Developing Teachers' Research Literacy: International Perspectives

Schoolteachers need to use professional judgments to decide what and how to teach. This is essential due to the values-based nature of education in combination with the complexity of the classroom and a contested research evidence base. This professional judgment of teachers requires a level of research literacy if teachers are to contribute to collective leadership in schools and develop research-informed practice. However, professional judgment and research literacy are under threat in the post-truth world. Drawing together the expertise of teacher educators from a range of international contexts, the editors, Pete Boyd, Agnieszka Szplit and Zuzanna Zbróg, propose and refine a definition of teachers’ research literacy. They show how it is currently understood and addressed by teacher educators working with student teachers and more experienced expert teachers. Overall, the book reveals how teacher development through professional inquiry is widely valued and used, but not always with an explicit emphasis on research literacy. An argument emerges, that developing an increased emphasis on research literacy within teacher education and professional development must help teachers to develop technical understanding of educational research, but also a critical and philosophical perspective on the purposes of education and the field of education within a post-truth world. They need to be able to position their professional inquiries within a bigger picture of research evidence, politics and democracy