Research or professional development?

Generally, teachers’ contact with academics tends to take two forms: either they are the ‘subjects’ of research which is done on or for them; or they are the recipients of professional development which is again done to or for them. In both cases the teachers are positioned in relatively passive and powerless relationships. This paper describes a research project undertaken in 2002 wherein I explored the possibilities of constructing research as a collaborative project between academics and teachers. In this project I attempted to establish a relationship with teachers as co-researchers who conducted parts of the research process themselves, including data collection and analysis.This paper explores the differences in perceptions of this research relationship and reflects on the contradictions in the statements made by the teachers during discussions on the benefits of the research project. These contradictory statements have led me to ask questions of myself as an academic and a researcher, and of the research process I designed. These questions are the focus for this paper and include: Was I engaging in ‘research as usual’ under the guise of engaging teachers in co-researcher practices? What kinds of discourses were operating in our discussions and how did these discourses work to position the teachers? How am I implicated in the construction of these positionings?