ABSTRACT

This study of nine Primary School teachers of Religious Education (RE) analyses the benefits of their engagement in practitioner research (PR) and shows how that engagement can be sustained. We demonstrate the importance of enhancing the social dimension of learning through forming a community-of-practice (CoP) that enables participants to gain confidence and engage in democratic dialogue. The CoP in our project was sustained because teachers built trust with each other, were willing to talk openly about their practices and, through their common commitment to RE, contributed to the knowledge base of teaching. We conclude that engaging teachers in PR can create positive changes for schools because knowledge, interrogated by critical reflection, will be rooted in teachers’ professional understanding of the processes of teaching and learning. Further, that communities-of-practice, as social learning environments, assist in sustaining teachers’ engagement in PR by creating opportunities for teachers’ collaborative critical reflection on their taken-for-granted professional practices.

摘要

这项对九位宗教教育 (RE) 小学教师的研究分析了他们参与实践研究 (PR) 的好处，并展示了如何维持这种参与。我们展示了通过形成实践社区 (CoP) 来增强学习的社会维度的重要性，使参与者能够获得信心并参与民主对话。我们项目中的 CoP 得以持续，因为教师之间建立了信任，愿意公开谈论他们的实践，并且通过他们对 RE 的共同承诺，为教学知识库做出了贡献。我们得出结论，让教师参与公关可以为学校带来积极的变化，因为通过批判性反思询问的知识将植根于教师对教与学过程的专业理解。更远，