Engaging in Action Research: A Personal and Professional Journey towards an Inquiry into Teacher Morale in a Senior Secondary College
Source: Educational Action Research, Volume 17, Issue 2 June 2009 , pages 181 - 195.
This article is written as a reflexive story. It describes the author's journey as a practitioner researcher investigating the implementation of a study-group format in place of a formal meeting arrangement for the teaching team she leads.
The inquiry has been initiated to explore the intervention as a way to promote teacher morale. The research site is a large senior secondary college in the state of Victoria, Australia.
The article also considers action research as a potential source of teacher learning.
Encouraging preliminary results are beginning to emerge that support influential joint action is taking place with a positive impact on teacher morale. A model for morale and motivation that the author formed by integrating concepts from the literature has been instrumental to the development of the study.