The development of one teacher's understanding of practitioner research in a multi-ethnic primary school

Abstract

This article is an attempt to describe the development of my understanding of the purpose of practitioner research over the first 4 years of a project leading to a PhD. It tells the story of the evolution of my thinking, from an initial focus on the curriculum and the children's unsophisticated thinking about race as the source of the problem, to a more self-critical stance, in which I saw ‘whiteness’ as an important factor in structuring the children's experiences of schooling. Thus, the early outward focus of the research – the children, and their response to the curriculum – was replaced by an inward focus – on my own attitudes and actions as a white teacher, and the effect they have on the children I teach. The article argues that teachers should have the opportunity to reflect on aspects of their practice in this way as an integral part of their professional development.