Section archive - Research Methods

The current study focuses on the concept PPS-PR (Personalized Professionalization in Pedagogical Fields through Practitioner Research), an approach that integrates practitioner research projects during internships. A central aim is to encourage teacher students´ professional learning (Bachelor of Primary Education). 312 Austrian teacher students carried out practitioner research projects and were invited to participate in an online survey at the end of the semester. The results show that the majority of respondents choose research topics predominantly related to the fields of methodical competences (e.g. classroom management strategies) and report consistent conclusions and long term benefits. The findings indicate that professional learning of teacher students can be supported by the PPS-PR concept. Therefore, practitioner research can be seen as a tool for developing competences that are stable and can furthermore be transferred to other situational contexts.

The professional development of teachers in China takes place, to a large extent, in Teaching Research Groups (TRG) that exist in all schools. Though there are diverse models of TRG activities, these might, on the surface, appear to resemble forms of Action Research (AR) or include elements that might resemble AR. In conducting a Lesson Design Study (LDS) with a TRG in Shanghai, the authors encountered the specific challenge of what might be the interconnectedness and differences between AR and their LDS. To address this issue, they applied a research-informed depiction of the distinguishing characteristics of AR to their LDS. Based on this analysis, they found that (1) in contrast to the depiction of AR that encompasses a choice of methods, their LDS follows a specific ‘design research’ methodology, (2) whereas the depiction of AR is simultaneously directed towards teacher self-change and restructuring the organisation or institution within which the teacher works, LDS concerns more than the practical questions in one local social context and aims to tackle bigger questions across the social contexts in the subject research field, and (3) whereas in the depiction of AR, teachers engage in a process of authentic collaboration with other teachers seeking to improve their practices, in the LDS community the external researchers and expert teachers play other roles in the TRG. Even though there may be differences between the depiction of AR and their LDS, the interconnectedness is important in that both AR and their LDS contribute directly to school-based teacher professional development.

In the context of the major influence that ‘effectiveness’ is having internationally, this paper studies the contemporary methodological perspectives in educational research when considering teachers’ practice. It shows that current trends can be boiled down to: (1) naturalistic methodology, (2) descriptive methodology, and (3) the nonmethodological solution. It states two main conclusions: first, there is a neat continuity with traditional methodologies, which were in decline long ago; second, contemporary perspectives in educational research fail to provide a consistent methodological model for ‘effective practices’. The author finally draws some conclusions and makes some suggestions for the further development of methodology in educational research and teachers’ practice. This study is noteworthy for teachers’ practice, collaborations and partnerships, and also for the relationship amongst research/practice/policy, which is at the core of the implementation of educational systems.

The starting point for this inductive study is to determine, through a search of studies, what critical viewpoints in terms of research are delivered, based on experiences, observations and evaluation, concerning the Bologna Process over time? The aim is to present a description using a thematic analysis based on data from 38 papers (2004–2016) that reveal the critical reasoning behind the research. The reasoning is critical in the sense that various authors have elaborated on and problematized aspects of the Bologna Process in terms of what to avoid and/or have characterized aspects related to the Bologna Process that are not desirable. Based on the outcome of the thematic analysis, theorists were selected in order to deepen the reasoning and meaning highlighted in three themes. The findings are further discussed in terms of knowledge and curriculum development for the future and the advancement of European higher education policy and beyond on equal terms. The article suggests that there are causes for concern regarding unwanted consequences in the aftermath of the Bologna Process.