Supporting teacher-research : challenges and opportunities

It is generally acknowledged that teacher-research (research by teachers into their own practice) can be a particularly empowering form of professional development. Indeed, engagement in teacher-research seems to have been on the increase recently (thus, nineteen posters were presented at the Teachers Research! Pre-Conference Event organized in Harrogate by IATEFL’s Research SIG: see http://resig.weebly.com/teachers-research-1-april- 2014 (accessed 9 June 2014)). However, to date there has been relatively little focus on how teacher-research can be supported by teacher educators and educational managers. The three papers in this forum presented different experience-based perspectives on some of the challenges and opportunities involved. Fauzia Shamim set the scene with her paper Action research for teacher development: opportunities and challenges. As she pointed out, the benefits of action research have been well documented (e.g. Burns 2010). However, there is a scarcity of accounts of how action research can be incorporated as a strategy for teacher development within teachers' everyday working lives, outside degree course contexts. Her paper aimed to address the gap by discussing two cases from Pakistan and Saudi Arabia