Teacher Action Research: Explaining the Process and Highlighting the Benefits for the Individual and for the Team

Action research is a cyclical process of concurrently inquiring about problems and taking action to solve them. It is ideally suited to the classroom/school situation where teachers are empowered to own their professional knowledge to create new understandings of their practice and take action in their classroom/school to improve that practice for their own professional development and for the enrichment of student learning. Teachers can become more autonomous in their professional judgement, articulate and build their own craft knowledge and recognise and appreciate their own experience. It allows the teacher to become the researcher rather than the one on whom research is done.

Learning Outcomes

This presentation will introduce action research as a way of :

Reflecting on our work so that we make decisions to improve that work

Allows the teacher to decide on the aspect of practice that they wish to improve and to state why

Encouraging data gathering to show the initial situation and then to gather data to show if improvement has taken place promoting school improvement

Facilitator: Carmel Lillis

Carmel Lillis has worked as a school principal and as a part-time lecturer on leadership courses in Maynooth University. She now works as an independent consultant and coach and as a tutor with the University of Limerick (PDSL and PME programmes). She is also a tutor on the Innovative Teaching and Learning programme in Maynooth University. Carmel also pursues research with Dr. Gerry Jeffers, and Dr. Majella Dempsey (Maynooth University). Their research 'Responding to Educational Inequality in Ireland; Harnessing teachers’ perspectives to develop a framework for professional conversations' has been published by Education Studies: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03055698.2021.19310 They are currently researching the position of the deputy principal in primary and post-primary schools in Ireland. Carmel Lillis, Advanced Dip. in Personal Leadership and Executive Coaching, M.Ed, B.A.