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Spotlight onAction ResearchSpotlight onAction ResearchDone by:

Fatima Ebrahim AL-LootiZainab Ebrahim AL-TooqMustafa Ahmed AL-MalMohammed Darwish

The Role of the ‘Professional Community’ in Action Research

Analysis of an article by: HERBERT ALTRICHTER, Johannes Kepler

University of Linz, Austria

• The idea in this article that the writer is not just talking about his research, but he is analyzing Leve & Wenger’s ‘Situated Learning Theory’ ideas.

• In this article researcher is focusing in literature review, by searching in what others have written about action research in professional community of learning

Key Concepts:Key Concepts:

Profession Community

Situated Learning

Professional Learning

Professional Identity

There are collective ideas in this article, so we have many concepts, such as:

conceptsconcepts

Action TheoryDewey& Schon

Practical ActionProfessionalism

“Characteristics”

It suggests that knowledge is enacted

in reflecting and developing a

practice.

The commitment to systematic questioning of

one's own teaching

The commitment and the skills to study one's own

teaching

The concern to test theory by

practicing

See next slideCycle of Action and Reflection

actionAnalysis

interpretation practical

theory

Consequences action

ideas

Data collection

Professional Community (Professional Community (hypotheses) :hypotheses) :

• Researchers use the term of “Professional Community” that is affecting individual action and development.

• Teacher groups are also important in teachers’ action research, for several reasons:

Teachers share their experiences by talking about plans, steps and results.

Colleagues in the group are also expected to provide practical support for individual research.

It is also stimulate the dissemination of teacher knowledge.

• There is theory that is called "scientific community" for Thomas Kuhn. This theory suggests that in the profession community researchers can take the chance to become aware of the mistakes, alternatives and strengths of their researches

Research questions inResearch questions in our article…our article…

• What is the significance and what is the potential of the social aspect (of teacher group, of the Professional community) for the Professional learning of teachers?

• How can we conceive and develop Professional community in order to strengthen their potential for Professional learning?

Objectives:Objectives:

• Define the term of professional community& action research.

• Support the role of researcher in action research.

• Provide the role of practice in action research and profisionality.

Situated Learning Theory:Situated Learning Theory:

• Formulated by :Jean Lave & Etienne Wenger(1991)

• Their question:How do the novices become full members in a community of practice?

• What they used?

Ethnographic studies. Studies about contemporary social phenomena.

• Characteristics of their concept of learning:

Learning means engaging in the social world. Learning is situated. Learning occurs through communities of practice. Learning occurs in socially structured situations. Learning is formation of identity in communities of practice. Learning occurs in the mode of "Legitimate Peripheral participation"(LPP).

Communities of Practice … Communities of Practice …

Members of theseMembers of thesecommunities connected by:communities connected by:

It is defining by three dimensions:

• Joint enterprise.

• Mutual engagement.

• The shared repertoire of communal resources.

• What they do over time.

• What they produce through their joint enterprise (Knowledge, competence).

• What its members are in the community of practice, how they relate to each other and the world.

Communities of practice are not always:Communities of practice are not always:

• Homogeneous and free of conflicts.

• Good or bad.

• Unlimited.

• Exclusive with respect to membership.

• Identical with organizational structures.

The Development of Communities of Practice The Development of Communities of Practice

Questions in this section...

• How do communities of practice develop?• What can be done to establish and develop them?

Strategies for the cultivation of communities of practice…

• Identify potential communities of practice.

• Provide infrastructure and support.• Use non-traditional methods to measure

value and adapt reward systems.

Identify Development and Professional Communities in Teacher Education and Teacher Research

• Processes of knowledge development and competence development go hand in hand with processes of practice development.

• These processes take place in the medium of a community of practice, which is characterized by the fact that its members participate in the development of knowledge, practice and identity.

• The development of such communities of practice may be furthered or obstructed by specific interventions and organizational arrangements.

Researcher steps for the next sections:

• Raising some arguments for the claim that it makes sense to assign more attention to the development of the professional identity of teachers.

• Analyzing what strategies have evolved in the history of educational action research to tackle this task.

The Development of Professional Identity through Action Research

The Development of Professional Identity through Action Research

Features of “Action Research”:

• It is an opportunity to develop some pride about one's competences and at the same time, to reflect and develop them.

• It stimulates teachers to present their own developments and experiences to other colleagues, parents.

• It stimulate teachers to publish their experiences in written from in studies and overcome the fear that others might find deficiencies in their writing.

Findings:

• The idea of graded public should be applied in this type of research.

• Work in teacher research and teacher group is guided by an ethical code and by specific work structures.

• Teacher researchers aspire to build up a toolbox of research strategies and instruments.

• Participating in teacher groups must offer the chance to experience a touch of life quality.

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