Action Research-Based Teacher Professional Development
The quality of education in schools depends on the competence and commitment of teachers. Research (Warwick and Reimers, 1985; Hoodbhoy, 1998; Niyozov, 2001) show that there is a decline in the quality of education in most developing countries as a result of inadequate teacher preparation. This realization has led to a growing emphasis on in-service teacher education. Research, however, shows that there remains a "fundamental persistence" in what happens in schools and classrooms (Groundwater-Smith & Dadds, 2004) as relatively few teachers apply learning from courses in their classrooms. Many reasons have been suggested for the lack of classroom change: courses are too theoretical and neglect the practical needs of teachers (Eliot, 1981), teachers distrust academic research as it fails to account for the differences between schools (Groundwater-Smith & Dadds, 2004), and because of a lack of follow up support as teachers try to develop their pedagogical practice (Joyce, Calhoun and Hopkins, 1999).
The author will argue for the professional development of teachers to be based upon systematic action research undertaken as a collegial activity within the culture of the school. Three case studies of action research, one each from South Asia, East Africa and Central Asia, in which Professional Development Teachers (PDTs) (MEd graduates of AKU-IED) worked with teachers to improve teaching and learning in the classroom, will be presented to illustrate the possibilities and challenges of using action research for teacher professional development.
The author will further argue that while action research for teacher professional development addresses the challenges of other forms of teacher professional development, for increased benefits partnerships with universities wishing to support schools in doing action research should be developed and schools must be better resourced and supported over longer periods of time.