The Impact of Conducting Practitioner Research Projects on Teachers’ Professional Growth

There is growing interest in the effectiveness of practitioner research for promoting teachers’ professional learning. It is important to determine if and why practitioner research is effective for teachers, however, it is also necessary to determine what support they need to develop research skills to design and implement practitioner research. This article reports on a year-long pilot study that aimed to design a model of professional learning to enhance teachers’ research skills and support them to conduct their own research. The study involved 11 participants from four schools. Eight full-day workshops were designed to develop research skills and scaffold the research projects. Participants were surveyed at the beginning of the study and interviewed mid-way and at the end. The findings indicated professional growth for all participants both in terms of research skills and other professional outcomes, such as enhanced classroom or school-wide practice.