The Role of School-based Research in Helping Teachers to Extend their Understanding of Children's Learning and Motivation

Abstract

Research by teachers has become increasingly recognised as a legitimate professional activity in the 1990s. In this paper the focus is on how research can help teachers to learn more about children's learning and motivation, topics which can be neglected when the emphasis is on curriculum delivery. The discussion is informed by an account of the Effective Learning Project ‘ELP’, which involved teachers from 30 primary and secondary schools and colleagues from the local education authority and higher education, in small-scale research projects about pupils' perceptions and opinions in the following areas: ‘What makes a piece of work good?’, ‘What stops some pupils from working hard in school?’, ‘What helps pupils learn and what do they find exciting in their learning?’, ‘Pupils helping other pupils with their learning’, and ‘Learning and the classroom environment’. The teachers' findings are discussed in terms of the impact of their experiences on their knowledge and practice. The ELP confirms that teacher research can provide a welcome opportunity for active learning in the school context. There is, however, a need for continuing research into the most helpful forms of support for teachers, teachers' beliefs and feelings about doing research, and the dissemination of teachers' research findings