidence lack of learningand disregard of the support provided He rejected attempts to provide lsquoeasierrsquocopying work and patterns of negative behaviour and work avoidance persistedNevertheless Naomi realised through staff interviews that Arthurrsquos behaviour wasuniversal allowing her to develop greater emotional objectivity Detailed observa-tion suggested a general lack of confidence and awkwardness in a pupil whosephysical maturity appeared to outstrip mental development Field notes and inter-view data suggested avoidance due to fear of failure Naomirsquos resulting greaterpatience and understanding helped improve relationships Naomi suppressed herscepticism and trialled a flexible learning environment to tackle class-wide lack ofmotivation Pupils were given a set of lsquolevelledrsquo worksheets were to choose andcomplete at least two either independently or with a partner and would receive amerit for each completed successfully To Naomirsquos great surprise Arthur remainedon task throughout and completed five worksheets He worked gradually towardsthe harder tasks and made effective use of scaffolding This provided further reflec-tion concerning the lsquochoicersquo element of the PL agenda Naomi was amazed at howthe whole class responded to this mini experiment and how Arthur in particularhad challenged her assumptions

Outcomes

Naomi was quick to criticise her own study not least in terms of research rigourShe felt that her interventions were too haphazard to allow for more conclusivefindings and that she should have carried out a more organised strategic interven-tion Personal experience of research in the school context had deepened her under-standing of its limitations and frustrations and of the challenge of meeting stringentacademic criteria Nevertheless she demonstrated good awareness of a range ofresearch tools and the ability to combine them appropriately to suit her researchquestion Her own criticism of her work demonstrated her awareness of the needfor rigour and trustworthiness (Foreman-Peck and Murray 2008 157) and she wasvery cautious about making any claims to truth The intervention aspect of herstudy could not be said to meet strict academic requirements for action researchThere was however evidence of powerful professional learning and the ability tobe lsquosurprisedrsquo (Gorard 2002 386) This came not from the intervention cycle butfrom the preparatory investigation which had in her own words sensitised her tothe potential for alternative explanations of perceived patterns of behaviour Itwould be impractical to apply this level of rigour to investigation of the needs ofevery pupil but Naomi felt that she would now observe all of her pupils through aslightly different lens open to new interpretations of challenging behaviour and awider range of appropriate responses The outcomes from her project were thereforequite different from what she had expected She saw her attempt to implement gov-ernment policy as having failed yet she had created new knowledge about possiblereasons for pupil behaviour which challenged her preconceptions and assumptionsand positioned her firmly as the school expert on Arthur

European Journal of Teacher Education 29

Participant researcher Susanne Stait

Participant researcher Susanne concentrated on Dave who was causing concern inYear 7 Dave found it very hard to concentrate hardly participated in class and wasprone to disruptive behaviour There was no extra support available for him as moreserious cases in the school monopolised learning support Susanne began with a sys-tematic research diary to note patterns using semi-structured interviews with thepupil and his language teacher for triangulation Analysis of these data suggestedideas to maximise participation which she built into a lesson design using an obser-vation schedule for completion by the class teacher and questionnaires for all thepupils to supplement her own impressions

The field diary revealed that Dave quickly lost concentration especially if thepace dropped to encourage wider participation This highlighted for Susanne someof the challenges inherent in implementing recommended good practice such asBlack et alrsquos (2002) lsquowait timersquo encouraging her to engage in a constructively criti-cal way with published research and its recommendations Dave worked best invery short and concrete activities ndash thinking or lsquowaitrsquo time encouraged off-task andpotentially disruptive behaviour In pair work he needed constant refocusing stop-ping frequently to distract others Alone with Susanne and the class teacher to catchup on a missed speaking assessment however he revised solidly for five minutesand achieved his target grade visibly enjoying the praise Dave responded well togame activities though preferred to play a less pressured role such as game hostwith set phrases and teacher support

Daversquos class teacher confirmed the need for very short well-focused pupil-ledactivities They decided to seat Dave with a reliable and willing pupil Jack whocould try to keep him focused but would also be prepared to speak up should hisown work suffer They discussed the need for stronger links between objective andactivity and more focused praise Dave surprised Susanne by saying that althoughhe felt he was not very good at French he actually liked it ndash his behaviour had ledher to believe otherwise She began to reinterpret poor behaviour as a lack of confi-dence rather than dislike countering with praise and encouragement rather thanrebuke Within this changed relationship Dave responded well to the idea of tryingto copy Jackrsquos level of attention for one lesson as an achievable first goal

For her intervention Susanne designed several short activities with as little tea-cher-led activity as possible and used her own impressions of the lesson along withdata collected from the class teacherrsquos completed observation schedule and pupilquestionnaires to judge its success Data revealed that most of the class includingDave were engaged and participating throughout Dave had found it hardest to con-centrate in the pair-work section but Jack had helped him refocus on the task Allpupils had enjoyed the high pace and the change and choice of activities thoughdifferent individuals had preferred different activities Susannersquos attempts to engageone pupil more fully appeared to benefit all though through the imposed rigour ofthe investigation she also became more aware of the differences between individu-als

Outcomes

As with Naomirsquos project Susannersquos implementation study offered weak warrantsfor any truth claims There was very limited evidence of change which could be

30 C Gray

purely due to novelty value Participation and enjoyment were not guarantees oflearning especially as lsquowait timersquo had been sacrificed for greater pace Once againthe production of knowledge came not through the actionimplementation processbut through closer engagement with pupils through the application of research toolssuch as interviews and questionnaires which encouraged her to question precon-ceived ideas about pupil behaviour Conducting the project also seemed to haveencouraged Susanne to lsquoownrsquo theoretical knowledge about recommendations foreffective teaching in a more personal way whilst simultaneously engaging criticallywith them for example questioning the practicalities of employing lsquowait timersquo witha class whose concentration span was limited Once again the real learning out-comes appeared not to be related to the implementation of government policyrather to recognising the need to investigate reality beneath its surface appearancein order to understand pupil behaviour more fully

Participant researcher Tammy Round

Participant researcher Tammy focused on Jane who had a special educational needin the autism spectrum She was concerned that Jane appeared not to interact withothers or to participate in activities such as chorusing or pair work Although Janeseemed happy in the classroom her lack of participation made it difficult to gaugewhether she was learning

Tammy started with a field diary to record thoughts and brief encounters withJane who frequented the lunchtime Language Club and regularly talked withTammy after lessons For triangulation she asked her mentor to focus on Janersquos lev-els of interaction during scheduled observations At first they used unstructuredobservation analysing this over time to develop a set of categories in a more sys-tematic semi-closed structured schedule From Tammyrsquos field diary Jane appearedto respond well to multiple-choice activities structured questions including the pro-vision of wait time the use of colour and of tangible props cheeky humour such asher favourite book titles laughing at mime animated acting in plays the appeal ofvisual images such as stereotypical pictures and animal flashcards dice rollinggames and a mixture of independent work completed within a whole-class activity

Tammy also gathered professional perspectives through interviews with Janersquoslearning support assistant (LSA) and form tutor The LSA surprised Tammy byrevealing that Jane continued her learning of German independently outside of les-son times Janersquos form tutor emphasised the need for Jane to build relationshipswith people which could take time Contrary to Tammyrsquos assumptions no one hadreceived any formal training or specific advice on how to support Jane they reliedon trial and error and relationship building There were no lsquoexpertsrsquo in school withany clear answers for her about creating effective learning conditions In effect dueto her intensive study Tammy herself became the school expert on Jane

For Tammy an important emphasis within PL was pupil voice ndash she wanted toobtain Janersquos views and involve her as an active participant in her learning AsJanersquos interactions with others were relatively brief this could pose a challenge Asa first step she conducted a whole-class questionnaire to identify class needs andpreferences in terms of learning activities learning style and environmentResponses confirmed most of Tammyrsquos field diary observations but also held sur-prises for example that Jane herself felt that chorusing pair work and taking partin plays helped her to learn areas where Tammy felt she participated poorly This

European Journal of Teacher Education 31

challenged Tammyrsquos definition of lsquoparticipationrsquo ndash as in the projects describedabove appearances were revealed to be misleading Most of the class includingJane preferred visual support such as pictures and colour and kinaesthetic activi-ties

Tammy then interviewed Jane informally using an unstructured approach duringwhich she also explored other topics such as pastimes Jane listed a few activitiesthat she enjoyed in class but beyond that was unsure and became distracted reach-ing into her bag for her book Tammy became engaged in a discussion of Janersquospreference for reading gruesome stories Although disappointing in terms of tangibleinformation related to her research question Tammy felt that the interview markeda milestone in her relationship with Jane and understanding of her as a person

Tammy began to emphasise the activities to which Jane and her peers said theyresponded well enlisting the help of her mentor to monitor Janersquos involvement Shefelt that she was beginning to build a relationship with Jane and encourage her totake more risks Though apparently interested and observing classmates attentivelyJane did not join in immediately with any new activity causing Tammy to wonderhow much she benefited She realised however that Jane may simply have neededmore time to build the confidence to join in with her peers and that her attentivenessindicated that she was participating mentally if not physically Tammy began toadapt activities to provide more thinking time and encourage independent work Keyactivities proved successful ndash at one point Jane completed a task early and wasoffered an extension task at another she volunteered to come to the board during awhole-class activity A rolling dice game engaged Jane successfully but failed toinvolve the majority of the class presenting Tammy with the dilemma of balancingthe needs of all pupils in the class Overall Tammy appeared to have succeeded inraising Janersquos levels of participation by developing a relationship with her and tailor-ing her teaching style to encourage involvement but she recognised that participa-tion did not guarantee learning and that the needs of all pupils had to be balanced

Outcomes

Again Tammy engaged critically with her research procedures and highlightedtheir limitations despite feeling that she had done as well as she could in the cir-cumstances Here too key learning had not been about how to implement govern-ment policy on PL rather the benefits of obtaining multiple perspectives on anindividual pupil Tammy felt that engagement in the project had enabled her todevelop a good relationship with Jane and encouraged her to question her ownteaching practice more systematically becoming more open to change The moni-toring of intervention though providing useful information for the development ofher practice had been less powerful in terms of knowledge production than hersystematic investigation of Janersquos situation prior to implementing change Throughthis Tammy had learnt to question her preconceptions and to become alert to awider range of possible interpretations of behaviour To her clear surprise she alsolearnt that her study turned her into the schoolrsquos expert on Jane

Participant researcher Emma Eacock

Participant researcher Emma also focused on participation but looked at the workof a class rather than one or two individuals investigating the possible causes of

32 C Gray

low levels of participation of pupils in a Year 7 class during question and answersessions The class included many pupils with a range of special educational needsand Emma suspected the influence of affective factors on their performance Shehad already begun to integrate lsquowait timersquo (Black et al 2002) as a regular featureinto her question and answer sessions but was concerned that participation stillremained low She developed an observation schedule for the class teacher to com-plete during a lesson focused on reading comprehension featuring 15 carefully pre-planned questions At the end of the lesson she distributed a questionnaire to collectpupilsrsquo perceptions of the subject their ability in the subject the importance of par-ticipation in class their attitudes towards error and their own ideas for improvedparticipation Pupils were asked how they felt when asked a question in class ifthey worried about giving a wrong answer and if so why and what they felt mighthelp them participate more confidently

Over half of the pupils said that they liked their German lessons and all demon-strated a degree of satisfaction with their own performance in the subject Theseresults were quite surprising for Emma questioning her assumptions based on theirovert behaviour Most felt that putting up their hand to answer a question wasimportant though Emma realised this could have been interpreted as a behaviourissue that is not shouting out rather than concerning the importance of engage-ment in whole-class activity for learning A quarter felt that an answer must be rightfor the pupil to raise their hand though two thirds said they were happy to contrib-ute even if they thought their answer might be wrong Emma surmised that some ofthe class would benefit from explicit reinforcement that error was not only accept-able but also useful Eleven of the 17 pupils said they sometimes put their hand up5 said usually 1 always and none never This confirmed Emmarsquos impressions andwas reflected in the observation data In the open questions 11 explicitly mentionednervousness lack of confidence shyness or embarrassment as reasons for holdingback Few strategies were mentioned for improving confidence pupils simply feltthey should listen more carefully and improve their performance

Emma then trialled a class activity called lsquoRescue Ryanrsquo Pupils worked ingroups of four to discuss the dilemma of the fictional character Ryan who had beenasked a question but was unsure of the answer and too nervous to reply Group sug-gestions were collated on the board labelled lsquocommunication strategiesrsquo and pro-vided as a help sheet to stick in their books These included asking for repetition orexplanation using their books taking a risk and guessing suggesting an answerand asking lsquois that rightrsquo providing the part of an answer that you are confidentwith and the popular lsquomillionairersquo game sequence of 5050 option phone a friendor ask the audience as used by an experienced colleague in the school Emma com-mented that this offered powerful potential the 5050 option could be tailored todifferentiate for pupil ability the audience lifeline required all pupils to be engagedand ready to answer lsquoPhone a friendrsquo risked over-dependence on a few pupils andwas modified to the person sitting two places to the pupilrsquos left

Pupils were given an opportunity to practise the strategies before a second les-son on reading comprehension carefully planned to parallel difficulty of text andquestions Participation data were collected by a colleague and supplemented byinformation on the use of strategies Comparison showed that 10 of the 17increased their participation whereas 7 decreased The level of increase was mark-edly higher than the level of decrease Of the 11 pupils who said they were affectedby affective barriers 9 increased their level of participation and 2 decreased by a

European Journal of Teacher Education 33

very small margin Pupils made use of the strategies to answer 11 of the 15questions posed Clearly this was a very small and limited investigation and anynumber of external factors could account for the changes observed For exampleconfidence and willingness could have increased simply because Emma hadengaged pupils in discussing the issue of participation and it was impossible toguarantee that text and questions were of similar difficulty ndash even if they werefamiliarity with procedures could account for any perceived change Neverthelessthere did seem to be limited evidence of positive influence from the interventionand Emma felt that it was worth pursuing

Outcomes

Emmarsquos work was more clearly focused on the implementation of good practiceand monitoring of the effects of change She recognised for herself the weakness ofany warrants for claims to truth and although keen to continue this work herselfwas very cautious about making any strong recommendations on the basis of suchlimited and inconclusive evidence She began to see the implementation of PL as aseries of feasible small changes in practice reminiscent perhaps of Gorardrsquos (2002)claim that lsquoit is as though ldquoresearchrdquo is being conducted to find evidence for alreadyexisting agendarsquo (381) Nevertheless as with the previous projects the most power-ful learning seemed to come not from the intervention itself but from preparatoryinvestigations Emma expressed surprise about pupilsrsquo reported positive attitudes tothe subject and satisfaction with their own level of progress This engagement withpupils and willingness to hear their voices had she felt resulted in a more produc-tive classroom environment Although this undermined any conclusions about theeffectiveness of her intervention it revealed greater understanding of the complexityof classroom dynamics and offered an additional source of professional learning

Discussion the use of Masterrsquos criteria to prompt professional learning

The summaries present only a brief outline of each project To achieve the Masterrsquoscriteria the students used government and academic literature to define the topicand tease out contradictions and inconsistencies identified the potential for carryingout small-scale research debated the concept of case study chose and refined a setof triangulating tools addressed the complex ethical issues arising and learnt howto analyse and present data with due caution They had to justify their proceduresand results in the face of strong challenge from peers and tutors such as they mightmeet when trying to persuade professional colleagues of the need for changes inpractice Each found herself positioned as expert in the field even in discussionswith experienced teachers thus demonstrating the power of knowledge in terms ofestablishing status Their writing also finds them engaging critically with publishedresearch as well as government directives for example questioning the practicalityof lsquowait timersquo when dealing with short attention spans and of the PL agenda itselfin the face of crowded classrooms and timetables The empirical data that theyobtained were very limited and it would be easy to criticise the rigour of theirresearch methods from the standpoint of a skilled and experienced universityresearcher this would however be unjust For each person the project representsthe third in a series of six small-scale assignments designed to introduce pre-serviceteachers to the practical application of research methods as a tool for professional

34 C Gray

development and induction into the standards required for a dissertation should theywish to complete the degree As their priority is learning to teach well the writersare naturally concerned with the immediate impact of their findings on the develop-ment of their own practice and the assignment brief explicitly poses the challengeof implementing government policy on PL in order to reflect their practical con-cerns and present a relevant teaching challenge Their work does however revealan awareness of some of the criticisms of teacher research summarised in the intro-duction to this article and an attempt to meet those demands for rigour Resultsfrom their interventions are tentative and any conclusions drawn are duly cautiousin light of the relative weakness of the evidence base thus answering any criticismsabout justifiable warrants There is undeniably a sense of surprise allied to an ele-ment of knowledge creation and some evidence of impact on the beliefs systemThis comes not from the monitoring of an intervention rather from the use ofresearch tools to gain deeper insight into a situation as a preparatory phase beforeplanning the intervention itself Naomi Susanne Tammy and Emma all expressgenuine surprise as their in-depth studies propose new ways of interpreting theirclassrooms and the behaviour of their pupils Rather than producing clear guidelinesfor effective practice which is what they might have hoped for as developing teach-ers they have deepened their understanding of classroom interaction and challengedsome of their own firmly held beliefs Though disappointing their desire for clearanswers about practice the process appears to have been empowering in terms ofpositioning them as expert knowers and as potential creators of new knowledgeboth for themselves and for colleagues Engagement in such small-scale projectscould thus be seen as a powerful tool for professional development whatever thewarrants for generalisable truth It could be argued that the requirements imposedby the institution to develop understanding and use of research methods to improvethe rigour of enquiries has actually led to greater not lesser practical relevance anda more mature and professional questioning approach to the implementation ofgovernment policy Using the research format to gain greater understanding ofpupilsrsquo perspectives has led to a questioning of current beliefs and practice whichmay in turn lead to longer term and more deeply seated changes in behaviour thana successful small-scale intervention study This resonates with findings from theinternational studies discussed earlier

There is no expectation that graduates of the course will become universityresearchers though increasing numbers are returning to complete their Masterrsquosstudies with a dissertation once settled into employment We agree with Postholm(2009) that they lsquodo not necessarily have to become a researcher in the originalmeaning of the termrsquo (564) There is also no expectation that as future teachers theywill engage in such time-consuming projects as a normal part of their professionallearning We recognise that engagement in research remains a minority activity forpractising teachers (Borg 2010 407) though the students may be more favourablypositioned to explore future research opportunities having discovered the power ofresearch to reveal new information and explanations We aim for the developmentof a lsquoresearch stance and attitudersquo (Postholm 2009 564) Anonymous student evalu-ations at the end of the course consistently acknowledge the learning value of theassignments at key points in progress We are aware that the robustness of theresearch undertaken by students could be improved and continue to work at thisyear-on-year for example using Fosterrsquos (1999) critique of teacher action researchto emphasise the requirements of rigour and caution We are perhaps misleading

European Journal of Teacher Education 35

students by encouraging and simultaneously disappointing their expectations ofuseful practical outcomes from their projects ndash they begin to realise that researchcannot provide quick answers to complex problems but that more in-depth knowl-edge about a problem can be enriching and empowering even if it produces noconclusive results We tread a fine line between presenting research as a route tolsquodiscovery learningrsquo and being over-demanding in our academic expectations whenstudent teachersrsquo priority is classroom survival Successful integration of theory andpractice is dependent upon treading this tightrope endeavouring to facilitate futureteachersrsquo engagement with educational research There is sometimes a sense of pro-tectionism within academic circles defensively closing doors to maintain statusNaomi Susanne Tammy and Emmarsquos writings show that it is possible as a noviceresearcher to understand the potential and pitfalls of research to generate newknowledge and to undergo deep personal learning through designing and imple-menting a small-scale project To us this seems justification enough to continue todevelop our work even though we might appear to stand outside more generaltrends in UK teacher education

Conclusion

In conclusion this discussion adds to the positive voices in the international debateabout the appropriateness of research training in pre-service education Whether itis more suited to undergraduate or postgraduate teacher education depends upon thenature of the specific course Reis-Jorge (2007) in Portugal and Maaranen andKokfors (2008) in Finland seem to suggest that the highly structured formatrequired for a Masterrsquos dissertation leads to low transfer into ongoing teacher devel-opment and often a separation of research skills into the lsquoacademic qualificationsrsquobox On the other hand Diezman (2005) recommends offering a Research Pathwayto develop high-capacity research for certain pre-service Bachelor of Education stu-dents in the Australian teacher education system Volk (2010) investigating in-ser-vice utilisation of research skills learnt in pre-service training in the Middle Eastseems to sit on the fence On the one hand he questions the length of time andeffort spent in one particular college on this aspect of teacher preparation yet onthe other he still feels that it is worth introducing research skills at BEd Level(330) In our own situation as described above although the student teachers areworking at postgraduate level few have studied education as part of their firstdegree and even fewer have been introduced to the largely qualitative methods ofdata collection required for small-scale case study in a social science setting Theyonly have one year ndash 10 calendar months ndash in which to develop their practicalteaching skills and meet the academic Masterrsquos Level requirements Two thirds ofthat time must by law be spent in partner schools for lsquoon-the-jobrsquo training withexperienced teacher mentors Although this can pose a danger leading to a desireto lsquofit inrsquo with local practice it does provide student teachers with a wealth of prac-tical problems to investigate highlighted as necessary for success by Volk (2010317) The challenge is to develop assignments that offer research tools as a way ofunderstanding such problems more deeply thus opening up wider possibilities forchange As to whether or not these formalised research skills are used later as anormal part of personal teacher development our view coincides with that of Post-holm (2009) We want students to see the value of a research approach in providingemotional distance and deeper knowledge however they may use this learning laterAny tool learnt in a pre-service course is inevitably measured for applicability and

36 C Gray

adapted for use once the student becomes an independent practitioner and we canask no more of the research skills built into our course than of any other element ofpreparation We hope nevertheless that this will encourage more colleagues world-wide to introduce research skills as investigative and discovery tools to support lear-ner teachers in lsquoowningrsquo knowledge gained through their preparation courses

Notes on contributorCarol Gray is senior lecturer in modern foreign languages education She joined the InitialTeacher Education team in 1993 after teaching German and French to A Level in a range ofsecondary schools including special educational needs (visual impairment) She haspublished widely in the field of modern foreign languages education focusing on ICT usespecial needs grammar teaching and initial and continuing teacher development

References

Bartlett S and D Burton 2006 Practitioner research or description of classroom practiceA discussion of teachers investigating their classrooms Educational Action Research14 no 3 395ndash405

Black P C Harrison C Lee B Marshall and D Wiliam 2002 Working inside the blackbox Assessment for Learning Series 86 London GL Assessment

Borg S 2010 Language teacher research engagement Language Teaching 43 no 4391ndash429

Burton D 2007 Psycho-pedagogy and personalised learning Journal of Education forTeaching 33 no 1 5ndash17

Campbell RJ W Robinson J Neelands R Hewston and L Mazzoli 2007 Personalisedlearning Ambiguities in theory and practice British Journal of Educational Studies55 no 2 135ndash54

Courcier I 2007 Teachersrsquo perceptions of personalised learning Evaluation and Researchin Education 20 no 2 59ndash78

Department for Education 2010a The importance of teaching The Schools White Paper2010 London Stationery Office DfES httpwwweducationgovukb0068570the-importance-of-teaching

Department for Education 2010b The case for change London Stationery Office DfEShttpwwweducationgovukpublicationseOrderingDownloadDFE-00564-2010pdf

Department for Education and Skills (DfES) 2000 Best practice research scholarshipsGuidance notes for teacher applications London Author

DfES 2006 2020 Vision Report of the Teaching and Learning in 2020 review groupLondon Author

DfES 2007 The five components of personalised learning DfES httpwwwstandardsdfesgovukpersonalisedlearningfive

Diezmann CM 2005 Growing scholarly teachers and educational researchers a curriculumfor a research pathway in preservice teacher education Asia Pacific Journal of TeacherEducation 33 no 2 181ndash93

Edwards A J Sebba and M Rickinson 2007 Working with users Some implications foreducational research British Educational Research Journal 33 no 5 647ndash61

Foreman-Peck L and J Murray 2008 Action research and policy Journal of Philosophyof Education 42 no S1 145ndash63

Foster 1999 lsquoNever mind the quality feel the impactrsquo A methodological assessment ofteacher research sponsored by the Teacher Training Agency British Journal ofEducational Studies 47 no 4 380ndash98

Gorard S 2002 Political control A way forward for educational research British Journalof Educational Studies 50 no 3 378ndash89

Guillaume AM and GL Rudney 1993 Student teachersrsquo growth towards independenceAn analysis of their changing concerns Teaching and Teacher Education 9 no 165ndash80

European Journal of Teacher Education 37

fore concentrated on developing techniques for listening using raps and extra sup-port mechanisms Many pupils appeared to benefit but Arthur continued to disen-gage She included more visual work and noted that the only homework completedby Arthur was to draw and label a picture of his bedroom His text was however amixture of German and English demonstrating limited confidence lack of learningand disregard of the support provided He rejected attempts to provide lsquoeasierrsquocopying work and patterns of negative behaviour and work avoidance persistedNevertheless Naomi realised through staff interviews that Arthurrsquos behaviour wasuniversal allowing her to develop greater emotional objectivity Detailed observa-tion suggested a general lack of confidence and awkwardness in a pupil whosephysical maturity appeared to outstrip mental development Field notes and inter-view data suggested avoidance due to fear of failure Naomirsquos resulting greaterpatience and understanding helped improve relationships Naomi suppressed herscepticism and trialled a flexible learning environment to tackle class-wide lack ofmotivation Pupils were given a set of lsquolevelledrsquo worksheets were to choose andcomplete at least two either independently or with a partner and would receive amerit for each completed successfully To Naomirsquos great surprise Arthur remainedon task throughout and completed five worksheets He worked gradually towardsthe harder tasks and made effective use of scaffolding This provided further reflec-tion concerning the lsquochoicersquo element of the PL agenda Naomi was amazed at howthe whole class responded to this mini experiment and how Arthur in particularhad challenged her assumptions

Outcomes

Naomi was quick to criticise her own study not least in terms of research rigourShe felt that her interventions were too haphazard to allow for more conclusivefindings and that she should have carried out a more organised strategic interven-tion Personal experience of research in the school context had deepened her under-standing of its limitations and frustrations and of the challenge of meeting stringentacademic criteria Nevertheless she demonstrated good awareness of a range ofresearch tools and the ability to combine them appropriately to suit her researchquestion Her own criticism of her work demonstrated her awareness of the needfor rigour and trustworthiness (Foreman-Peck and Murray 2008 157) and she wasvery cautious about making any claims to truth The intervention aspect of herstudy could not be said to meet strict academic requirements for action researchThere was however evidence of powerful professional learning and the ability tobe lsquosurprisedrsquo (Gorard 2002 386) This came not from the intervention cycle butfrom the preparatory investigation which had in her own words sensitised her tothe potential for alternative explanations of perceived patterns of behaviour Itwould be impractical to apply this level of rigour to investigation of the needs ofevery pupil but Naomi felt that she would now observe all of her pupils through aslightly different lens open to new interpretations of challenging behaviour and awider range of appropriate responses The outcomes from her project were thereforequite different from what she had expected She saw her attempt to implement gov-ernment policy as having failed yet she had created new knowledge about possiblereasons for pupil behaviour which challenged her preconceptions and assumptionsand positioned her firmly as the school expert on Arthur

European Journal of Teacher Education 29

Participant researcher Susanne Stait

Participant researcher Susanne concentrated on Dave who was causing concern inYear 7 Dave found it very hard to concentrate hardly participated in class and wasprone to disruptive behaviour There was no extra support available for him as moreserious cases in the school monopolised learning support Susanne began with a sys-tematic research diary to note patterns using semi-structured interviews with thepupil and his language teacher for triangulation Analysis of these data suggestedideas to maximise participation which she built into a lesson design using an obser-vation schedule for completion by the class teacher and questionnaires for all thepupils to supplement her own impressions

The field diary revealed that Dave quickly lost concentration especially if thepace dropped to encourage wider participation This highlighted for Susanne someof the challenges inherent in implementing recommended good practice such asBlack et alrsquos (2002) lsquowait timersquo encouraging her to engage in a constructively criti-cal way with published research and its recommendations Dave worked best invery short and concrete activities ndash thinking or lsquowaitrsquo time encouraged off-task andpotentially disruptive behaviour In pair work he needed constant refocusing stop-ping frequently to distract others Alone with Susanne and the class teacher to catchup on a missed speaking assessment however he revised solidly for five minutesand achieved his target grade visibly enjoying the praise Dave responded well togame activities though preferred to play a less pressured role such as game hostwith set phrases and teacher support

Daversquos class teacher confirmed the need for very short well-focused pupil-ledactivities They decided to seat Dave with a reliable and willing pupil Jack whocould try to keep him focused but would also be prepared to speak up should hisown work suffer They discussed the need for stronger links between objective andactivity and more focused praise Dave surprised Susanne by saying that althoughhe felt he was not very good at French he actually liked it ndash his behaviour had ledher to believe otherwise She began to reinterpret poor behaviour as a lack of confi-dence rather than dislike countering with praise and encouragement rather thanrebuke Within this changed relationship Dave responded well to the idea of tryingto copy Jackrsquos level of attention for one lesson as an achievable first goal

For her intervention Susanne designed several short activities with as little tea-cher-led activity as possible and used her own impressions of the lesson along withdata collected from the class teacherrsquos completed observation schedule and pupilquestionnaires to judge its success Data revealed that most of the class includingDave were engaged and participating throughout Dave had found it hardest to con-centrate in the pair-work section but Jack had helped him refocus on the task Allpupils had enjoyed the high pace and the change and choice of activities thoughdifferent individuals had preferred different activities Susannersquos attempts to engageone pupil more fully appeared to benefit all though through the imposed rigour ofthe investigation she also became more aware of the differences between individu-als

Outcomes

As with Naomirsquos project Susannersquos implementation study offered weak warrantsfor any truth claims There was very limited evidence of change which could be

30 C Gray

purely due to novelty value Participation and enjoyment were not guarantees oflearning especially as lsquowait timersquo had been sacrificed for greater pace Once againthe production of knowledge came not through the actionimplementation processbut through closer engagement with pupils through the application of research toolssuch as interviews and questionnaires which encouraged her to question precon-ceived ideas about pupil behaviour Conducting the project also seemed to haveencouraged Susanne to lsquoownrsquo theoretical knowledge about recommendations foreffective teaching in a more personal way whilst simultaneously engaging criticallywith them for example questioning the practicalities of employing lsquowait timersquo witha class whose concentration span was limited Once again the real learning out-comes appeared not to be related to the implementation of government policyrather to recognising the need to investigate reality beneath its surface appearancein order to understand pupil behaviour more fully

Participant researcher Tammy Round

Participant researcher Tammy focused on Jane who had a special educational needin the autism spectrum She was concerned that Jane appeared not to interact withothers or to participate in activities such as chorusing or pair work Although Janeseemed happy in the classroom her lack of participation made it difficult to gaugewhether she was learning

Tammy started with a field diary to record thoughts and brief encounters withJane who frequented the lunchtime Language Club and regularly talked withTammy after lessons For triangulation she asked her mentor to focus on Janersquos lev-els of interaction during scheduled observations At first they used unstructuredobservation analysing this over time to develop a set of categories in a more sys-tematic semi-closed structured schedule From Tammyrsquos field diary Jane appearedto respond well to multiple-choice activities structured questions including the pro-vision of wait time the use of colour and of tangible props cheeky humour such asher favourite book titles laughing at mime animated acting in plays the appeal ofvisual images such as stereotypical pictures and animal flashcards dice rollinggames and a mixture of independent work completed within a whole-class activity

Tammy also gathered professional perspectives through interviews with Janersquoslearning support assistant (LSA) and form tutor The LSA surprised Tammy byrevealing that Jane continued her learning of German independently outside of les-son times Janersquos form tutor emphasised the need for Jane to build relationshipswith people which could take time Contrary to Tammyrsquos assumptions no one hadreceived any formal training or specific advice on how to support Jane they reliedon trial and error and relationship building There were no lsquoexpertsrsquo in school withany clear answers for her about creating effective learning conditions In effect dueto her intensive study Tammy herself became the school expert on Jane

For Tammy an important emphasis within PL was pupil voice ndash she wanted toobtain Janersquos views and involve her as an active participant in her learning AsJanersquos interactions with others were relatively brief this could pose a challenge Asa first step she conducted a whole-class questionnaire to identify class needs andpreferences in terms of learning activities learning style and environmentResponses confirmed most of Tammyrsquos field diary observations but also held sur-prises for example that Jane herself felt that chorusing pair work and taking partin plays helped her to learn areas where Tammy felt she participated poorly This

European Journal of Teacher Education 31

challenged Tammyrsquos definition of lsquoparticipationrsquo ndash as in the projects describedabove appearances were revealed to be misleading Most of the class includingJane preferred visual support such as pictures and colour and kinaesthetic activi-ties

Tammy then interviewed Jane informally using an unstructured approach duringwhich she also explored other topics such as pastimes Jane listed a few activitiesthat she enjoyed in class but beyond that was unsure and became distracted reach-ing into her bag for her book Tammy became engaged in a discussion of Janersquospreference for reading gruesome stories Although disappointing in terms of tangibleinformation related to her research question Tammy felt that the interview markeda milestone in her relationship with Jane and understanding of her as a person

Tammy began to emphasise the activities to which Jane and her peers said theyresponded well enlisting the help of her mentor to monitor Janersquos involvement Shefelt that she was beginning to build a relationship with Jane and encourage her totake more risks Though apparently interested and observing classmates attentivelyJane did not join in immediately with any new activity causing Tammy to wonderhow much she benefited She realised however that Jane may simply have neededmore time to build the confidence to join in with her peers and that her attentivenessindicated that she was participating mentally if not physically Tammy began toadapt activities to provide more thinking time and encourage independent work Keyactivities proved successful ndash at one point Jane completed a task early and wasoffered an extension task at another she volunteered to come to the board during awhole-class activity A rolling dice game engaged Jane successfully but failed toinvolve the majority of the class presenting Tammy with the dilemma of balancingthe needs of all pupils in the class Overall Tammy appeared to have succeeded inraising Janersquos levels of participation by developing a relationship with her and tailor-ing her teaching style to encourage involvement but she recognised that participa-tion did not guarantee learning and that the needs of all pupils had to be balanced

Outcomes

Again Tammy engaged critically with her research procedures and highlightedtheir limitations despite feeling that she had done as well as she could in the cir-cumstances Here too key learning had not been about how to implement govern-ment policy on PL rather the benefits of obtaining multiple perspectives on anindividual pupil Tammy felt that engagement in the project had enabled her todevelop a good relationship with Jane and encouraged her to question her ownteaching practice more systematically becoming more open to change The moni-toring of intervention though providing useful information for the development ofher practice had been less powerful in terms of knowledge production than hersystematic investigation of Janersquos situation prior to implementing change Throughthis Tammy had learnt to question her preconceptions and to become alert to awider range of possible interpretations of behaviour To her clear surprise she alsolearnt that her study turned her into the schoolrsquos expert on Jane

Participant researcher Emma Eacock

Participant researcher Emma also focused on participation but looked at the workof a class rather than one or two individuals investigating the possible causes of

32 C Gray

low levels of participation of pupils in a Year 7 class during question and answersessions The class included many pupils with a range of special educational needsand Emma suspected the influence of affective factors on their performance Shehad already begun to integrate lsquowait timersquo (Black et al 2002) as a regular featureinto her question and answer sessions but was concerned that participation stillremained low She developed an observation schedule for the class teacher to com-plete during a lesson focused on reading comprehension featuring 15 carefully pre-planned questions At the end of the lesson she distributed a questionnaire to collectpupilsrsquo perceptions of the subject their ability in the subject the importance of par-ticipation in class their attitudes towards error and their own ideas for improvedparticipation Pupils were asked how they felt when asked a question in class ifthey worried about giving a wrong answer and if so why and what they felt mighthelp them participate more confidently

Over half of the pupils said that they liked their German lessons and all demon-strated a degree of satisfaction with their own performance in the subject Theseresults were quite surprising for Emma questioning her assumptions based on theirovert behaviour Most felt that putting up their hand to answer a question wasimportant though Emma realised this could have been interpreted as a behaviourissue that is not shouting out rather than concerning the importance of engage-ment in whole-class activity for learning A quarter felt that an answer must be rightfor the pupil to raise their hand though two thirds said they were happy to contrib-ute even if they thought their answer might be wrong Emma surmised that some ofthe class would benefit from explicit reinforcement that error was not only accept-able but also useful Eleven of the 17 pupils said they sometimes put their hand up5 said usually 1 always and none never This confirmed Emmarsquos impressions andwas reflected in the observation data In the open questions 11 explicitly mentionednervousness lack of confidence shyness or embarrassment as reasons for holdingback Few strategies were mentioned for improving confidence pupils simply feltthey should listen more carefully and improve their performance

Emma then trialled a class activity called lsquoRescue Ryanrsquo Pupils worked ingroups of four to discuss the dilemma of the fictional character Ryan who had beenasked a question but was unsure of the answer and too nervous to reply Group sug-gestions were collated on the board labelled lsquocommunication strategiesrsquo and pro-vided as a help sheet to stick in their books These included asking for repetition orexplanation using their books taking a risk and guessing suggesting an answerand asking lsquois that rightrsquo providing the part of an answer that you are confidentwith and the popular lsquomillionairersquo game sequence of 5050 option phone a friendor ask the audience as used by an experienced colleague in the school Emma com-mented that this offered powerful potential the 5050 option could be tailored todifferentiate for pupil ability the audience lifeline required all pupils to be engagedand ready to answer lsquoPhone a friendrsquo risked over-dependence on a few pupils andwas modified to the person sitting two places to the pupilrsquos left

Pupils were given an opportunity to practise the strategies before a second les-son on reading comprehension carefully planned to parallel difficulty of text andquestions Participation data were collected by a colleague and supplemented byinformation on the use of strategies Comparison showed that 10 of the 17increased their participation whereas 7 decreased The level of increase was mark-edly higher than the level of decrease Of the 11 pupils who said they were affectedby affective barriers 9 increased their level of participation and 2 decreased by a

European Journal of Teacher Education 33

very small margin Pupils made use of the strategies to answer 11 of the 15questions posed Clearly this was a very small and limited investigation and anynumber of external factors could account for the changes observed For exampleconfidence and willingness could have increased simply because Emma hadengaged pupils in discussing the issue of participation and it was impossible toguarantee that text and questions were of similar difficulty ndash even if they werefamiliarity with procedures could account for any perceived change Neverthelessthere did seem to be limited evidence of positive influence from the interventionand Emma felt that it was worth pursuing

Outcomes

Emmarsquos work was more clearly focused on the implementation of good practiceand monitoring of the effects of change She recognised for herself the weakness ofany warrants for claims to truth and although keen to continue this work herselfwas very cautious about making any strong recommendations on the basis of suchlimited and inconclusive evidence She began to see the implementation of PL as aseries of feasible small changes in practice reminiscent perhaps of Gorardrsquos (2002)claim that lsquoit is as though ldquoresearchrdquo is being conducted to find evidence for alreadyexisting agendarsquo (381) Nevertheless as with the previous projects the most power-ful learning seemed to come not from the intervention itself but from preparatoryinvestigations Emma expressed surprise about pupilsrsquo reported positive attitudes tothe subject and satisfaction with their own level of progress This engagement withpupils and willingness to hear their voices had she felt resulted in a more produc-tive classroom environment Although this undermined any conclusions about theeffectiveness of her intervention it revealed greater understanding of the complexityof classroom dynamics and offered an additional source of professional learning

Discussion the use of Masterrsquos criteria to prompt professional learning

The summaries present only a brief outline of each project To achieve the Masterrsquoscriteria the students used government and academic literature to define the topicand tease out contradictions and inconsistencies identified the potential for carryingout small-scale research debated the concept of case study chose and refined a setof triangulating tools addressed the complex ethical issues arising and learnt howto analyse and present data with due caution They had to justify their proceduresand results in the face of strong challenge from peers and tutors such as they mightmeet when trying to persuade professional colleagues of the need for changes inpractice Each found herself positioned as expert in the field even in discussionswith experienced teachers thus demonstrating the power of knowledge in terms ofestablishing status Their writing also finds them engaging critically with publishedresearch as well as government directives for example questioning the practicalityof lsquowait timersquo when dealing with short attention spans and of the PL agenda itselfin the face of crowded classrooms and timetables The empirical data that theyobtained were very limited and it would be easy to criticise the rigour of theirresearch methods from the standpoint of a skilled and experienced universityresearcher this would however be unjust For each person the project representsthe third in a series of six small-scale assignments designed to introduce pre-serviceteachers to the practical application of research methods as a tool for professional

34 C Gray

development and induction into the standards required for a dissertation should theywish to complete the degree As their priority is learning to teach well the writersare naturally concerned with the immediate impact of their findings on the develop-ment of their own practice and the assignment brief explicitly poses the challengeof implementing government policy on PL in order to reflect their practical con-cerns and present a relevant teaching challenge Their work does however revealan awareness of some of the criticisms of teacher research summarised in the intro-duction to this article and an attempt to meet those demands for rigour Resultsfrom their interventions are tentative and any conclusions drawn are duly cautiousin light of the relative weakness of the evidence base thus answering any criticismsabout justifiable warrants There is undeniably a sense of surprise allied to an ele-ment of knowledge creation and some evidence of impact on the beliefs systemThis comes not from the monitoring of an intervention rather from the use ofresearch tools to gain deeper insight into a situation as a preparatory phase beforeplanning the intervention itself Naomi Susanne Tammy and Emma all expressgenuine surprise as their in-depth studies propose new ways of interpreting theirclassrooms and the behaviour of their pupils Rather than producing clear guidelinesfor effective practice which is what they might have hoped for as developing teach-ers they have deepened their understanding of classroom interaction and challengedsome of their own firmly held beliefs Though disappointing their desire for clearanswers about practice the process appears to have been empowering in terms ofpositioning them as expert knowers and as potential creators of new knowledgeboth for themselves and for colleagues Engagement in such small-scale projectscould thus be seen as a powerful tool for professional development whatever thewarrants for generalisable truth It could be argued that the requirements imposedby the institution to develop understanding and use of research methods to improvethe rigour of enquiries has actually led to greater not lesser practical relevance anda more mature and professional questioning approach to the implementation ofgovernment policy Using the research format to gain greater understanding ofpupilsrsquo perspectives has led to a questioning of current beliefs and practice whichmay in turn lead to longer term and more deeply seated changes in behaviour thana successful small-scale intervention study This resonates with findings from theinternational studies discussed earlier

There is no expectation that graduates of the course will become universityresearchers though increasing numbers are returning to complete their Masterrsquosstudies with a dissertation once settled into employment We agree with Postholm(2009) that they lsquodo not necessarily have to become a researcher in the originalmeaning of the termrsquo (564) There is also no expectation that as future teachers theywill engage in such time-consuming projects as a normal part of their professionallearning We recognise that engagement in research remains a minority activity forpractising teachers (Borg 2010 407) though the students may be more favourablypositioned to explore future research opportunities having discovered the power ofresearch to reveal new information and explanations We aim for the developmentof a lsquoresearch stance and attitudersquo (Postholm 2009 564) Anonymous student evalu-ations at the end of the course consistently acknowledge the learning value of theassignments at key points in progress We are aware that the robustness of theresearch undertaken by students could be improved and continue to work at thisyear-on-year for example using Fosterrsquos (1999) critique of teacher action researchto emphasise the requirements of rigour and caution We are perhaps misleading

European Journal of Teacher Education 35

students by encouraging and simultaneously disappointing their expectations ofuseful practical outcomes from their projects ndash they begin to realise that researchcannot provide quick answers to complex problems but that more in-depth knowl-edge about a problem can be enriching and empowering even if it produces noconclusive results We tread a fine line between presenting research as a route tolsquodiscovery learningrsquo and being over-demanding in our academic expectations whenstudent teachersrsquo priority is classroom survival Successful integration of theory andpractice is dependent upon treading this tightrope endeavouring to facilitate futureteachersrsquo engagement with educational research There is sometimes a sense of pro-tectionism within academic circles defensively closing doors to maintain statusNaomi Susanne Tammy and Emmarsquos writings show that it is possible as a noviceresearcher to understand the potential and pitfalls of research to generate newknowledge and to undergo deep personal learning through designing and imple-menting a small-scale project To us this seems justification enough to continue todevelop our work even though we might appear to stand outside more generaltrends in UK teacher education

Conclusion

In conclusion this discussion adds to the positive voices in the international debateabout the appropriateness of research training in pre-service education Whether itis more suited to undergraduate or postgraduate teacher education depends upon thenature of the specific course Reis-Jorge (2007) in Portugal and Maaranen andKokfors (2008) in Finland seem to suggest that the highly structured formatrequired for a Masterrsquos dissertation leads to low transfer into ongoing teacher devel-opment and often a separation of research skills into the lsquoacademic qualificationsrsquobox On the other hand Diezman (2005) recommends offering a Research Pathwayto develop high-capacity research for certain pre-service Bachelor of Education stu-dents in the Australian teacher education system Volk (2010) investigating in-ser-vice utilisation of research skills learnt in pre-service training in the Middle Eastseems to sit on the fence On the one hand he questions the length of time andeffort spent in one particular college on this aspect of teacher preparation yet onthe other he still feels that it is worth introducing research skills at BEd Level(330) In our own situation as described above although the student teachers areworking at postgraduate level few have studied education as part of their firstdegree and even fewer have been introduced to the largely qualitative methods ofdata collection required for small-scale case study in a social science setting Theyonly have one year ndash 10 calendar months ndash in which to develop their practicalteaching skills and meet the academic Masterrsquos Level requirements Two thirds ofthat time must by law be spent in partner schools for lsquoon-the-jobrsquo training withexperienced teacher mentors Although this can pose a danger leading to a desireto lsquofit inrsquo with local practice it does provide student teachers with a wealth of prac-tical problems to investigate highlighted as necessary for success by Volk (2010317) The challenge is to develop assignments that offer research tools as a way ofunderstanding such problems more deeply thus opening up wider possibilities forchange As to whether or not these formalised research skills are used later as anormal part of personal teacher development our view coincides with that of Post-holm (2009) We want students to see the value of a research approach in providingemotional distance and deeper knowledge however they may use this learning laterAny tool learnt in a pre-service course is inevitably measured for applicability and

36 C Gray

adapted for use once the student becomes an independent practitioner and we canask no more of the research skills built into our course than of any other element ofpreparation We hope nevertheless that this will encourage more colleagues world-wide to introduce research skills as investigative and discovery tools to support lear-ner teachers in lsquoowningrsquo knowledge gained through their preparation courses

Notes on contributorCarol Gray is senior lecturer in modern foreign languages education She joined the InitialTeacher Education team in 1993 after teaching German and French to A Level in a range ofsecondary schools including special educational needs (visual impairment) She haspublished widely in the field of modern foreign languages education focusing on ICT usespecial needs grammar teaching and initial and continuing teacher development

References

Bartlett S and D Burton 2006 Practitioner research or description of classroom practiceA discussion of teachers investigating their classrooms Educational Action Research14 no 3 395ndash405

Black P C Harrison C Lee B Marshall and D Wiliam 2002 Working inside the blackbox Assessment for Learning Series 86 London GL Assessment

Borg S 2010 Language teacher research engagement Language Teaching 43 no 4391ndash429

Burton D 2007 Psycho-pedagogy and personalised learning Journal of Education forTeaching 33 no 1 5ndash17

Campbell RJ W Robinson J Neelands R Hewston and L Mazzoli 2007 Personalisedlearning Ambiguities in theory and practice British Journal of Educational Studies55 no 2 135ndash54

Courcier I 2007 Teachersrsquo perceptions of personalised learning Evaluation and Researchin Education 20 no 2 59ndash78

Department for Education 2010a The importance of teaching The Schools White Paper2010 London Stationery Office DfES httpwwweducationgovukb0068570the-importance-of-teaching

Department for Education 2010b The case for change London Stationery Office DfEShttpwwweducationgovukpublicationseOrderingDownloadDFE-00564-2010pdf

Department for Education and Skills (DfES) 2000 Best practice research scholarshipsGuidance notes for teacher applications London Author

DfES 2006 2020 Vision Report of the Teaching and Learning in 2020 review groupLondon Author

DfES 2007 The five components of personalised learning DfES httpwwwstandardsdfesgovukpersonalisedlearningfive

Diezmann CM 2005 Growing scholarly teachers and educational researchers a curriculumfor a research pathway in preservice teacher education Asia Pacific Journal of TeacherEducation 33 no 2 181ndash93

Edwards A J Sebba and M Rickinson 2007 Working with users Some implications foreducational research British Educational Research Journal 33 no 5 647ndash61

Foreman-Peck L and J Murray 2008 Action research and policy Journal of Philosophyof Education 42 no S1 145ndash63

Foster 1999 lsquoNever mind the quality feel the impactrsquo A methodological assessment ofteacher research sponsored by the Teacher Training Agency British Journal ofEducational Studies 47 no 4 380ndash98

Gorard S 2002 Political control A way forward for educational research British Journalof Educational Studies 50 no 3 378ndash89

Guillaume AM and GL Rudney 1993 Student teachersrsquo growth towards independenceAn analysis of their changing concerns Teaching and Teacher Education 9 no 165ndash80

European Journal of Teacher Education 37

Participant researcher Susanne Stait

Participant researcher Susanne concentrated on Dave who was causing concern inYear 7 Dave found it very hard to concentrate hardly participated in class and wasprone to disruptive behaviour There was no extra support available for him as moreserious cases in the school monopolised learning support Susanne began with a sys-tematic research diary to note patterns using semi-structured interviews with thepupil and his language teacher for triangulation Analysis of these data suggestedideas to maximise participation which she built into a lesson design using an obser-vation schedule for completion by the class teacher and questionnaires for all thepupils to supplement her own impressions

The field diary revealed that Dave quickly lost concentration especially if thepace dropped to encourage wider participation This highlighted for Susanne someof the challenges inherent in implementing recommended good practice such asBlack et alrsquos (2002) lsquowait timersquo encouraging her to engage in a constructively criti-cal way with published research and its recommendations Dave worked best invery short and concrete activities ndash thinking or lsquowaitrsquo time encouraged off-task andpotentially disruptive behaviour In pair work he needed constant refocusing stop-ping frequently to distract others Alone with Susanne and the class teacher to catchup on a missed speaking assessment however he revised solidly for five minutesand achieved his target grade visibly enjoying the praise Dave responded well togame activities though preferred to play a less pressured role such as game hostwith set phrases and teacher support

Daversquos class teacher confirmed the need for very short well-focused pupil-ledactivities They decided to seat Dave with a reliable and willing pupil Jack whocould try to keep him focused but would also be prepared to speak up should hisown work suffer They discussed the need for stronger links between objective andactivity and more focused praise Dave surprised Susanne by saying that althoughhe felt he was not very good at French he actually liked it ndash his behaviour had ledher to believe otherwise She began to reinterpret poor behaviour as a lack of confi-dence rather than dislike countering with praise and encouragement rather thanrebuke Within this changed relationship Dave responded well to the idea of tryingto copy Jackrsquos level of attention for one lesson as an achievable first goal

For her intervention Susanne designed several short activities with as little tea-cher-led activity as possible and used her own impressions of the lesson along withdata collected from the class teacherrsquos completed observation schedule and pupilquestionnaires to judge its success Data revealed that most of the class includingDave were engaged and participating throughout Dave had found it hardest to con-centrate in the pair-work section but Jack had helped him refocus on the task Allpupils had enjoyed the high pace and the change and choice of activities thoughdifferent individuals had preferred different activities Susannersquos attempts to engageone pupil more fully appeared to benefit all though through the imposed rigour ofthe investigation she also became more aware of the differences between individu-als

Outcomes

As with Naomirsquos project Susannersquos implementation study offered weak warrantsfor any truth claims There was very limited evidence of change which could be

30 C Gray

purely due to novelty value Participation and enjoyment were not guarantees oflearning especially as lsquowait timersquo had been sacrificed for greater pace Once againthe production of knowledge came not through the actionimplementation processbut through closer engagement with pupils through the application of research toolssuch as interviews and questionnaires which encouraged her to question precon-ceived ideas about pupil behaviour Conducting the project also seemed to haveencouraged Susanne to lsquoownrsquo theoretical knowledge about recommendations foreffective teaching in a more personal way whilst simultaneously engaging criticallywith them for example questioning the practicalities of employing lsquowait timersquo witha class whose concentration span was limited Once again the real learning out-comes appeared not to be related to the implementation of government policyrather to recognising the need to investigate reality beneath its surface appearancein order to understand pupil behaviour more fully

Participant researcher Tammy Round

Participant researcher Tammy focused on Jane who had a special educational needin the autism spectrum She was concerned that Jane appeared not to interact withothers or to participate in activities such as chorusing or pair work Although Janeseemed happy in the classroom her lack of participation made it difficult to gaugewhether she was learning

Tammy started with a field diary to record thoughts and brief encounters withJane who frequented the lunchtime Language Club and regularly talked withTammy after lessons For triangulation she asked her mentor to focus on Janersquos lev-els of interaction during scheduled observations At first they used unstructuredobservation analysing this over time to develop a set of categories in a more sys-tematic semi-closed structured schedule From Tammyrsquos field diary Jane appearedto respond well to multiple-choice activities structured questions including the pro-vision of wait time the use of colour and of tangible props cheeky humour such asher favourite book titles laughing at mime animated acting in plays the appeal ofvisual images such as stereotypical pictures and animal flashcards dice rollinggames and a mixture of independent work completed within a whole-class activity

Tammy also gathered professional perspectives through interviews with Janersquoslearning support assistant (LSA) and form tutor The LSA surprised Tammy byrevealing that Jane continued her learning of German independently outside of les-son times Janersquos form tutor emphasised the need for Jane to build relationshipswith people which could take time Contrary to Tammyrsquos assumptions no one hadreceived any formal training or specific advice on how to support Jane they reliedon trial and error and relationship building There were no lsquoexpertsrsquo in school withany clear answers for her about creating effective learning conditions In effect dueto her intensive study Tammy herself became the school expert on Jane

For Tammy an important emphasis within PL was pupil voice ndash she wanted toobtain Janersquos views and involve her as an active participant in her learning AsJanersquos interactions with others were relatively brief this could pose a challenge Asa first step she conducted a whole-class questionnaire to identify class needs andpreferences in terms of learning activities learning style and environmentResponses confirmed most of Tammyrsquos field diary observations but also held sur-prises for example that Jane herself felt that chorusing pair work and taking partin plays helped her to learn areas where Tammy felt she participated poorly This

European Journal of Teacher Education 31

challenged Tammyrsquos definition of lsquoparticipationrsquo ndash as in the projects describedabove appearances were revealed to be misleading Most of the class includingJane preferred visual support such as pictures and colour and kinaesthetic activi-ties

Tammy then interviewed Jane informally using an unstructured approach duringwhich she also explored other topics such as pastimes Jane listed a few activitiesthat she enjoyed in class but beyond that was unsure and became distracted reach-ing into her bag for her book Tammy became engaged in a discussion of Janersquospreference for reading gruesome stories Although disappointing in terms of tangibleinformation related to her research question Tammy felt that the interview markeda milestone in her relationship with Jane and understanding of her as a person

Tammy began to emphasise the activities to which Jane and her peers said theyresponded well enlisting the help of her mentor to monitor Janersquos involvement Shefelt that she was beginning to build a relationship with Jane and encourage her totake more risks Though apparently interested and observing classmates attentivelyJane did not join in immediately with any new activity causing Tammy to wonderhow much she benefited She realised however that Jane may simply have neededmore time to build the confidence to join in with her peers and that her attentivenessindicated that she was participating mentally if not physically Tammy began toadapt activities to provide more thinking time and encourage independent work Keyactivities proved successful ndash at one point Jane completed a task early and wasoffered an extension task at another she volunteered to come to the board during awhole-class activity A rolling dice game engaged Jane successfully but failed toinvolve the majority of the class presenting Tammy with the dilemma of balancingthe needs of all pupils in the class Overall Tammy appeared to have succeeded inraising Janersquos levels of participation by developing a relationship with her and tailor-ing her teaching style to encourage involvement but she recognised that participa-tion did not guarantee learning and that the needs of all pupils had to be balanced

Outcomes

Again Tammy engaged critically with her research procedures and highlightedtheir limitations despite feeling that she had done as well as she could in the cir-cumstances Here too key learning had not been about how to implement govern-ment policy on PL rather the benefits of obtaining multiple perspectives on anindividual pupil Tammy felt that engagement in the project had enabled her todevelop a good relationship with Jane and encouraged her to question her ownteaching practice more systematically becoming more open to change The moni-toring of intervention though providing useful information for the development ofher practice had been less powerful in terms of knowledge production than hersystematic investigation of Janersquos situation prior to implementing change Throughthis Tammy had learnt to question her preconceptions and to become alert to awider range of possible interpretations of behaviour To her clear surprise she alsolearnt that her study turned her into the schoolrsquos expert on Jane

Participant researcher Emma Eacock

Participant researcher Emma also focused on participation but looked at the workof a class rather than one or two individuals investigating the possible causes of

32 C Gray

low levels of participation of pupils in a Year 7 class during question and answersessions The class included many pupils with a range of special educational needsand Emma suspected the influence of affective factors on their performance Shehad already begun to integrate lsquowait timersquo (Black et al 2002) as a regular featureinto her question and answer sessions but was concerned that participation stillremained low She developed an observation schedule for the class teacher to com-plete during a lesson focused on reading comprehension featuring 15 carefully pre-planned questions At the end of the lesson she distributed a questionnaire to collectpupilsrsquo perceptions of the subject their ability in the subject the importance of par-ticipation in class their attitudes towards error and their own ideas for improvedparticipation Pupils were asked how they felt when asked a question in class ifthey worried about giving a wrong answer and if so why and what they felt mighthelp them participate more confidently

Over half of the pupils said that they liked their German lessons and all demon-strated a degree of satisfaction with their own performance in the subject Theseresults were quite surprising for Emma questioning her assumptions based on theirovert behaviour Most felt that putting up their hand to answer a question wasimportant though Emma realised this could have been interpreted as a behaviourissue that is not shouting out rather than concerning the importance of engage-ment in whole-class activity for learning A quarter felt that an answer must be rightfor the pupil to raise their hand though two thirds said they were happy to contrib-ute even if they thought their answer might be wrong Emma surmised that some ofthe class would benefit from explicit reinforcement that error was not only accept-able but also useful Eleven of the 17 pupils said they sometimes put their hand up5 said usually 1 always and none never This confirmed Emmarsquos impressions andwas reflected in the observation data In the open questions 11 explicitly mentionednervousness lack of confidence shyness or embarrassment as reasons for holdingback Few strategies were mentioned for improving confidence pupils simply feltthey should listen more carefully and improve their performance

Emma then trialled a class activity called lsquoRescue Ryanrsquo Pupils worked ingroups of four to discuss the dilemma of the fictional character Ryan who had beenasked a question but was unsure of the answer and too nervous to reply Group sug-gestions were collated on the board labelled lsquocommunication strategiesrsquo and pro-vided as a help sheet to stick in their books These included asking for repetition orexplanation using their books taking a risk and guessing suggesting an answerand asking lsquois that rightrsquo providing the part of an answer that you are confidentwith and the popular lsquomillionairersquo game sequence of 5050 option phone a friendor ask the audience as used by an experienced colleague in the school Emma com-mented that this offered powerful potential the 5050 option could be tailored todifferentiate for pupil ability the audience lifeline required all pupils to be engagedand ready to answer lsquoPhone a friendrsquo risked over-dependence on a few pupils andwas modified to the person sitting two places to the pupilrsquos left

Pupils were given an opportunity to practise the strategies before a second les-son on reading comprehension carefully planned to parallel difficulty of text andquestions Participation data were collected by a colleague and supplemented byinformation on the use of strategies Comparison showed that 10 of the 17increased their participation whereas 7 decreased The level of increase was mark-edly higher than the level of decrease Of the 11 pupils who said they were affectedby affective barriers 9 increased their level of participation and 2 decreased by a

European Journal of Teacher Education 33

very small margin Pupils made use of the strategies to answer 11 of the 15questions posed Clearly this was a very small and limited investigation and anynumber of external factors could account for the changes observed For exampleconfidence and willingness could have increased simply because Emma hadengaged pupils in discussing the issue of participation and it was impossible toguarantee that text and questions were of similar difficulty ndash even if they werefamiliarity with procedures could account for any perceived change Neverthelessthere did seem to be limited evidence of positive influence from the interventionand Emma felt that it was worth pursuing

Outcomes

Emmarsquos work was more clearly focused on the implementation of good practiceand monitoring of the effects of change She recognised for herself the weakness ofany warrants for claims to truth and although keen to continue this work herselfwas very cautious about making any strong recommendations on the basis of suchlimited and inconclusive evidence She began to see the implementation of PL as aseries of feasible small changes in practice reminiscent perhaps of Gorardrsquos (2002)claim that lsquoit is as though ldquoresearchrdquo is being conducted to find evidence for alreadyexisting agendarsquo (381) Nevertheless as with the previous projects the most power-ful learning seemed to come not from the intervention itself but from preparatoryinvestigations Emma expressed surprise about pupilsrsquo reported positive attitudes tothe subject and satisfaction with their own level of progress This engagement withpupils and willingness to hear their voices had she felt resulted in a more produc-tive classroom environment Although this undermined any conclusions about theeffectiveness of her intervention it revealed greater understanding of the complexityof classroom dynamics and offered an additional source of professional learning

Discussion the use of Masterrsquos criteria to prompt professional learning

The summaries present only a brief outline of each project To achieve the Masterrsquoscriteria the students used government and academic literature to define the topicand tease out contradictions and inconsistencies identified the potential for carryingout small-scale research debated the concept of case study chose and refined a setof triangulating tools addressed the complex ethical issues arising and learnt howto analyse and present data with due caution They had to justify their proceduresand results in the face of strong challenge from peers and tutors such as they mightmeet when trying to persuade professional colleagues of the need for changes inpractice Each found herself positioned as expert in the field even in discussionswith experienced teachers thus demonstrating the power of knowledge in terms ofestablishing status Their writing also finds them engaging critically with publishedresearch as well as government directives for example questioning the practicalityof lsquowait timersquo when dealing with short attention spans and of the PL agenda itselfin the face of crowded classrooms and timetables The empirical data that theyobtained were very limited and it would be easy to criticise the rigour of theirresearch methods from the standpoint of a skilled and experienced universityresearcher this would however be unjust For each person the project representsthe third in a series of six small-scale assignments designed to introduce pre-serviceteachers to the practical application of research methods as a tool for professional

34 C Gray

development and induction into the standards required for a dissertation should theywish to complete the degree As their priority is learning to teach well the writersare naturally concerned with the immediate impact of their findings on the develop-ment of their own practice and the assignment brief explicitly poses the challengeof implementing government policy on PL in order to reflect their practical con-cerns and present a relevant teaching challenge Their work does however revealan awareness of some of the criticisms of teacher research summarised in the intro-duction to this article and an attempt to meet those demands for rigour Resultsfrom their interventions are tentative and any conclusions drawn are duly cautiousin light of the relative weakness of the evidence base thus answering any criticismsabout justifiable warrants There is undeniably a sense of surprise allied to an ele-ment of knowledge creation and some evidence of impact on the beliefs systemThis comes not from the monitoring of an intervention rather from the use ofresearch tools to gain deeper insight into a situation as a preparatory phase beforeplanning the intervention itself Naomi Susanne Tammy and Emma all expressgenuine surprise as their in-depth studies propose new ways of interpreting theirclassrooms and the behaviour of their pupils Rather than producing clear guidelinesfor effective practice which is what they might have hoped for as developing teach-ers they have deepened their understanding of classroom interaction and challengedsome of their own firmly held beliefs Though disappointing their desire for clearanswers about practice the process appears to have been empowering in terms ofpositioning them as expert knowers and as potential creators of new knowledgeboth for themselves and for colleagues Engagement in such small-scale projectscould thus be seen as a powerful tool for professional development whatever thewarrants for generalisable truth It could be argued that the requirements imposedby the institution to develop understanding and use of research methods to improvethe rigour of enquiries has actually led to greater not lesser practical relevance anda more mature and professional questioning approach to the implementation ofgovernment policy Using the research format to gain greater understanding ofpupilsrsquo perspectives has led to a questioning of current beliefs and practice whichmay in turn lead to longer term and more deeply seated changes in behaviour thana successful small-scale intervention study This resonates with findings from theinternational studies discussed earlier

There is no expectation that graduates of the course will become universityresearchers though increasing numbers are returning to complete their Masterrsquosstudies with a dissertation once settled into employment We agree with Postholm(2009) that they lsquodo not necessarily have to become a researcher in the originalmeaning of the termrsquo (564) There is also no expectation that as future teachers theywill engage in such time-consuming projects as a normal part of their professionallearning We recognise that engagement in research remains a minority activity forpractising teachers (Borg 2010 407) though the students may be more favourablypositioned to explore future research opportunities having discovered the power ofresearch to reveal new information and explanations We aim for the developmentof a lsquoresearch stance and attitudersquo (Postholm 2009 564) Anonymous student evalu-ations at the end of the course consistently acknowledge the learning value of theassignments at key points in progress We are aware that the robustness of theresearch undertaken by students could be improved and continue to work at thisyear-on-year for example using Fosterrsquos (1999) critique of teacher action researchto emphasise the requirements of rigour and caution We are perhaps misleading

European Journal of Teacher Education 35

students by encouraging and simultaneously disappointing their expectations ofuseful practical outcomes from their projects ndash they begin to realise that researchcannot provide quick answers to complex problems but that more in-depth knowl-edge about a problem can be enriching and empowering even if it produces noconclusive results We tread a fine line between presenting research as a route tolsquodiscovery learningrsquo and being over-demanding in our academic expectations whenstudent teachersrsquo priority is classroom survival Successful integration of theory andpractice is dependent upon treading this tightrope endeavouring to facilitate futureteachersrsquo engagement with educational research There is sometimes a sense of pro-tectionism within academic circles defensively closing doors to maintain statusNaomi Susanne Tammy and Emmarsquos writings show that it is possible as a noviceresearcher to understand the potential and pitfalls of research to generate newknowledge and to undergo deep personal learning through designing and imple-menting a small-scale project To us this seems justification enough to continue todevelop our work even though we might appear to stand outside more generaltrends in UK teacher education

Conclusion

In conclusion this discussion adds to the positive voices in the international debateabout the appropriateness of research training in pre-service education Whether itis more suited to undergraduate or postgraduate teacher education depends upon thenature of the specific course Reis-Jorge (2007) in Portugal and Maaranen andKokfors (2008) in Finland seem to suggest that the highly structured formatrequired for a Masterrsquos dissertation leads to low transfer into ongoing teacher devel-opment and often a separation of research skills into the lsquoacademic qualificationsrsquobox On the other hand Diezman (2005) recommends offering a Research Pathwayto develop high-capacity research for certain pre-service Bachelor of Education stu-dents in the Australian teacher education system Volk (2010) investigating in-ser-vice utilisation of research skills learnt in pre-service training in the Middle Eastseems to sit on the fence On the one hand he questions the length of time andeffort spent in one particular college on this aspect of teacher preparation yet onthe other he still feels that it is worth introducing research skills at BEd Level(330) In our own situation as described above although the student teachers areworking at postgraduate level few have studied education as part of their firstdegree and even fewer have been introduced to the largely qualitative methods ofdata collection required for small-scale case study in a social science setting Theyonly have one year ndash 10 calendar months ndash in which to develop their practicalteaching skills and meet the academic Masterrsquos Level requirements Two thirds ofthat time must by law be spent in partner schools for lsquoon-the-jobrsquo training withexperienced teacher mentors Although this can pose a danger leading to a desireto lsquofit inrsquo with local practice it does provide student teachers with a wealth of prac-tical problems to investigate highlighted as necessary for success by Volk (2010317) The challenge is to develop assignments that offer research tools as a way ofunderstanding such problems more deeply thus opening up wider possibilities forchange As to whether or not these formalised research skills are used later as anormal part of personal teacher development our view coincides with that of Post-holm (2009) We want students to see the value of a research approach in providingemotional distance and deeper knowledge however they may use this learning laterAny tool learnt in a pre-service course is inevitably measured for applicability and

36 C Gray

adapted for use once the student becomes an independent practitioner and we canask no more of the research skills built into our course than of any other element ofpreparation We hope nevertheless that this will encourage more colleagues world-wide to introduce research skills as investigative and discovery tools to support lear-ner teachers in lsquoowningrsquo knowledge gained through their preparation courses

Notes on contributorCarol Gray is senior lecturer in modern foreign languages education She joined the InitialTeacher Education team in 1993 after teaching German and French to A Level in a range ofsecondary schools including special educational needs (visual impairment) She haspublished widely in the field of modern foreign languages education focusing on ICT usespecial needs grammar teaching and initial and continuing teacher development

References

Bartlett S and D Burton 2006 Practitioner research or description of classroom practiceA discussion of teachers investigating their classrooms Educational Action Research14 no 3 395ndash405

Black P C Harrison C Lee B Marshall and D Wiliam 2002 Working inside the blackbox Assessment for Learning Series 86 London GL Assessment

Borg S 2010 Language teacher research engagement Language Teaching 43 no 4391ndash429

Burton D 2007 Psycho-pedagogy and personalised learning Journal of Education forTeaching 33 no 1 5ndash17

Campbell RJ W Robinson J Neelands R Hewston and L Mazzoli 2007 Personalisedlearning Ambiguities in theory and practice British Journal of Educational Studies55 no 2 135ndash54

Courcier I 2007 Teachersrsquo perceptions of personalised learning Evaluation and Researchin Education 20 no 2 59ndash78

Department for Education 2010a The importance of teaching The Schools White Paper2010 London Stationery Office DfES httpwwweducationgovukb0068570the-importance-of-teaching

Department for Education 2010b The case for change London Stationery Office DfEShttpwwweducationgovukpublicationseOrderingDownloadDFE-00564-2010pdf

Department for Education and Skills (DfES) 2000 Best practice research scholarshipsGuidance notes for teacher applications London Author

DfES 2006 2020 Vision Report of the Teaching and Learning in 2020 review groupLondon Author

DfES 2007 The five components of personalised learning DfES httpwwwstandardsdfesgovukpersonalisedlearningfive

Diezmann CM 2005 Growing scholarly teachers and educational researchers a curriculumfor a research pathway in preservice teacher education Asia Pacific Journal of TeacherEducation 33 no 2 181ndash93

Edwards A J Sebba and M Rickinson 2007 Working with users Some implications foreducational research British Educational Research Journal 33 no 5 647ndash61

Foreman-Peck L and J Murray 2008 Action research and policy Journal of Philosophyof Education 42 no S1 145ndash63

Foster 1999 lsquoNever mind the quality feel the impactrsquo A methodological assessment ofteacher research sponsored by the Teacher Training Agency British Journal ofEducational Studies 47 no 4 380ndash98

Gorard S 2002 Political control A way forward for educational research British Journalof Educational Studies 50 no 3 378ndash89

Guillaume AM and GL Rudney 1993 Student teachersrsquo growth towards independenceAn analysis of their changing concerns Teaching and Teacher Education 9 no 165ndash80

European Journal of Teacher Education 37

purely due to novelty value Participation and enjoyment were not guarantees oflearning especially as lsquowait timersquo had been sacrificed for greater pace Once againthe production of knowledge came not through the actionimplementation processbut through closer engagement with pupils through the application of research toolssuch as interviews and questionnaires which encouraged her to question precon-ceived ideas about pupil behaviour Conducting the project also seemed to haveencouraged Susanne to lsquoownrsquo theoretical knowledge about recommendations foreffective teaching in a more personal way whilst simultaneously engaging criticallywith them for example questioning the practicalities of employing lsquowait timersquo witha class whose concentration span was limited Once again the real learning out-comes appeared not to be related to the implementation of government policyrather to recognising the need to investigate reality beneath its surface appearancein order to understand pupil behaviour more fully

Participant researcher Tammy Round

Participant researcher Tammy focused on Jane who had a special educational needin the autism spectrum She was concerned that Jane appeared not to interact withothers or to participate in activities such as chorusing or pair work Although Janeseemed happy in the classroom her lack of participation made it difficult to gaugewhether she was learning

Tammy started with a field diary to record thoughts and brief encounters withJane who frequented the lunchtime Language Club and regularly talked withTammy after lessons For triangulation she asked her mentor to focus on Janersquos lev-els of interaction during scheduled observations At first they used unstructuredobservation analysing this over time to develop a set of categories in a more sys-tematic semi-closed structured schedule From Tammyrsquos field diary Jane appearedto respond well to multiple-choice activities structured questions including the pro-vision of wait time the use of colour and of tangible props cheeky humour such asher favourite book titles laughing at mime animated acting in plays the appeal ofvisual images such as stereotypical pictures and animal flashcards dice rollinggames and a mixture of independent work completed within a whole-class activity

Tammy also gathered professional perspectives through interviews with Janersquoslearning support assistant (LSA) and form tutor The LSA surprised Tammy byrevealing that Jane continued her learning of German independently outside of les-son times Janersquos form tutor emphasised the need for Jane to build relationshipswith people which could take time Contrary to Tammyrsquos assumptions no one hadreceived any formal training or specific advice on how to support Jane they reliedon trial and error and relationship building There were no lsquoexpertsrsquo in school withany clear answers for her about creating effective learning conditions In effect dueto her intensive study Tammy herself became the school expert on Jane

For Tammy an important emphasis within PL was pupil voice ndash she wanted toobtain Janersquos views and involve her as an active participant in her learning AsJanersquos interactions with others were relatively brief this could pose a challenge Asa first step she conducted a whole-class questionnaire to identify class needs andpreferences in terms of learning activities learning style and environmentResponses confirmed most of Tammyrsquos field diary observations but also held sur-prises for example that Jane herself felt that chorusing pair work and taking partin plays helped her to learn areas where Tammy felt she participated poorly This

European Journal of Teacher Education 31

challenged Tammyrsquos definition of lsquoparticipationrsquo ndash as in the projects describedabove appearances were revealed to be misleading Most of the class includingJane preferred visual support such as pictures and colour and kinaesthetic activi-ties

Tammy then interviewed Jane informally using an unstructured approach duringwhich she also explored other topics such as pastimes Jane listed a few activitiesthat she enjoyed in class but beyond that was unsure and became distracted reach-ing into her bag for her book Tammy became engaged in a discussion of Janersquospreference for reading gruesome stories Although disappointing in terms of tangibleinformation related to her research question Tammy felt that the interview markeda milestone in her relationship with Jane and understanding of her as a person

Tammy began to emphasise the activities to which Jane and her peers said theyresponded well enlisting the help of her mentor to monitor Janersquos involvement Shefelt that she was beginning to build a relationship with Jane and encourage her totake more risks Though apparently interested and observing classmates attentivelyJane did not join in immediately with any new activity causing Tammy to wonderhow much she benefited She realised however that Jane may simply have neededmore time to build the confidence to join in with her peers and that her attentivenessindicated that she was participating mentally if not physically Tammy began toadapt activities to provide more thinking time and encourage independent work Keyactivities proved successful ndash at one point Jane completed a task early and wasoffered an extension task at another she volunteered to come to the board during awhole-class activity A rolling dice game engaged Jane successfully but failed toinvolve the majority of the class presenting Tammy with the dilemma of balancingthe needs of all pupils in the class Overall Tammy appeared to have succeeded inraising Janersquos levels of participation by developing a relationship with her and tailor-ing her teaching style to encourage involvement but she recognised that participa-tion did not guarantee learning and that the needs of all pupils had to be balanced

Outcomes

Again Tammy engaged critically with her research procedures and highlightedtheir limitations despite feeling that she had done as well as she could in the cir-cumstances Here too key learning had not been about how to implement govern-ment policy on PL rather the benefits of obtaining multiple perspectives on anindividual pupil Tammy felt that engagement in the project had enabled her todevelop a good relationship with Jane and encouraged her to question her ownteaching practice more systematically becoming more open to change The moni-toring of intervention though providing useful information for the development ofher practice had been less powerful in terms of knowledge production than hersystematic investigation of Janersquos situation prior to implementing change Throughthis Tammy had learnt to question her preconceptions and to become alert to awider range of possible interpretations of behaviour To her clear surprise she alsolearnt that her study turned her into the schoolrsquos expert on Jane

Participant researcher Emma Eacock

Participant researcher Emma also focused on participation but looked at the workof a class rather than one or two individuals investigating the possible causes of

32 C Gray

low levels of participation of pupils in a Year 7 class during question and answersessions The class included many pupils with a range of special educational needsand Emma suspected the influence of affective factors on their performance Shehad already begun to integrate lsquowait timersquo (Black et al 2002) as a regular featureinto her question and answer sessions but was concerned that participation stillremained low She developed an observation schedule for the class teacher to com-plete during a lesson focused on reading comprehension featuring 15 carefully pre-planned questions At the end of the lesson she distributed a questionnaire to collectpupilsrsquo perceptions of the subject their ability in the subject the importance of par-ticipation in class their attitudes towards error and their own ideas for improvedparticipation Pupils were asked how they felt when asked a question in class ifthey worried about giving a wrong answer and if so why and what they felt mighthelp them participate more confidently

Over half of the pupils said that they liked their German lessons and all demon-strated a degree of satisfaction with their own performance in the subject Theseresults were quite surprising for Emma questioning her assumptions based on theirovert behaviour Most felt that putting up their hand to answer a question wasimportant though Emma realised this could have been interpreted as a behaviourissue that is not shouting out rather than concerning the importance of engage-ment in whole-class activity for learning A quarter felt that an answer must be rightfor the pupil to raise their hand though two thirds said they were happy to contrib-ute even if they thought their answer might be wrong Emma surmised that some ofthe class would benefit from explicit reinforcement that error was not only accept-able but also useful Eleven of the 17 pupils said they sometimes put their hand up5 said usually 1 always and none never This confirmed Emmarsquos impressions andwas reflected in the observation data In the open questions 11 explicitly mentionednervousness lack of confidence shyness or embarrassment as reasons for holdingback Few strategies were mentioned for improving confidence pupils simply feltthey should listen more carefully and improve their performance

Emma then trialled a class activity called lsquoRescue Ryanrsquo Pupils worked ingroups of four to discuss the dilemma of the fictional character Ryan who had beenasked a question but was unsure of the answer and too nervous to reply Group sug-gestions were collated on the board labelled lsquocommunication strategiesrsquo and pro-vided as a help sheet to stick in their books These included asking for repetition orexplanation using their books taking a risk and guessing suggesting an answerand asking lsquois that rightrsquo providing the part of an answer that you are confidentwith and the popular lsquomillionairersquo game sequence of 5050 option phone a friendor ask the audience as used by an experienced colleague in the school Emma com-mented that this offered powerful potential the 5050 option could be tailored todifferentiate for pupil ability the audience lifeline required all pupils to be engagedand ready to answer lsquoPhone a friendrsquo risked over-dependence on a few pupils andwas modified to the person sitting two places to the pupilrsquos left

Pupils were given an opportunity to practise the strategies before a second les-son on reading comprehension carefully planned to parallel difficulty of text andquestions Participation data were collected by a colleague and supplemented byinformation on the use of strategies Comparison showed that 10 of the 17increased their participation whereas 7 decreased The level of increase was mark-edly higher than the level of decrease Of the 11 pupils who said they were affectedby affective barriers 9 increased their level of participation and 2 decreased by a

European Journal of Teacher Education 33

very small margin Pupils made use of the strategies to answer 11 of the 15questions posed Clearly this was a very small and limited investigation and anynumber of external factors could account for the changes observed For exampleconfidence and willingness could have increased simply because Emma hadengaged pupils in discussing the issue of participation and it was impossible toguarantee that text and questions were of similar difficulty ndash even if they werefamiliarity with procedures could account for any perceived change Neverthelessthere did seem to be limited evidence of positive influence from the interventionand Emma felt that it was worth pursuing

Outcomes

Emmarsquos work was more clearly focused on the implementation of good practiceand monitoring of the effects of change She recognised for herself the weakness ofany warrants for claims to truth and although keen to continue this work herselfwas very cautious about making any strong recommendations on the basis of suchlimited and inconclusive evidence She began to see the implementation of PL as aseries of feasible small changes in practice reminiscent perhaps of Gorardrsquos (2002)claim that lsquoit is as though ldquoresearchrdquo is being conducted to find evidence for alreadyexisting agendarsquo (381) Nevertheless as with the previous projects the most power-ful learning seemed to come not from the intervention itself but from preparatoryinvestigations Emma expressed surprise about pupilsrsquo reported positive attitudes tothe subject and satisfaction with their own level of progress This engagement withpupils and willingness to hear their voices had she felt resulted in a more produc-tive classroom environment Although this undermined any conclusions about theeffectiveness of her intervention it revealed greater understanding of the complexityof classroom dynamics and offered an additional source of professional learning

Discussion the use of Masterrsquos criteria to prompt professional learning

The summaries present only a brief outline of each project To achieve the Masterrsquoscriteria the students used government and academic literature to define the topicand tease out contradictions and inconsistencies identified the potential for carryingout small-scale research debated the concept of case study chose and refined a setof triangulating tools addressed the complex ethical issues arising and learnt howto analyse and present data with due caution They had to justify their proceduresand results in the face of strong challenge from peers and tutors such as they mightmeet when trying to persuade professional colleagues of the need for changes inpractice Each found herself positioned as expert in the field even in discussionswith experienced teachers thus demonstrating the power of knowledge in terms ofestablishing status Their writing also finds them engaging critically with publishedresearch as well as government directives for example questioning the practicalityof lsquowait timersquo when dealing with short attention spans and of the PL agenda itselfin the face of crowded classrooms and timetables The empirical data that theyobtained were very limited and it would be easy to criticise the rigour of theirresearch methods from the standpoint of a skilled and experienced universityresearcher this would however be unjust For each person the project representsthe third in a series of six small-scale assignments designed to introduce pre-serviceteachers to the practical application of research methods as a tool for professional

34 C Gray

development and induction into the standards required for a dissertation should theywish to complete the degree As their priority is learning to teach well the writersare naturally concerned with the immediate impact of their findings on the develop-ment of their own practice and the assignment brief explicitly poses the challengeof implementing government policy on PL in order to reflect their practical con-cerns and present a relevant teaching challenge Their work does however revealan awareness of some of the criticisms of teacher research summarised in the intro-duction to this article and an attempt to meet those demands for rigour Resultsfrom their interventions are tentative and any conclusions drawn are duly cautiousin light of the relative weakness of the evidence base thus answering any criticismsabout justifiable warrants There is undeniably a sense of surprise allied to an ele-ment of knowledge creation and some evidence of impact on the beliefs systemThis comes not from the monitoring of an intervention rather from the use ofresearch tools to gain deeper insight into a situation as a preparatory phase beforeplanning the intervention itself Naomi Susanne Tammy and Emma all expressgenuine surprise as their in-depth studies propose new ways of interpreting theirclassrooms and the behaviour of their pupils Rather than producing clear guidelinesfor effective practice which is what they might have hoped for as developing teach-ers they have deepened their understanding of classroom interaction and challengedsome of their own firmly held beliefs Though disappointing their desire for clearanswers about practice the process appears to have been empowering in terms ofpositioning them as expert knowers and as potential creators of new knowledgeboth for themselves and for colleagues Engagement in such small-scale projectscould thus be seen as a powerful tool for professional development whatever thewarrants for generalisable truth It could be argued that the requirements imposedby the institution to develop understanding and use of research methods to improvethe rigour of enquiries has actually led to greater not lesser practical relevance anda more mature and professional questioning approach to the implementation ofgovernment policy Using the research format to gain greater understanding ofpupilsrsquo perspectives has led to a questioning of current beliefs and practice whichmay in turn lead to longer term and more deeply seated changes in behaviour thana successful small-scale intervention study This resonates with findings from theinternational studies discussed earlier

There is no expectation that graduates of the course will become universityresearchers though increasing numbers are returning to complete their Masterrsquosstudies with a dissertation once settled into employment We agree with Postholm(2009) that they lsquodo not necessarily have to become a researcher in the originalmeaning of the termrsquo (564) There is also no expectation that as future teachers theywill engage in such time-consuming projects as a normal part of their professionallearning We recognise that engagement in research remains a minority activity forpractising teachers (Borg 2010 407) though the students may be more favourablypositioned to explore future research opportunities having discovered the power ofresearch to reveal new information and explanations We aim for the developmentof a lsquoresearch stance and attitudersquo (Postholm 2009 564) Anonymous student evalu-ations at the end of the course consistently acknowledge the learning value of theassignments at key points in progress We are aware that the robustness of theresearch undertaken by students could be improved and continue to work at thisyear-on-year for example using Fosterrsquos (1999) critique of teacher action researchto emphasise the requirements of rigour and caution We are perhaps misleading

European Journal of Teacher Education 35

students by encouraging and simultaneously disappointing their expectations ofuseful practical outcomes from their projects ndash they begin to realise that researchcannot provide quick answers to complex problems but that more in-depth knowl-edge about a problem can be enriching and empowering even if it produces noconclusive results We tread a fine line between presenting research as a route tolsquodiscovery learningrsquo and being over-demanding in our academic expectations whenstudent teachersrsquo priority is classroom survival Successful integration of theory andpractice is dependent upon treading this tightrope endeavouring to facilitate futureteachersrsquo engagement with educational research There is sometimes a sense of pro-tectionism within academic circles defensively closing doors to maintain statusNaomi Susanne Tammy and Emmarsquos writings show that it is possible as a noviceresearcher to understand the potential and pitfalls of research to generate newknowledge and to undergo deep personal learning through designing and imple-menting a small-scale project To us this seems justification enough to continue todevelop our work even though we might appear to stand outside more generaltrends in UK teacher education

Conclusion

In conclusion this discussion adds to the positive voices in the international debateabout the appropriateness of research training in pre-service education Whether itis more suited to undergraduate or postgraduate teacher education depends upon thenature of the specific course Reis-Jorge (2007) in Portugal and Maaranen andKokfors (2008) in Finland seem to suggest that the highly structured formatrequired for a Masterrsquos dissertation leads to low transfer into ongoing teacher devel-opment and often a separation of research skills into the lsquoacademic qualificationsrsquobox On the other hand Diezman (2005) recommends offering a Research Pathwayto develop high-capacity research for certain pre-service Bachelor of Education stu-dents in the Australian teacher education system Volk (2010) investigating in-ser-vice utilisation of research skills learnt in pre-service training in the Middle Eastseems to sit on the fence On the one hand he questions the length of time andeffort spent in one particular college on this aspect of teacher preparation yet onthe other he still feels that it is worth introducing research skills at BEd Level(330) In our own situation as described above although the student teachers areworking at postgraduate level few have studied education as part of their firstdegree and even fewer have been introduced to the largely qualitative methods ofdata collection required for small-scale case study in a social science setting Theyonly have one year ndash 10 calendar months ndash in which to develop their practicalteaching skills and meet the academic Masterrsquos Level requirements Two thirds ofthat time must by law be spent in partner schools for lsquoon-the-jobrsquo training withexperienced teacher mentors Although this can pose a danger leading to a desireto lsquofit inrsquo with local practice it does provide student teachers with a wealth of prac-tical problems to investigate highlighted as necessary for success by Volk (2010317) The challenge is to develop assignments that offer research tools as a way ofunderstanding such problems more deeply thus opening up wider possibilities forchange As to whether or not these formalised research skills are used later as anormal part of personal teacher development our view coincides with that of Post-holm (2009) We want students to see the value of a research approach in providingemotional distance and deeper knowledge however they may use this learning laterAny tool learnt in a pre-service course is inevitably measured for applicability and

36 C Gray

adapted for use once the student becomes an independent practitioner and we canask no more of the research skills built into our course than of any other element ofpreparation We hope nevertheless that this will encourage more colleagues world-wide to introduce research skills as investigative and discovery tools to support lear-ner teachers in lsquoowningrsquo knowledge gained through their preparation courses

Notes on contributorCarol Gray is senior lecturer in modern foreign languages education She joined the InitialTeacher Education team in 1993 after teaching German and French to A Level in a range ofsecondary schools including special educational needs (visual impairment) She haspublished widely in the field of modern foreign languages education focusing on ICT usespecial needs grammar teaching and initial and continuing teacher development

References

Bartlett S and D Burton 2006 Practitioner research or description of classroom practiceA discussion of teachers investigating their classrooms Educational Action Research14 no 3 395ndash405

Black P C Harrison C Lee B Marshall and D Wiliam 2002 Working inside the blackbox Assessment for Learning Series 86 London GL Assessment

Borg S 2010 Language teacher research engagement Language Teaching 43 no 4391ndash429

Burton D 2007 Psycho-pedagogy and personalised learning Journal of Education forTeaching 33 no 1 5ndash17

Campbell RJ W Robinson J Neelands R Hewston and L Mazzoli 2007 Personalisedlearning Ambiguities in theory and practice British Journal of Educational Studies55 no 2 135ndash54

Courcier I 2007 Teachersrsquo perceptions of personalised learning Evaluation and Researchin Education 20 no 2 59ndash78

Department for Education 2010a The importance of teaching The Schools White Paper2010 London Stationery Office DfES httpwwweducationgovukb0068570the-importance-of-teaching

Department for Education 2010b The case for change London Stationery Office DfEShttpwwweducationgovukpublicationseOrderingDownloadDFE-00564-2010pdf

Department for Education and Skills (DfES) 2000 Best practice research scholarshipsGuidance notes for teacher applications London Author

DfES 2006 2020 Vision Report of the Teaching and Learning in 2020 review groupLondon Author

DfES 2007 The five components of personalised learning DfES httpwwwstandardsdfesgovukpersonalisedlearningfive

Diezmann CM 2005 Growing scholarly teachers and educational researchers a curriculumfor a research pathway in preservice teacher education Asia Pacific Journal of TeacherEducation 33 no 2 181ndash93

Edwards A J Sebba and M Rickinson 2007 Working with users Some implications foreducational research British Educational Research Journal 33 no 5 647ndash61

Foreman-Peck L and J Murray 2008 Action research and policy Journal of Philosophyof Education 42 no S1 145ndash63

Foster 1999 lsquoNever mind the quality feel the impactrsquo A methodological assessment ofteacher research sponsored by the Teacher Training Agency British Journal ofEducational Studies 47 no 4 380ndash98

Gorard S 2002 Political control A way forward for educational research British Journalof Educational Studies 50 no 3 378ndash89

Guillaume AM and GL Rudney 1993 Student teachersrsquo growth towards independenceAn analysis of their changing concerns Teaching and Teacher Education 9 no 165ndash80

European Journal of Teacher Education 37

challenged Tammyrsquos definition of lsquoparticipationrsquo ndash as in the projects describedabove appearances were revealed to be misleading Most of the class includingJane preferred visual support such as pictures and colour and kinaesthetic activi-ties

Tammy then interviewed Jane informally using an unstructured approach duringwhich she also explored other topics such as pastimes Jane listed a few activitiesthat she enjoyed in class but beyond that was unsure and became distracted reach-ing into her bag for her book Tammy became engaged in a discussion of Janersquospreference for reading gruesome stories Although disappointing in terms of tangibleinformation related to her research question Tammy felt that the interview markeda milestone in her relationship with Jane and understanding of her as a person

Tammy began to emphasise the activities to which Jane and her peers said theyresponded well enlisting the help of her mentor to monitor Janersquos involvement Shefelt that she was beginning to build a relationship with Jane and encourage her totake more risks Though apparently interested and observing classmates attentivelyJane did not join in immediately with any new activity causing Tammy to wonderhow much she benefited She realised however that Jane may simply have neededmore time to build the confidence to join in with her peers and that her attentivenessindicated that she was participating mentally if not physically Tammy began toadapt activities to provide more thinking time and encourage independent work Keyactivities proved successful ndash at one point Jane completed a task early and wasoffered an extension task at another she volunteered to come to the board during awhole-class activity A rolling dice game engaged Jane successfully but failed toinvolve the majority of the class presenting Tammy with the dilemma of balancingthe needs of all pupils in the class Overall Tammy appeared to have succeeded inraising Janersquos levels of participation by developing a relationship with her and tailor-ing her teaching style to encourage involvement but she recognised that participa-tion did not guarantee learning and that the needs of all pupils had to be balanced

Outcomes

Again Tammy engaged critically with her research procedures and highlightedtheir limitations despite feeling that she had done as well as she could in the cir-cumstances Here too key learning had not been about how to implement govern-ment policy on PL rather the benefits of obtaining multiple perspectives on anindividual pupil Tammy felt that engagement in the project had enabled her todevelop a good relationship with Jane and encouraged her to question her ownteaching practice more systematically becoming more open to change The moni-toring of intervention though providing useful information for the development ofher practice had been less powerful in terms of knowledge production than hersystematic investigation of Janersquos situation prior to implementing change Throughthis Tammy had learnt to question her preconceptions and to become alert to awider range of possible interpretations of behaviour To her clear surprise she alsolearnt that her study turned her into the schoolrsquos expert on Jane

Participant researcher Emma Eacock

Participant researcher Emma also focused on participation but looked at the workof a class rather than one or two individuals investigating the possible causes of

32 C Gray

low levels of participation of pupils in a Year 7 class during question and answersessions The class included many pupils with a range of special educational needsand Emma suspected the influence of affective factors on their performance Shehad already begun to integrate lsquowait timersquo (Black et al 2002) as a regular featureinto her question and answer sessions but was concerned that participation stillremained low She developed an observation schedule for the class teacher to com-plete during a lesson focused on reading comprehension featuring 15 carefully pre-planned questions At the end of the lesson she distributed a questionnaire to collectpupilsrsquo perceptions of the subject their ability in the subject the importance of par-ticipation in class their attitudes towards error and their own ideas for improvedparticipation Pupils were asked how they felt when asked a question in class ifthey worried about giving a wrong answer and if so why and what they felt mighthelp them participate more confidently

Over half of the pupils said that they liked their German lessons and all demon-strated a degree of satisfaction with their own performance in the subject Theseresults were quite surprising for Emma questioning her assumptions based on theirovert behaviour Most felt that putting up their hand to answer a question wasimportant though Emma realised this could have been interpreted as a behaviourissue that is not shouting out rather than concerning the importance of engage-ment in whole-class activity for learning A quarter felt that an answer must be rightfor the pupil to raise their hand though two thirds said they were happy to contrib-ute even if they thought their answer might be wrong Emma surmised that some ofthe class would benefit from explicit reinforcement that error was not only accept-able but also useful Eleven of the 17 pupils said they sometimes put their hand up5 said usually 1 always and none never This confirmed Emmarsquos impressions andwas reflected in the observation data In the open questions 11 explicitly mentionednervousness lack of confidence shyness or embarrassment as reasons for holdingback Few strategies were mentioned for improving confidence pupils simply feltthey should listen more carefully and improve their performance

Emma then trialled a class activity called lsquoRescue Ryanrsquo Pupils worked ingroups of four to discuss the dilemma of the fictional character Ryan who had beenasked a question but was unsure of the answer and too nervous to reply Group sug-gestions were collated on the board labelled lsquocommunication strategiesrsquo and pro-vided as a help sheet to stick in their books These included asking for repetition orexplanation using their books taking a risk and guessing suggesting an answerand asking lsquois that rightrsquo providing the part of an answer that you are confidentwith and the popular lsquomillionairersquo game sequence of 5050 option phone a friendor ask the audience as used by an experienced colleague in the school Emma com-mented that this offered powerful potential the 5050 option could be tailored todifferentiate for pupil ability the audience lifeline required all pupils to be engagedand ready to answer lsquoPhone a friendrsquo risked over-dependence on a few pupils andwas modified to the person sitting two places to the pupilrsquos left

Pupils were given an opportunity to practise the strategies before a second les-son on reading comprehension carefully planned to parallel difficulty of text andquestions Participation data were collected by a colleague and supplemented byinformation on the use of strategies Comparison showed that 10 of the 17increased their participation whereas 7 decreased The level of increase was mark-edly higher than the level of decrease Of the 11 pupils who said they were affectedby affective barriers 9 increased their level of participation and 2 decreased by a

European Journal of Teacher Education 33

very small margin Pupils made use of the strategies to answer 11 of the 15questions posed Clearly this was a very small and limited investigation and anynumber of external factors could account for the changes observed For exampleconfidence and willingness could have increased simply because Emma hadengaged pupils in discussing the issue of participation and it was impossible toguarantee that text and questions were of similar difficulty ndash even if they werefamiliarity with procedures could account for any perceived change Neverthelessthere did seem to be limited evidence of positive influence from the interventionand Emma felt that it was worth pursuing

Outcomes

Emmarsquos work was more clearly focused on the implementation of good practiceand monitoring of the effects of change She recognised for herself the weakness ofany warrants for claims to truth and although keen to continue this work herselfwas very cautious about making any strong recommendations on the basis of suchlimited and inconclusive evidence She began to see the implementation of PL as aseries of feasible small changes in practice reminiscent perhaps of Gorardrsquos (2002)claim that lsquoit is as though ldquoresearchrdquo is being conducted to find evidence for alreadyexisting agendarsquo (381) Nevertheless as with the previous projects the most power-ful learning seemed to come not from the intervention itself but from preparatoryinvestigations Emma expressed surprise about pupilsrsquo reported positive attitudes tothe subject and satisfaction with their own level of progress This engagement withpupils and willingness to hear their voices had she felt resulted in a more produc-tive classroom environment Although this undermined any conclusions about theeffectiveness of her intervention it revealed greater understanding of the complexityof classroom dynamics and offered an additional source of professional learning

Discussion the use of Masterrsquos criteria to prompt professional learning

The summaries present only a brief outline of each project To achieve the Masterrsquoscriteria the students used government and academic literature to define the topicand tease out contradictions and inconsistencies identified the potential for carryingout small-scale research debated the concept of case study chose and refined a setof triangulating tools addressed the complex ethical issues arising and learnt howto analyse and present data with due caution They had to justify their proceduresand results in the face of strong challenge from peers and tutors such as they mightmeet when trying to persuade professional colleagues of the need for changes inpractice Each found herself positioned as expert in the field even in discussionswith experienced teachers thus demonstrating the power of knowledge in terms ofestablishing status Their writing also finds them engaging critically with publishedresearch as well as government directives for example questioning the practicalityof lsquowait timersquo when dealing with short attention spans and of the PL agenda itselfin the face of crowded classrooms and timetables The empirical data that theyobtained were very limited and it would be easy to criticise the rigour of theirresearch methods from the standpoint of a skilled and experienced universityresearcher this would however be unjust For each person the project representsthe third in a series of six small-scale assignments designed to introduce pre-serviceteachers to the practical application of research methods as a tool for professional

34 C Gray

development and induction into the standards required for a dissertation should theywish to complete the degree As their priority is learning to teach well the writersare naturally concerned with the immediate impact of their findings on the develop-ment of their own practice and the assignment brief explicitly poses the challengeof implementing government policy on PL in order to reflect their practical con-cerns and present a relevant teaching challenge Their work does however revealan awareness of some of the criticisms of teacher research summarised in the intro-duction to this article and an attempt to meet those demands for rigour Resultsfrom their interventions are tentative and any conclusions drawn are duly cautiousin light of the relative weakness of the evidence base thus answering any criticismsabout justifiable warrants There is undeniably a sense of surprise allied to an ele-ment of knowledge creation and some evidence of impact on the beliefs systemThis comes not from the monitoring of an intervention rather from the use ofresearch tools to gain deeper insight into a situation as a preparatory phase beforeplanning the intervention itself Naomi Susanne Tammy and Emma all expressgenuine surprise as their in-depth studies propose new ways of interpreting theirclassrooms and the behaviour of their pupils Rather than producing clear guidelinesfor effective practice which is what they might have hoped for as developing teach-ers they have deepened their understanding of classroom interaction and challengedsome of their own firmly held beliefs Though disappointing their desire for clearanswers about practice the process appears to have been empowering in terms ofpositioning them as expert knowers and as potential creators of new knowledgeboth for themselves and for colleagues Engagement in such small-scale projectscould thus be seen as a powerful tool for professional development whatever thewarrants for generalisable truth It could be argued that the requirements imposedby the institution to develop understanding and use of research methods to improvethe rigour of enquiries has actually led to greater not lesser practical relevance anda more mature and professional questioning approach to the implementation ofgovernment policy Using the research format to gain greater understanding ofpupilsrsquo perspectives has led to a questioning of current beliefs and practice whichmay in turn lead to longer term and more deeply seated changes in behaviour thana successful small-scale intervention study This resonates with findings from theinternational studies discussed earlier

There is no expectation that graduates of the course will become universityresearchers though increasing numbers are returning to complete their Masterrsquosstudies with a dissertation once settled into employment We agree with Postholm(2009) that they lsquodo not necessarily have to become a researcher in the originalmeaning of the termrsquo (564) There is also no expectation that as future teachers theywill engage in such time-consuming projects as a normal part of their professionallearning We recognise that engagement in research remains a minority activity forpractising teachers (Borg 2010 407) though the students may be more favourablypositioned to explore future research opportunities having discovered the power ofresearch to reveal new information and explanations We aim for the developmentof a lsquoresearch stance and attitudersquo (Postholm 2009 564) Anonymous student evalu-ations at the end of the course consistently acknowledge the learning value of theassignments at key points in progress We are aware that the robustness of theresearch undertaken by students could be improved and continue to work at thisyear-on-year for example using Fosterrsquos (1999) critique of teacher action researchto emphasise the requirements of rigour and caution We are perhaps misleading

European Journal of Teacher Education 35

students by encouraging and simultaneously disappointing their expectations ofuseful practical outcomes from their projects ndash they begin to realise that researchcannot provide quick answers to complex problems but that more in-depth knowl-edge about a problem can be enriching and empowering even if it produces noconclusive results We tread a fine line between presenting research as a route tolsquodiscovery learningrsquo and being over-demanding in our academic expectations whenstudent teachersrsquo priority is classroom survival Successful integration of theory andpractice is dependent upon treading this tightrope endeavouring to facilitate futureteachersrsquo engagement with educational research There is sometimes a sense of pro-tectionism within academic circles defensively closing doors to maintain statusNaomi Susanne Tammy and Emmarsquos writings show that it is possible as a noviceresearcher to understand the potential and pitfalls of research to generate newknowledge and to undergo deep personal learning through designing and imple-menting a small-scale project To us this seems justification enough to continue todevelop our work even though we might appear to stand outside more generaltrends in UK teacher education

Conclusion

In conclusion this discussion adds to the positive voices in the international debateabout the appropriateness of research training in pre-service education Whether itis more suited to undergraduate or postgraduate teacher education depends upon thenature of the specific course Reis-Jorge (2007) in Portugal and Maaranen andKokfors (2008) in Finland seem to suggest that the highly structured formatrequired for a Masterrsquos dissertation leads to low transfer into ongoing teacher devel-opment and often a separation of research skills into the lsquoacademic qualificationsrsquobox On the other hand Diezman (2005) recommends offering a Research Pathwayto develop high-capacity research for certain pre-service Bachelor of Education stu-dents in the Australian teacher education system Volk (2010) investigating in-ser-vice utilisation of research skills learnt in pre-service training in the Middle Eastseems to sit on the fence On the one hand he questions the length of time andeffort spent in one particular college on this aspect of teacher preparation yet onthe other he still feels that it is worth introducing research skills at BEd Level(330) In our own situation as described above although the student teachers areworking at postgraduate level few have studied education as part of their firstdegree and even fewer have been introduced to the largely qualitative methods ofdata collection required for small-scale case study in a social science setting Theyonly have one year ndash 10 calendar months ndash in which to develop their practicalteaching skills and meet the academic Masterrsquos Level requirements Two thirds ofthat time must by law be spent in partner schools for lsquoon-the-jobrsquo training withexperienced teacher mentors Although this can pose a danger leading to a desireto lsquofit inrsquo with local practice it does provide student teachers with a wealth of prac-tical problems to investigate highlighted as necessary for success by Volk (2010317) The challenge is to develop assignments that offer research tools as a way ofunderstanding such problems more deeply thus opening up wider possibilities forchange As to whether or not these formalised research skills are used later as anormal part of personal teacher development our view coincides with that of Post-holm (2009) We want students to see the value of a research approach in providingemotional distance and deeper knowledge however they may use this learning laterAny tool learnt in a pre-service course is inevitably measured for applicability and

36 C Gray

adapted for use once the student becomes an independent practitioner and we canask no more of the research skills built into our course than of any other element ofpreparation We hope nevertheless that this will encourage more colleagues world-wide to introduce research skills as investigative and discovery tools to support lear-ner teachers in lsquoowningrsquo knowledge gained through their preparation courses

Notes on contributorCarol Gray is senior lecturer in modern foreign languages education She joined the InitialTeacher Education team in 1993 after teaching German and French to A Level in a range ofsecondary schools including special educational needs (visual impairment) She haspublished widely in the field of modern foreign languages education focusing on ICT usespecial needs grammar teaching and initial and continuing teacher development

References

Bartlett S and D Burton 2006 Practitioner research or description of classroom practiceA discussion of teachers investigating their classrooms Educational Action Research14 no 3 395ndash405

Black P C Harrison C Lee B Marshall and D Wiliam 2002 Working inside the blackbox Assessment for Learning Series 86 London GL Assessment

Borg S 2010 Language teacher research engagement Language Teaching 43 no 4391ndash429

Burton D 2007 Psycho-pedagogy and personalised learning Journal of Education forTeaching 33 no 1 5ndash17

Campbell RJ W Robinson J Neelands R Hewston and L Mazzoli 2007 Personalisedlearning Ambiguities in theory and practice British Journal of Educational Studies55 no 2 135ndash54

Courcier I 2007 Teachersrsquo perceptions of personalised learning Evaluation and Researchin Education 20 no 2 59ndash78

Department for Education 2010a The importance of teaching The Schools White Paper2010 London Stationery Office DfES httpwwweducationgovukb0068570the-importance-of-teaching

Department for Education 2010b The case for change London Stationery Office DfEShttpwwweducationgovukpublicationseOrderingDownloadDFE-00564-2010pdf

Department for Education and Skills (DfES) 2000 Best practice research scholarshipsGuidance notes for teacher applications London Author

DfES 2006 2020 Vision Report of the Teaching and Learning in 2020 review groupLondon Author

DfES 2007 The five components of personalised learning DfES httpwwwstandardsdfesgovukpersonalisedlearningfive

Diezmann CM 2005 Growing scholarly teachers and educational researchers a curriculumfor a research pathway in preservice teacher education Asia Pacific Journal of TeacherEducation 33 no 2 181ndash93

Edwards A J Sebba and M Rickinson 2007 Working with users Some implications foreducational research British Educational Research Journal 33 no 5 647ndash61

Foreman-Peck L and J Murray 2008 Action research and policy Journal of Philosophyof Education 42 no S1 145ndash63

Foster 1999 lsquoNever mind the quality feel the impactrsquo A methodological assessment ofteacher research sponsored by the Teacher Training Agency British Journal ofEducational Studies 47 no 4 380ndash98

Gorard S 2002 Political control A way forward for educational research British Journalof Educational Studies 50 no 3 378ndash89

Guillaume AM and GL Rudney 1993 Student teachersrsquo growth towards independenceAn analysis of their changing concerns Teaching and Teacher Education 9 no 165ndash80

European Journal of Teacher Education 37

low levels of participation of pupils in a Year 7 class during question and answersessions The class included many pupils with a range of special educational needsand Emma suspected the influence of affective factors on their performance Shehad already begun to integrate lsquowait timersquo (Black et al 2002) as a regular featureinto her question and answer sessions but was concerned that participation stillremained low She developed an observation schedule for the class teacher to com-plete during a lesson focused on reading comprehension featuring 15 carefully pre-planned questions At the end of the lesson she distributed a questionnaire to collectpupilsrsquo perceptions of the subject their ability in the subject the importance of par-ticipation in class their attitudes towards error and their own ideas for improvedparticipation Pupils were asked how they felt when asked a question in class ifthey worried about giving a wrong answer and if so why and what they felt mighthelp them participate more confidently

Over half of the pupils said that they liked their German lessons and all demon-strated a degree of satisfaction with their own performance in the subject Theseresults were quite surprising for Emma questioning her assumptions based on theirovert behaviour Most felt that putting up their hand to answer a question wasimportant though Emma realised this could have been interpreted as a behaviourissue that is not shouting out rather than concerning the importance of engage-ment in whole-class activity for learning A quarter felt that an answer must be rightfor the pupil to raise their hand though two thirds said they were happy to contrib-ute even if they thought their answer might be wrong Emma surmised that some ofthe class would benefit from explicit reinforcement that error was not only accept-able but also useful Eleven of the 17 pupils said they sometimes put their hand up5 said usually 1 always and none never This confirmed Emmarsquos impressions andwas reflected in the observation data In the open questions 11 explicitly mentionednervousness lack of confidence shyness or embarrassment as reasons for holdingback Few strategies were mentioned for improving confidence pupils simply feltthey should listen more carefully and improve their performance

Emma then trialled a class activity called lsquoRescue Ryanrsquo Pupils worked ingroups of four to discuss the dilemma of the fictional character Ryan who had beenasked a question but was unsure of the answer and too nervous to reply Group sug-gestions were collated on the board labelled lsquocommunication strategiesrsquo and pro-vided as a help sheet to stick in their books These included asking for repetition orexplanation using their books taking a risk and guessing suggesting an answerand asking lsquois that rightrsquo providing the part of an answer that you are confidentwith and the popular lsquomillionairersquo game sequence of 5050 option phone a friendor ask the audience as used by an experienced colleague in the school Emma com-mented that this offered powerful potential the 5050 option could be tailored todifferentiate for pupil ability the audience lifeline required all pupils to be engagedand ready to answer lsquoPhone a friendrsquo risked over-dependence on a few pupils andwas modified to the person sitting two places to the pupilrsquos left

Pupils were given an opportunity to practise the strategies before a second les-son on reading comprehension carefully planned to parallel difficulty of text andquestions Participation data were collected by a colleague and supplemented byinformation on the use of strategies Comparison showed that 10 of the 17increased their participation whereas 7 decreased The level of increase was mark-edly higher than the level of decrease Of the 11 pupils who said they were affectedby affective barriers 9 increased their level of participation and 2 decreased by a

European Journal of Teacher Education 33

very small margin Pupils made use of the strategies to answer 11 of the 15questions posed Clearly this was a very small and limited investigation and anynumber of external factors could account for the changes observed For exampleconfidence and willingness could have increased simply because Emma hadengaged pupils in discussing the issue of participation and it was impossible toguarantee that text and questions were of similar difficulty ndash even if they werefamiliarity with procedures could account for any perceived change Neverthelessthere did seem to be limited evidence of positive influence from the interventionand Emma felt that it was worth pursuing

Outcomes

Emmarsquos work was more clearly focused on the implementation of good practiceand monitoring of the effects of change She recognised for herself the weakness ofany warrants for claims to truth and although keen to continue this work herselfwas very cautious about making any strong recommendations on the basis of suchlimited and inconclusive evidence She began to see the implementation of PL as aseries of feasible small changes in practice reminiscent perhaps of Gorardrsquos (2002)claim that lsquoit is as though ldquoresearchrdquo is being conducted to find evidence for alreadyexisting agendarsquo (381) Nevertheless as with the previous projects the most power-ful learning seemed to come not from the intervention itself but from preparatoryinvestigations Emma expressed surprise about pupilsrsquo reported positive attitudes tothe subject and satisfaction with their own level of progress This engagement withpupils and willingness to hear their voices had she felt resulted in a more produc-tive classroom environment Although this undermined any conclusions about theeffectiveness of her intervention it revealed greater understanding of the complexityof classroom dynamics and offered an additional source of professional learning

Discussion the use of Masterrsquos criteria to prompt professional learning

The summaries present only a brief outline of each project To achieve the Masterrsquoscriteria the students used government and academic literature to define the topicand tease out contradictions and inconsistencies identified the potential for carryingout small-scale research debated the concept of case study chose and refined a setof triangulating tools addressed the complex ethical issues arising and learnt howto analyse and present data with due caution They had to justify their proceduresand results in the face of strong challenge from peers and tutors such as they mightmeet when trying to persuade professional colleagues of the need for changes inpractice Each found herself positioned as expert in the field even in discussionswith experienced teachers thus demonstrating the power of knowledge in terms ofestablishing status Their writing also finds them engaging critically with publishedresearch as well as government directives for example questioning the practicalityof lsquowait timersquo when dealing with short attention spans and of the PL agenda itselfin the face of crowded classrooms and timetables The empirical data that theyobtained were very limited and it would be easy to criticise the rigour of theirresearch methods from the standpoint of a skilled and experienced universityresearcher this would however be unjust For each person the project representsthe third in a series of six small-scale assignments designed to introduce pre-serviceteachers to the practical application of research methods as a tool for professional

34 C Gray

development and induction into the standards required for a dissertation should theywish to complete the degree As their priority is learning to teach well the writersare naturally concerned with the immediate impact of their findings on the develop-ment of their own practice and the assignment brief explicitly poses the challengeof implementing government policy on PL in order to reflect their practical con-cerns and present a relevant teaching challenge Their work does however revealan awareness of some of the criticisms of teacher research summarised in the intro-duction to this article and an attempt to meet those demands for rigour Resultsfrom their interventions are tentative and any conclusions drawn are duly cautiousin light of the relative weakness of the evidence base thus answering any criticismsabout justifiable warrants There is undeniably a sense of surprise allied to an ele-ment of knowledge creation and some evidence of impact on the beliefs systemThis comes not from the monitoring of an intervention rather from the use ofresearch tools to gain deeper insight into a situation as a preparatory phase beforeplanning the intervention itself Naomi Susanne Tammy and Emma all expressgenuine surprise as their in-depth studies propose new ways of interpreting theirclassrooms and the behaviour of their pupils Rather than producing clear guidelinesfor effective practice which is what they might have hoped for as developing teach-ers they have deepened their understanding of classroom interaction and challengedsome of their own firmly held beliefs Though disappointing their desire for clearanswers about practice the process appears to have been empowering in terms ofpositioning them as expert knowers and as potential creators of new knowledgeboth for themselves and for colleagues Engagement in such small-scale projectscould thus be seen as a powerful tool for professional development whatever thewarrants for generalisable truth It could be argued that the requirements imposedby the institution to develop understanding and use of research methods to improvethe rigour of enquiries has actually led to greater not lesser practical relevance anda more mature and professional questioning approach to the implementation ofgovernment policy Using the research format to gain greater understanding ofpupilsrsquo perspectives has led to a questioning of current beliefs and practice whichmay in turn lead to longer term and more deeply seated changes in behaviour thana successful small-scale intervention study This resonates with findings from theinternational studies discussed earlier

There is no expectation that graduates of the course will become universityresearchers though increasing numbers are returning to complete their Masterrsquosstudies with a dissertation once settled into employment We agree with Postholm(2009) that they lsquodo not necessarily have to become a researcher in the originalmeaning of the termrsquo (564) There is also no expectation that as future teachers theywill engage in such time-consuming projects as a normal part of their professionallearning We recognise that engagement in research remains a minority activity forpractising teachers (Borg 2010 407) though the students may be more favourablypositioned to explore future research opportunities having discovered the power ofresearch to reveal new information and explanations We aim for the developmentof a lsquoresearch stance and attitudersquo (Postholm 2009 564) Anonymous student evalu-ations at the end of the course consistently acknowledge the learning value of theassignments at key points in progress We are aware that the robustness of theresearch undertaken by students could be improved and continue to work at thisyear-on-year for example using Fosterrsquos (1999) critique of teacher action researchto emphasise the requirements of rigour and caution We are perhaps misleading

European Journal of Teacher Education 35

students by encouraging and simultaneously disappointing their expectations ofuseful practical outcomes from their projects ndash they begin to realise that researchcannot provide quick answers to complex problems but that more in-depth knowl-edge about a problem can be enriching and empowering even if it produces noconclusive results We tread a fine line between presenting research as a route tolsquodiscovery learningrsquo and being over-demanding in our academic expectations whenstudent teachersrsquo priority is classroom survival Successful integration of theory andpractice is dependent upon treading this tightrope endeavouring to facilitate futureteachersrsquo engagement with educational research There is sometimes a sense of pro-tectionism within academic circles defensively closing doors to maintain statusNaomi Susanne Tammy and Emmarsquos writings show that it is possible as a noviceresearcher to understand the potential and pitfalls of research to generate newknowledge and to undergo deep personal learning through designing and imple-menting a small-scale project To us this seems justification enough to continue todevelop our work even though we might appear to stand outside more generaltrends in UK teacher education

Conclusion

In conclusion this discussion adds to the positive voices in the international debateabout the appropriateness of research training in pre-service education Whether itis more suited to undergraduate or postgraduate teacher education depends upon thenature of the specific course Reis-Jorge (2007) in Portugal and Maaranen andKokfors (2008) in Finland seem to suggest that the highly structured formatrequired for a Masterrsquos dissertation leads to low transfer into ongoing teacher devel-opment and often a separation of research skills into the lsquoacademic qualificationsrsquobox On the other hand Diezman (2005) recommends offering a Research Pathwayto develop high-capacity research for certain pre-service Bachelor of Education stu-dents in the Australian teacher education system Volk (2010) investigating in-ser-vice utilisation of research skills learnt in pre-service training in the Middle Eastseems to sit on the fence On the one hand he questions the length of time andeffort spent in one particular college on this aspect of teacher preparation yet onthe other he still feels that it is worth introducing research skills at BEd Level(330) In our own situation as described above although the student teachers areworking at postgraduate level few have studied education as part of their firstdegree and even fewer have been introduced to the largely qualitative methods ofdata collection required for small-scale case study in a social science setting Theyonly have one year ndash 10 calendar months ndash in which to develop their practicalteaching skills and meet the academic Masterrsquos Level requirements Two thirds ofthat time must by law be spent in partner schools for lsquoon-the-jobrsquo training withexperienced teacher mentors Although this can pose a danger leading to a desireto lsquofit inrsquo with local practice it does provide student teachers with a wealth of prac-tical problems to investigate highlighted as necessary for success by Volk (2010317) The challenge is to develop assignments that offer research tools as a way ofunderstanding such problems more deeply thus opening up wider possibilities forchange As to whether or not these formalised research skills are used later as anormal part of personal teacher development our view coincides with that of Post-holm (2009) We want students to see the value of a research approach in providingemotional distance and deeper knowledge however they may use this learning laterAny tool learnt in a pre-service course is inevitably measured for applicability and

36 C Gray

adapted for use once the student becomes an independent practitioner and we canask no more of the research skills built into our course than of any other element ofpreparation We hope nevertheless that this will encourage more colleagues world-wide to introduce research skills as investigative and discovery tools to support lear-ner teachers in lsquoowningrsquo knowledge gained through their preparation courses

Notes on contributorCarol Gray is senior lecturer in modern foreign languages education She joined the InitialTeacher Education team in 1993 after teaching German and French to A Level in a range ofsecondary schools including special educational needs (visual impairment) She haspublished widely in the field of modern foreign languages education focusing on ICT usespecial needs grammar teaching and initial and continuing teacher development

References

Bartlett S and D Burton 2006 Practitioner research or description of classroom practiceA discussion of teachers investigating their classrooms Educational Action Research14 no 3 395ndash405

Black P C Harrison C Lee B Marshall and D Wiliam 2002 Working inside the blackbox Assessment for Learning Series 86 London GL Assessment

Borg S 2010 Language teacher research engagement Language Teaching 43 no 4391ndash429

Burton D 2007 Psycho-pedagogy and personalised learning Journal of Education forTeaching 33 no 1 5ndash17

Campbell RJ W Robinson J Neelands R Hewston and L Mazzoli 2007 Personalisedlearning Ambiguities in theory and practice British Journal of Educational Studies55 no 2 135ndash54

Courcier I 2007 Teachersrsquo perceptions of personalised learning Evaluation and Researchin Education 20 no 2 59ndash78

Department for Education 2010a The importance of teaching The Schools White Paper2010 London Stationery Office DfES httpwwweducationgovukb0068570the-importance-of-teaching

Department for Education 2010b The case for change London Stationery Office DfEShttpwwweducationgovukpublicationseOrderingDownloadDFE-00564-2010pdf

Department for Education and Skills (DfES) 2000 Best practice research scholarshipsGuidance notes for teacher applications London Author

DfES 2006 2020 Vision Report of the Teaching and Learning in 2020 review groupLondon Author

DfES 2007 The five components of personalised learning DfES httpwwwstandardsdfesgovukpersonalisedlearningfive

Diezmann CM 2005 Growing scholarly teachers and educational researchers a curriculumfor a research pathway in preservice teacher education Asia Pacific Journal of TeacherEducation 33 no 2 181ndash93

Edwards A J Sebba and M Rickinson 2007 Working with users Some implications foreducational research British Educational Research Journal 33 no 5 647ndash61

Foreman-Peck L and J Murray 2008 Action research and policy Journal of Philosophyof Education 42 no S1 145ndash63

Foster 1999 lsquoNever mind the quality feel the impactrsquo A methodological assessment ofteacher research sponsored by the Teacher Training Agency British Journal ofEducational Studies 47 no 4 380ndash98

Gorard S 2002 Political control A way forward for educational research British Journalof Educational Studies 50 no 3 378ndash89

Guillaume AM and GL Rudney 1993 Student teachersrsquo growth towards independenceAn analysis of their changing concerns Teaching and Teacher Education 9 no 165ndash80

European Journal of Teacher Education 37

very small margin Pupils made use of the strategies to answer 11 of the 15questions posed Clearly this was a very small and limited investigation and anynumber of external factors could account for the changes observed For exampleconfidence and willingness could have increased simply because Emma hadengaged pupils in discussing the issue of participation and it was impossible toguarantee that text and questions were of similar difficulty ndash even if they werefamiliarity with procedures could account for any perceived change Neverthelessthere did seem to be limited evidence of positive influence from the interventionand Emma felt that it was worth pursuing

Outcomes

Emmarsquos work was more clearly focused on the implementation of good practiceand monitoring of the effects of change She recognised for herself the weakness ofany warrants for claims to truth and although keen to continue this work herselfwas very cautious about making any strong recommendations on the basis of suchlimited and inconclusive evidence She began to see the implementation of PL as aseries of feasible small changes in practice reminiscent perhaps of Gorardrsquos (2002)claim that lsquoit is as though ldquoresearchrdquo is being conducted to find evidence for alreadyexisting agendarsquo (381) Nevertheless as with the previous projects the most power-ful learning seemed to come not from the intervention itself but from preparatoryinvestigations Emma expressed surprise about pupilsrsquo reported positive attitudes tothe subject and satisfaction with their own level of progress This engagement withpupils and willingness to hear their voices had she felt resulted in a more produc-tive classroom environment Although this undermined any conclusions about theeffectiveness of her intervention it revealed greater understanding of the complexityof classroom dynamics and offered an additional source of professional learning

Discussion the use of Masterrsquos criteria to prompt professional learning

The summaries present only a brief outline of each project To achieve the Masterrsquoscriteria the students used government and academic literature to define the topicand tease out contradictions and inconsistencies identified the potential for carryingout small-scale research debated the concept of case study chose and refined a setof triangulating tools addressed the complex ethical issues arising and learnt howto analyse and present data with due caution They had to justify their proceduresand results in the face of strong challenge from peers and tutors such as they mightmeet when trying to persuade professional colleagues of the need for changes inpractice Each found herself positioned as expert in the field even in discussionswith experienced teachers thus demonstrating the power of knowledge in terms ofestablishing status Their writing also finds them engaging critically with publishedresearch as well as government directives for example questioning the practicalityof lsquowait timersquo when dealing with short attention spans and of the PL agenda itselfin the face of crowded classrooms and timetables The empirical data that theyobtained were very limited and it would be easy to criticise the rigour of theirresearch methods from the standpoint of a skilled and experienced universityresearcher this would however be unjust For each person the project representsthe third in a series of six small-scale assignments designed to introduce pre-serviceteachers to the practical application of research methods as a tool for professional

34 C Gray

development and induction into the standards required for a dissertation should theywish to complete the degree As their priority is learning to teach well the writersare naturally concerned with the immediate impact of their findings on the develop-ment of their own practice and the assignment brief explicitly poses the challengeof implementing government policy on PL in order to reflect their practical con-cerns and present a relevant teaching challenge Their work does however revealan awareness of some of the criticisms of teacher research summarised in the intro-duction to this article and an attempt to meet those demands for rigour Resultsfrom their interventions are tentative and any conclusions drawn are duly cautiousin light of the relative weakness of the evidence base thus answering any criticismsabout justifiable warrants There is undeniably a sense of surprise allied to an ele-ment of knowledge creation and some evidence of impact on the beliefs systemThis comes not from the monitoring of an intervention rather from the use ofresearch tools to gain deeper insight into a situation as a preparatory phase beforeplanning the intervention itself Naomi Susanne Tammy and Emma all expressgenuine surprise as their in-depth studies propose new ways of interpreting theirclassrooms and the behaviour of their pupils Rather than producing clear guidelinesfor effective practice which is what they might have hoped for as developing teach-ers they have deepened their understanding of classroom interaction and challengedsome of their own firmly held beliefs Though disappointing their desire for clearanswers about practice the process appears to have been empowering in terms ofpositioning them as expert knowers and as potential creators of new knowledgeboth for themselves and for colleagues Engagement in such small-scale projectscould thus be seen as a powerful tool for professional development whatever thewarrants for generalisable truth It could be argued that the requirements imposedby the institution to develop understanding and use of research methods to improvethe rigour of enquiries has actually led to greater not lesser practical relevance anda more mature and professional questioning approach to the implementation ofgovernment policy Using the research format to gain greater understanding ofpupilsrsquo perspectives has led to a questioning of current beliefs and practice whichmay in turn lead to longer term and more deeply seated changes in behaviour thana successful small-scale intervention study This resonates with findings from theinternational studies discussed earlier

There is no expectation that graduates of the course will become universityresearchers though increasing numbers are returning to complete their Masterrsquosstudies with a dissertation once settled into employment We agree with Postholm(2009) that they lsquodo not necessarily have to become a researcher in the originalmeaning of the termrsquo (564) There is also no expectation that as future teachers theywill engage in such time-consuming projects as a normal part of their professionallearning We recognise that engagement in research remains a minority activity forpractising teachers (Borg 2010 407) though the students may be more favourablypositioned to explore future research opportunities having discovered the power ofresearch to reveal new information and explanations We aim for the developmentof a lsquoresearch stance and attitudersquo (Postholm 2009 564) Anonymous student evalu-ations at the end of the course consistently acknowledge the learning value of theassignments at key points in progress We are aware that the robustness of theresearch undertaken by students could be improved and continue to work at thisyear-on-year for example using Fosterrsquos (1999) critique of teacher action researchto emphasise the requirements of rigour and caution We are perhaps misleading

European Journal of Teacher Education 35

students by encouraging and simultaneously disappointing their expectations ofuseful practical outcomes from their projects ndash they begin to realise that researchcannot provide quick answers to complex problems but that more in-depth knowl-edge about a problem can be enriching and empowering even if it produces noconclusive results We tread a fine line between presenting research as a route tolsquodiscovery learningrsquo and being over-demanding in our academic expectations whenstudent teachersrsquo priority is classroom survival Successful integration of theory andpractice is dependent upon treading this tightrope endeavouring to facilitate futureteachersrsquo engagement with educational research There is sometimes a sense of pro-tectionism within academic circles defensively closing doors to maintain statusNaomi Susanne Tammy and Emmarsquos writings show that it is possible as a noviceresearcher to understand the potential and pitfalls of research to generate newknowledge and to undergo deep personal learning through designing and imple-menting a small-scale project To us this seems justification enough to continue todevelop our work even though we might appear to stand outside more generaltrends in UK teacher education

Conclusion

In conclusion this discussion adds to the positive voices in the international debateabout the appropriateness of research training in pre-service education Whether itis more suited to undergraduate or postgraduate teacher education depends upon thenature of the specific course Reis-Jorge (2007) in Portugal and Maaranen andKokfors (2008) in Finland seem to suggest that the highly structured formatrequired for a Masterrsquos dissertation leads to low transfer into ongoing teacher devel-opment and often a separation of research skills into the lsquoacademic qualificationsrsquobox On the other hand Diezman (2005) recommends offering a Research Pathwayto develop high-capacity research for certain pre-service Bachelor of Education stu-dents in the Australian teacher education system Volk (2010) investigating in-ser-vice utilisation of research skills learnt in pre-service training in the Middle Eastseems to sit on the fence On the one hand he questions the length of time andeffort spent in one particular college on this aspect of teacher preparation yet onthe other he still feels that it is worth introducing research skills at BEd Level(330) In our own situation as described above although the student teachers areworking at postgraduate level few have studied education as part of their firstdegree and even fewer have been introduced to the largely qualitative methods ofdata collection required for small-scale case study in a social science setting Theyonly have one year ndash 10 calendar months ndash in which to develop their practicalteaching skills and meet the academic Masterrsquos Level requirements Two thirds ofthat time must by law be spent in partner schools for lsquoon-the-jobrsquo training withexperienced teacher mentors Although this can pose a danger leading to a desireto lsquofit inrsquo with local practice it does provide student teachers with a wealth of prac-tical problems to investigate highlighted as necessary for success by Volk (2010317) The challenge is to develop assignments that offer research tools as a way ofunderstanding such problems more deeply thus opening up wider possibilities forchange As to whether or not these formalised research skills are used later as anormal part of personal teacher development our view coincides with that of Post-holm (2009) We want students to see the value of a research approach in providingemotional distance and deeper knowledge however they may use this learning laterAny tool learnt in a pre-service course is inevitably measured for applicability and

36 C Gray

adapted for use once the student becomes an independent practitioner and we canask no more of the research skills built into our course than of any other element ofpreparation We hope nevertheless that this will encourage more colleagues world-wide to introduce research skills as investigative and discovery tools to support lear-ner teachers in lsquoowningrsquo knowledge gained through their preparation courses

Notes on contributorCarol Gray is senior lecturer in modern foreign languages education She joined the InitialTeacher Education team in 1993 after teaching German and French to A Level in a range ofsecondary schools including special educational needs (visual impairment) She haspublished widely in the field of modern foreign languages education focusing on ICT usespecial needs grammar teaching and initial and continuing teacher development

References

Bartlett S and D Burton 2006 Practitioner research or description of classroom practiceA discussion of teachers investigating their classrooms Educational Action Research14 no 3 395ndash405

Black P C Harrison C Lee B Marshall and D Wiliam 2002 Working inside the blackbox Assessment for Learning Series 86 London GL Assessment

Borg S 2010 Language teacher research engagement Language Teaching 43 no 4391ndash429

Burton D 2007 Psycho-pedagogy and personalised learning Journal of Education forTeaching 33 no 1 5ndash17

Campbell RJ W Robinson J Neelands R Hewston and L Mazzoli 2007 Personalisedlearning Ambiguities in theory and practice British Journal of Educational Studies55 no 2 135ndash54

Courcier I 2007 Teachersrsquo perceptions of personalised learning Evaluation and Researchin Education 20 no 2 59ndash78

Department for Education 2010a The importance of teaching The Schools White Paper2010 London Stationery Office DfES httpwwweducationgovukb0068570the-importance-of-teaching

Department for Education 2010b The case for change London Stationery Office DfEShttpwwweducationgovukpublicationseOrderingDownloadDFE-00564-2010pdf

Department for Education and Skills (DfES) 2000 Best practice research scholarshipsGuidance notes for teacher applications London Author

DfES 2006 2020 Vision Report of the Teaching and Learning in 2020 review groupLondon Author

DfES 2007 The five components of personalised learning DfES httpwwwstandardsdfesgovukpersonalisedlearningfive

Diezmann CM 2005 Growing scholarly teachers and educational researchers a curriculumfor a research pathway in preservice teacher education Asia Pacific Journal of TeacherEducation 33 no 2 181ndash93

Edwards A J Sebba and M Rickinson 2007 Working with users Some implications foreducational research British Educational Research Journal 33 no 5 647ndash61

Foreman-Peck L and J Murray 2008 Action research and policy Journal of Philosophyof Education 42 no S1 145ndash63

Foster 1999 lsquoNever mind the quality feel the impactrsquo A methodological assessment ofteacher research sponsored by the Teacher Training Agency British Journal ofEducational Studies 47 no 4 380ndash98

Gorard S 2002 Political control A way forward for educational research British Journalof Educational Studies 50 no 3 378ndash89

Guillaume AM and GL Rudney 1993 Student teachersrsquo growth towards independenceAn analysis of their changing concerns Teaching and Teacher Education 9 no 165ndash80

European Journal of Teacher Education 37

development and induction into the standards required for a dissertation should theywish to complete the degree As their priority is learning to teach well the writersare naturally concerned with the immediate impact of their findings on the develop-ment of their own practice and the assignment brief explicitly poses the challengeof implementing government policy on PL in order to reflect their practical con-cerns and present a relevant teaching challenge Their work does however revealan awareness of some of the criticisms of teacher research summarised in the intro-duction to this article and an attempt to meet those demands for rigour Resultsfrom their interventions are tentative and any conclusions drawn are duly cautiousin light of the relative weakness of the evidence base thus answering any criticismsabout justifiable warrants There is undeniably a sense of surprise allied to an ele-ment of knowledge creation and some evidence of impact on the beliefs systemThis comes not from the monitoring of an intervention rather from the use ofresearch tools to gain deeper insight into a situation as a preparatory phase beforeplanning the intervention itself Naomi Susanne Tammy and Emma all expressgenuine surprise as their in-depth studies propose new ways of interpreting theirclassrooms and the behaviour of their pupils Rather than producing clear guidelinesfor effective practice which is what they might have hoped for as developing teach-ers they have deepened their understanding of classroom interaction and challengedsome of their own firmly held beliefs Though disappointing their desire for clearanswers about practice the process appears to have been empowering in terms ofpositioning them as expert knowers and as potential creators of new knowledgeboth for themselves and for colleagues Engagement in such small-scale projectscould thus be seen as a powerful tool for professional development whatever thewarrants for generalisable truth It could be argued that the requirements imposedby the institution to develop understanding and use of research methods to improvethe rigour of enquiries has actually led to greater not lesser practical relevance anda more mature and professional questioning approach to the implementation ofgovernment policy Using the research format to gain greater understanding ofpupilsrsquo perspectives has led to a questioning of current beliefs and practice whichmay in turn lead to longer term and more deeply seated changes in behaviour thana successful small-scale intervention study This resonates with findings from theinternational studies discussed earlier

There is no expectation that graduates of the course will become universityresearchers though increasing numbers are returning to complete their Masterrsquosstudies with a dissertation once settled into employment We agree with Postholm(2009) that they lsquodo not necessarily have to become a researcher in the originalmeaning of the termrsquo (564) There is also no expectation that as future teachers theywill engage in such time-consuming projects as a normal part of their professionallearning We recognise that engagement in research remains a minority activity forpractising teachers (Borg 2010 407) though the students may be more favourablypositioned to explore future research opportunities having discovered the power ofresearch to reveal new information and explanations We aim for the developmentof a lsquoresearch stance and attitudersquo (Postholm 2009 564) Anonymous student evalu-ations at the end of the course consistently acknowledge the learning value of theassignments at key points in progress We are aware that the robustness of theresearch undertaken by students could be improved and continue to work at thisyear-on-year for example using Fosterrsquos (1999) critique of teacher action researchto emphasise the requirements of rigour and caution We are perhaps misleading

European Journal of Teacher Education 35

students by encouraging and simultaneously disappointing their expectations ofuseful practical outcomes from their projects ndash they begin to realise that researchcannot provide quick answers to complex problems but that more in-depth knowl-edge about a problem can be enriching and empowering even if it produces noconclusive results We tread a fine line between presenting research as a route tolsquodiscovery learningrsquo and being over-demanding in our academic expectations whenstudent teachersrsquo priority is classroom survival Successful integration of theory andpractice is dependent upon treading this tightrope endeavouring to facilitate futureteachersrsquo engagement with educational research There is sometimes a sense of pro-tectionism within academic circles defensively closing doors to maintain statusNaomi Susanne Tammy and Emmarsquos writings show that it is possible as a noviceresearcher to understand the potential and pitfalls of research to generate newknowledge and to undergo deep personal learning through designing and imple-menting a small-scale project To us this seems justification enough to continue todevelop our work even though we might appear to stand outside more generaltrends in UK teacher education

Conclusion

In conclusion this discussion adds to the positive voices in the international debateabout the appropriateness of research training in pre-service education Whether itis more suited to undergraduate or postgraduate teacher education depends upon thenature of the specific course Reis-Jorge (2007) in Portugal and Maaranen andKokfors (2008) in Finland seem to suggest that the highly structured formatrequired for a Masterrsquos dissertation leads to low transfer into ongoing teacher devel-opment and often a separation of research skills into the lsquoacademic qualificationsrsquobox On the other hand Diezman (2005) recommends offering a Research Pathwayto develop high-capacity research for certain pre-service Bachelor of Education stu-dents in the Australian teacher education system Volk (2010) investigating in-ser-vice utilisation of research skills learnt in pre-service training in the Middle Eastseems to sit on the fence On the one hand he questions the length of time andeffort spent in one particular college on this aspect of teacher preparation yet onthe other he still feels that it is worth introducing research skills at BEd Level(330) In our own situation as described above although the student teachers areworking at postgraduate level few have studied education as part of their firstdegree and even fewer have been introduced to the largely qualitative methods ofdata collection required for small-scale case study in a social science setting Theyonly have one year ndash 10 calendar months ndash in which to develop their practicalteaching skills and meet the academic Masterrsquos Level requirements Two thirds ofthat time must by law be spent in partner schools for lsquoon-the-jobrsquo training withexperienced teacher mentors Although this can pose a danger leading to a desireto lsquofit inrsquo with local practice it does provide student teachers with a wealth of prac-tical problems to investigate highlighted as necessary for success by Volk (2010317) The challenge is to develop assignments that offer research tools as a way ofunderstanding such problems more deeply thus opening up wider possibilities forchange As to whether or not these formalised research skills are used later as anormal part of personal teacher development our view coincides with that of Post-holm (2009) We want students to see the value of a research approach in providingemotional distance and deeper knowledge however they may use this learning laterAny tool learnt in a pre-service course is inevitably measured for applicability and

36 C Gray

adapted for use once the student becomes an independent practitioner and we canask no more of the research skills built into our course than of any other element ofpreparation We hope nevertheless that this will encourage more colleagues world-wide to introduce research skills as investigative and discovery tools to support lear-ner teachers in lsquoowningrsquo knowledge gained through their preparation courses

Notes on contributorCarol Gray is senior lecturer in modern foreign languages education She joined the InitialTeacher Education team in 1993 after teaching German and French to A Level in a range ofsecondary schools including special educational needs (visual impairment) She haspublished widely in the field of modern foreign languages education focusing on ICT usespecial needs grammar teaching and initial and continuing teacher development

References

Bartlett S and D Burton 2006 Practitioner research or description of classroom practiceA discussion of teachers investigating their classrooms Educational Action Research14 no 3 395ndash405

Black P C Harrison C Lee B Marshall and D Wiliam 2002 Working inside the blackbox Assessment for Learning Series 86 London GL Assessment

Borg S 2010 Language teacher research engagement Language Teaching 43 no 4391ndash429

Burton D 2007 Psycho-pedagogy and personalised learning Journal of Education forTeaching 33 no 1 5ndash17

Campbell RJ W Robinson J Neelands R Hewston and L Mazzoli 2007 Personalisedlearning Ambiguities in theory and practice British Journal of Educational Studies55 no 2 135ndash54

Courcier I 2007 Teachersrsquo perceptions of personalised learning Evaluation and Researchin Education 20 no 2 59ndash78

Department for Education 2010a The importance of teaching The Schools White Paper2010 London Stationery Office DfES httpwwweducationgovukb0068570the-importance-of-teaching

Department for Education 2010b The case for change London Stationery Office DfEShttpwwweducationgovukpublicationseOrderingDownloadDFE-00564-2010pdf

Department for Education and Skills (DfES) 2000 Best practice research scholarshipsGuidance notes for teacher applications London Author

DfES 2006 2020 Vision Report of the Teaching and Learning in 2020 review groupLondon Author

DfES 2007 The five components of personalised learning DfES httpwwwstandardsdfesgovukpersonalisedlearningfive

Diezmann CM 2005 Growing scholarly teachers and educational researchers a curriculumfor a research pathway in preservice teacher education Asia Pacific Journal of TeacherEducation 33 no 2 181ndash93

Edwards A J Sebba and M Rickinson 2007 Working with users Some implications foreducational research British Educational Research Journal 33 no 5 647ndash61

Foreman-Peck L and J Murray 2008 Action research and policy Journal of Philosophyof Education 42 no S1 145ndash63

Foster 1999 lsquoNever mind the quality feel the impactrsquo A methodological assessment ofteacher research sponsored by the Teacher Training Agency British Journal ofEducational Studies 47 no 4 380ndash98

Gorard S 2002 Political control A way forward for educational research British Journalof Educational Studies 50 no 3 378ndash89

Guillaume AM and GL Rudney 1993 Student teachersrsquo growth towards independenceAn analysis of their changing concerns Teaching and Teacher Education 9 no 165ndash80

European Journal of Teacher Education 37

students by encouraging and simultaneously disappointing their expectations ofuseful practical outcomes from their projects ndash they begin to realise that researchcannot provide quick answers to complex problems but that more in-depth knowl-edge about a problem can be enriching and empowering even if it produces noconclusive results We tread a fine line between presenting research as a route tolsquodiscovery learningrsquo and being over-demanding in our academic expectations whenstudent teachersrsquo priority is classroom survival Successful integration of theory andpractice is dependent upon treading this tightrope endeavouring to facilitate futureteachersrsquo engagement with educational research There is sometimes a sense of pro-tectionism within academic circles defensively closing doors to maintain statusNaomi Susanne Tammy and Emmarsquos writings show that it is possible as a noviceresearcher to understand the potential and pitfalls of research to generate newknowledge and to undergo deep personal learning through designing and imple-menting a small-scale project To us this seems justification enough to continue todevelop our work even though we might appear to stand outside more generaltrends in UK teacher education

Conclusion

In conclusion this discussion adds to the positive voices in the international debateabout the appropriateness of research training in pre-service education Whether itis more suited to undergraduate or postgraduate teacher education depends upon thenature of the specific course Reis-Jorge (2007) in Portugal and Maaranen andKokfors (2008) in Finland seem to suggest that the highly structured formatrequired for a Masterrsquos dissertation leads to low transfer into ongoing teacher devel-opment and often a separation of research skills into the lsquoacademic qualificationsrsquobox On the other hand Diezman (2005) recommends offering a Research Pathwayto develop high-capacity research for certain pre-service Bachelor of Education stu-dents in the Australian teacher education system Volk (2010) investigating in-ser-vice utilisation of research skills learnt in pre-service training in the Middle Eastseems to sit on the fence On the one hand he questions the length of time andeffort spent in one particular college on this aspect of teacher preparation yet onthe other he still feels that it is worth introducing research skills at BEd Level(330) In our own situation as described above although the student teachers areworking at postgraduate level few have studied education as part of their firstdegree and even fewer have been introduced to the largely qualitative methods ofdata collection required for small-scale case study in a social science setting Theyonly have one year ndash 10 calendar months ndash in which to develop their practicalteaching skills and meet the academic Masterrsquos Level requirements Two thirds ofthat time must by law be spent in partner schools for lsquoon-the-jobrsquo training withexperienced teacher mentors Although this can pose a danger leading to a desireto lsquofit inrsquo with local practice it does provide student teachers with a wealth of prac-tical problems to investigate highlighted as necessary for success by Volk (2010317) The challenge is to develop assignments that offer research tools as a way ofunderstanding such problems more deeply thus opening up wider possibilities forchange As to whether or not these formalised research skills are used later as anormal part of personal teacher development our view coincides with that of Post-holm (2009) We want students to see the value of a research approach in providingemotional distance and deeper knowledge however they may use this learning laterAny tool learnt in a pre-service course is inevitably measured for applicability and

36 C Gray

adapted for use once the student becomes an independent practitioner and we canask no more of the research skills built into our course than of any other element ofpreparation We hope nevertheless that this will encourage more colleagues world-wide to introduce research skills as investigative and discovery tools to support lear-ner teachers in lsquoowningrsquo knowledge gained through their preparation courses

Notes on contributorCarol Gray is senior lecturer in modern foreign languages education She joined the InitialTeacher Education team in 1993 after teaching German and French to A Level in a range ofsecondary schools including special educational needs (visual impairment) She haspublished widely in the field of modern foreign languages education focusing on ICT usespecial needs grammar teaching and initial and continuing teacher development

References

Bartlett S and D Burton 2006 Practitioner research or description of classroom practiceA discussion of teachers investigating their classrooms Educational Action Research14 no 3 395ndash405

Black P C Harrison C Lee B Marshall and D Wiliam 2002 Working inside the blackbox Assessment for Learning Series 86 London GL Assessment

Borg S 2010 Language teacher research engagement Language Teaching 43 no 4391ndash429

Burton D 2007 Psycho-pedagogy and personalised learning Journal of Education forTeaching 33 no 1 5ndash17

Campbell RJ W Robinson J Neelands R Hewston and L Mazzoli 2007 Personalisedlearning Ambiguities in theory and practice British Journal of Educational Studies55 no 2 135ndash54

Courcier I 2007 Teachersrsquo perceptions of personalised learning Evaluation and Researchin Education 20 no 2 59ndash78

Department for Education 2010a The importance of teaching The Schools White Paper2010 London Stationery Office DfES httpwwweducationgovukb0068570the-importance-of-teaching

Department for Education 2010b The case for change London Stationery Office DfEShttpwwweducationgovukpublicationseOrderingDownloadDFE-00564-2010pdf

Department for Education and Skills (DfES) 2000 Best practice research scholarshipsGuidance notes for teacher applications London Author

DfES 2006 2020 Vision Report of the Teaching and Learning in 2020 review groupLondon Author

DfES 2007 The five components of personalised learning DfES httpwwwstandardsdfesgovukpersonalisedlearningfive

Diezmann CM 2005 Growing scholarly teachers and educational researchers a curriculumfor a research pathway in preservice teacher education Asia Pacific Journal of TeacherEducation 33 no 2 181ndash93

Edwards A J Sebba and M Rickinson 2007 Working with users Some implications foreducational research British Educational Research Journal 33 no 5 647ndash61

Foreman-Peck L and J Murray 2008 Action research and policy Journal of Philosophyof Education 42 no S1 145ndash63

Foster 1999 lsquoNever mind the quality feel the impactrsquo A methodological assessment ofteacher research sponsored by the Teacher Training Agency British Journal ofEducational Studies 47 no 4 380ndash98

Gorard S 2002 Political control A way forward for educational research British Journalof Educational Studies 50 no 3 378ndash89

Guillaume AM and GL Rudney 1993 Student teachersrsquo growth towards independenceAn analysis of their changing concerns Teaching and Teacher Education 9 no 165ndash80

European Journal of Teacher Education 37

adapted for use once the student becomes an independent practitioner and we canask no more of the research skills built into our course than of any other element ofpreparation We hope nevertheless that this will encourage more colleagues world-wide to introduce research skills as investigative and discovery tools to support lear-ner teachers in lsquoowningrsquo knowledge gained through their preparation courses

Notes on contributorCarol Gray is senior lecturer in modern foreign languages education She joined the InitialTeacher Education team in 1993 after teaching German and French to A Level in a range ofsecondary schools including special educational needs (visual impairment) She haspublished widely in the field of modern foreign languages education focusing on ICT usespecial needs grammar teaching and initial and continuing teacher development

References

Bartlett S and D Burton 2006 Practitioner research or description of classroom practiceA discussion of teachers investigating their classrooms Educational Action Research14 no 3 395ndash405

Black P C Harrison C Lee B Marshall and D Wiliam 2002 Working inside the blackbox Assessment for Learning Series 86 London GL Assessment

Borg S 2010 Language teacher research engagement Language Teaching 43 no 4391ndash429

Burton D 2007 Psycho-pedagogy and personalised learning Journal of Education forTeaching 33 no 1 5ndash17

Campbell RJ W Robinson J Neelands R Hewston and L Mazzoli 2007 Personalisedlearning Ambiguities in theory and practice British Journal of Educational Studies55 no 2 135ndash54

Courcier I 2007 Teachersrsquo perceptions of personalised learning Evaluation and Researchin Education 20 no 2 59ndash78

Department for Education 2010a The importance of teaching The Schools White Paper2010 London Stationery Office DfES httpwwweducationgovukb0068570the-importance-of-teaching

Department for Education 2010b The case for change London Stationery Office DfEShttpwwweducationgovukpublicationseOrderingDownloadDFE-00564-2010pdf

Department for Education and Skills (DfES) 2000 Best practice research scholarshipsGuidance notes for teacher applications London Author

DfES 2006 2020 Vision Report of the Teaching and Learning in 2020 review groupLondon Author

DfES 2007 The five components of personalised learning DfES httpwwwstandardsdfesgovukpersonalisedlearningfive

Diezmann CM 2005 Growing scholarly teachers and educational researchers a curriculumfor a research pathway in preservice teacher education Asia Pacific Journal of TeacherEducation 33 no 2 181ndash93

Edwards A J Sebba and M Rickinson 2007 Working with users Some implications foreducational research British Educational Research Journal 33 no 5 647ndash61

Foreman-Peck L and J Murray 2008 Action research and policy Journal of Philosophyof Education 42 no S1 145ndash63

Foster 1999 lsquoNever mind the quality feel the impactrsquo A methodological assessment ofteacher research sponsored by the Teacher Training Agency British Journal ofEducational Studies 47 no 4 380ndash98

Gorard S 2002 Political control A way forward for educational research British Journalof Educational Studies 50 no 3 378ndash89

Guillaume AM and GL Rudney 1993 Student teachersrsquo growth towards independenceAn analysis of their changing concerns Teaching and Teacher Education 9 no 165ndash80

European Journal of Teacher Education 37

Hayward G 1997 Principles for school focused initial teacher education Some lessonsfrom the Oxford internship scheme In Mentoring for science teachers ed T Allsopand A Benson 11ndash26 Buckingham UK Open University Press

Heilbronn R 2008 Masterrsquos-level and initial teacher education Modern foreign languagesLinks 37 3ndash4

Kaestle CF 1993 The awful reputation of education research Educational Researcher 22no 1 23ndash31

Maaranen K and L Krokfors 2008 Researching pupils schools and oneself Teachers asintegrators of theory and practice in initial teacher education Journal of Education forTeaching 34 no 3 207ndash22

Marshall T 2011 In Standing Committee for the Education and Training of Teachers(SCETT) In Defence of Teacher Education A Response to the Coalition GovernmentrsquosWhite Paper for Schools (November 2010) httpwwwscettorgukmedia3583in_defence_of_teacher_education_scett_march_2011pdf

Postholm MB 2009 Research and development work Developing teachers as researchersor just teachers Educational Action Research 17 no 4 551ndash65

Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) 2009 An introduction to QAA Gloucester UK QAAQAA 2001 Academic infrastructure The framework for higher education qualifications in

England Wales and Northern Ireland ndash January 2001 QAA httpwwwqaaacukaca-demicinfrastructurefheqEWNIdefaultasp

Reis-Jorge J 2007 Teacher conceptions of teacher-research and self-perceptions asenquiring practitioners A longitudinal case study Teaching and Teacher Education 23402ndash17

Robson C 2002 Real world research Oxford BlackwellTomlinson 1995 Understanding mentoring Reflective strategies for school-based teacher

preparation Buckingham UK Open University PressTeacher Training Agency 2000 The teacher research grant scheme Summaries from the

second year of the scheme London AuthorUnderwood J and P Banyard 2008 Managersrsquo teachersrsquo and learnersrsquo perceptions of

personalised learning Evidence from Impact 2007 Technology Pedagogy andEducation 17 no 3 233ndash46

Vanderlinde R and J Van Braak 2010 The gap between educational research and practiceViews of teachers school leaders intermediaries and researchers British EducationalResearch Journal 36 no 2 299ndash316

Volk KS 2010 Action research as a sustainable endeavour for teachers Does initialtraining lead to further action Action Research 8 no 3 315ndash33

Vonk JHC 1996 A knowledge base for mentors of beginning teachers Results of a Dutchexperiment In Teacher education policy Some issues arising from research and prac-tice ed R McBridge 113ndash34 London Falmer Press

Williams M and RL Burden 1997 Psychology for language teachers A social construc-tivist approach Cambridge Cambridge University Press

Young M 2011 In Standing Committee for the Education and Training of Teachers(SCETT) In Defence of Teacher Education A Response to the Coalition GovernmentrsquosWhite Paper for Schools (November 2010) httpwwwscettorgukmedia3583in_defence_of_teacher_education_scett_march_2011pdf

38 C Gray