Page 197 - Innovative Professional Development Methods and Strategies for STEM Education

Impact of a Professional Development Programme

experiences to illustrate the impact of the CAR in facilitating the trainee teacher to resolve many of her
dilemmas and concerns during the PDP. The article concludes with solutions and recommendations
based on our findings and directions that future studies might take.

ACTION RESEARCH

Action research is a methodology through which practitioners study their own practice in order to solve
problems in their day-to-day practice (Corey, 1953, cited in Mitchell, Reilly & Logue, 2009), and to
improve the quality of action (Elliot, 1991) through systematic inquiry (Bullough & Gitlin, 1995). Of
the multiple models of action research, CAR, as a form of inquiry, requires practitioners to engage in a
cycle of problem identification, action planning, implementation, evaluation and reflection. The insights
gained from the initial cycle are integrated into planning of the second cycle, for which the action plan is
altered and the research process is repeated (McKernan, 1991). It also aims to create collaboration with
different stakeholders functioning as co-researchers (Mitchell, Reilly & Logue, 2009).
Studies on the impact of CAR in teacher education show that both pre-service and in-service teachers
become more reflective, critical, and analytical about their teaching practices as they engage in collab-
orative research (Carr & Kemmis, 1986; Mitchell, Reilly & Logue, 2009; Kırkgöz, 2014). Case studies
involving pre-service teachers and their cooperating teachers have further revealed strong evidence to
support collaborative research as a professional development tool (Catelli, 1995; Levin & Rock, 2003;
Atay, 2006).
In the present study, CAR was established between a university researcher/teacher educator, the author
of this chapter, and eight trainee teachers, to provide the mentorship and support for trainee teachers’
professional development. In addition, it was aimed to create an ongoing climate of collaboration among
trainees and the supervising teacher in helping trainees resolve their teaching concerns and dilemmas
within a supportive framework; it would help trainees develop strategies and meaningful solutions that
are trainee-based and process-oriented, so that they were going to improve their classroom practice by
adopting a problem based inquiry to learning and teaching. In addition, the process of cognitive change
was investigated in trainees’ situated classroom context in order to identify potential impacts of involve-
ment in the CAR experience on the professional development of trainee teachers.

MAIN FOCUS OF THE STUDY

This study describes the author’s engagement, who is the teacher educator, in implementing a school-
based professional development programme (PDP), informed by the principles of collaborative action
research (CAR). The study was conducted with Turkish pre-service English language trainee teachers
as part of their practicum course (School Experience II) and lasted 10 weeks. An increasing number of
last-year trainee teachers complained that their existing beliefs, based on their university course work,
conflicted, in many ways, with the school-based mentor’s teaching practices they observed in school
classrooms. Consequently, trainees experienced discrepancies as their beliefs about teaching English
did not match the observed teaching practice of their mentors. They encountered a dilemma as they
were left to choose between the teaching methodology recommended by their university tutors and their
mentors’ teaching practice.

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