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Learning by Researching: Achievements and Actions of Teacher Learning in a School–University Collaborative Project - Ge Wei (魏戈), Chi-yang Chung (钟启旸), 2023 (sagepub.com)
Article Information
Manuscript received: January 26, 2021
Revision received: May 20, 2021
Manuscript accepted: July 12, 2021
Published online: July 7, 2022
Issue published: May 2023
Author
Ge Wei (魏戈)
Capital Normal University
Chi-Yang Chung (钟启旸)
Jinggangshan University
Abstract
Purpose: This study explores the achievements and process of a group of Chinese primary school teachers learning from a research-based school–university collaborative project.
Design/Approach/Methods: We used qualitative methods to construct our research design, collecting data through participatory observations of weekly meetings, teacher interviews, and participants’ reflective journals. Both thematic analysis and discursive analysis were employed as strategies to scrutinize the data.
Findings: We categorize teachers’ learning into five achievements: outcome, processual, democratic, catalytic, and dialogic achievement. A further examination highlights seven successive learning actions composing an implicit mechanism to facilitate these achievements: questioning, analyzing, modeling, examining, implementing, reflecting, and consolidating.
Originality/Value: Through this longitudinal study, we more comprehensively record details about teachers’ learning as they conduct their own research. Although school–university heterogeneous collaboration has potential conflicts, teachers can improve their problem-solving and knowledge creation and sharing abilities, promoting a sense of professional accomplishment. These findings also suggest the need to reconsider the authentic process of teacher research, a task equally significant for international educators.
Keywords
Learning achievements, learning actions, school–university partnerships, teacher learning, teacher research