Action Research as a School-Based Strategy in Intercultural Professional Development for Teachers

Source: This article was published in Teaching and Teacher Education, Volume 27, Issue 5,
Author(s): Auxiliadora Sales, Joan A. Traver, Rafaela García, " Action Research as a School-Based Strategy in Intercultural Professional Development for Teachers", Pages 911–919, Copyright Elsevier (July 2011).

The current article describes a case study undertaken in a Spanish school during the 2007–2008 academic year.
The purpose of this article is to explain how action research methodology was applied to encourage professional and school culture towards an intercultural and inclusive approach.

The results show that the training process challenged teachers’ pre-existing deficit theory perspectives and empowered them as leaders for school change.
Teachers become aware of their responsibility to create intercultural educational environments.
The first consequence of the teachers' participation was the empowering for change.
The second consequence was the improvement in teachers’ expectations.
Then, teachers moved towards a situation of shared leadership.

The conclusions identify the key factors that enabled teachers to engage in critical reflection, and to implement strategies for collaborative work and community participation in school.