Section archive - Research Methods

This article starts with a brief review of the recent history of teacher research in the UK in order to consider how pre- and in-service teachers are currently positioned in relation to research. Drawing on the case of the Scottish Schools of Ambition, the article identifies some of the challenges and opportunities presented by sponsored research engagement. The article suggests that teacher educators may have an important contribution to make to building capacity through teacher enquiry given their position as mediators between schools and university faculties of education.

This article examines the context for education research, including teacher education research, in Scotland. Concerns about research capacity are shared with other parts of the UK. In conclusion, the article suggests that a key element of effective capacity building lies in collaborative approaches.

In this article, the author evaluates both the challenges and possibilities of helping high school students develop critical research skills. He describes how he used Wikipedia to design classroom activities that address issues of authorship, neutrality, and reliability in information gathering. He concludes that teaching research skills in the contemporary context requires ongoing observations of the research strategies and practices students already employ.

The authors investigate the methodological possibilities of dual observation and 'inter-reflexive' interpretation as they have experienced this in a longitudinal ethnographic case study of music teaching and learning in an English Cathedral Choir School. The authors' goal is to understand the ways in which their particular historical, social and cultural perspectives lead them to partial yet complementary sensings, seeings, hearings and feelings in this setting.