Research in RE (part 3): Who should do RE Research? – Dr James Robson

So who should do research? Ok I’ll admit it, this is clearly a loaded question and one that I’ve asked as a way into critiquing current discourses emphasising that all teachers should be ‘research active’, i.e. ‘doing research’. Personally, I think all teachers should be research literate, but I don’t think asserting that all teachers should do research is terribly helpful. Active engagement in research isn’t for everyone and to demand it of every teacher risks flooding the public research space with an overload of poorly thought out and poorly implemented research done half-heartedly to fulfil professional goals. Of course I’m not saying that teacher-led research is inherently bad, I’m saying that bullying people who don’t want to do research into feeling they have to will lead to reluctant researchers which leads to poor research. It risks fatiguing participants, cementing assumptions about educational research as non-rigorous (criticisms frequently levelled at the field already) and making wading through research such an onerous task that to find good research could become almost impossible.

Arguably discourses emphasising that all teachers should do research arise from the fact that, in their everyday professional lives, teachers engage in activity that looks a lot like research. Normal professional practice necessarily involves testing what works in the classroom: what pedagogies are most effective, what technology supports teaching and learning; what kinds of formative assessment work best for progress; how professional development is best supported etc. However, as numerous academics have pointed out, this kind of work is rarely systematic, rooted in academic literature or based in any coherent research methodology; rather it is subjective and unsystematic. Though absolutely vital for individual professional practice, such work is very hard to generalise and in the public sphere is more anecdotal than rigorous.

I don’t want to diminish this crucial work, but I think it’s important to try and make a distinction between individual-focused professional research and research that is systematic, rigorous and rooted in literature, theory and a rich understandings of research methods. Perhaps a working distinction should talk of personal research that facilitates localised professional practice and public research that should enter the public sphere and has the bearing on wider professional practice. I suspect that when people use the general word ‘research’ they mean the latter.

Should all teachers be doing personal research? Absolutely it’s a key part of their professional practice and professional development! Should all teachers be doing public research? Absolutely not – this requires significant time and dedication that many teachers cannot afford to give. It requires detailed planning rooted in a firm knowledge of educational research, theory and research methods that can take years to achieve!

Making this distinction is helpful when trying to discuss teachers’ relationship with research as, all too often, the concept of personal research gets conflated with public research. This leads to unclear debates and muddy thinking. Making the distinction allows us to get to grips with the ways in which research can feature in teachers’ lives and clarifies what we mean when we talk about teachers ‘doing’ research. As such, I would argue that teachers should be literate in public research and actively engaged in personal research. Any more than that is a luxury not a professional necessity.

Read Research in RE (part 1): What is RE research? Broadening our perspectives
Read Research in RE (part 2): Why is RE research important?
Read Research in RE (part 3): Who should do RE Research?
Read Research in RE (part 4): How Should RE Research be Shared?

Dr James Robson is the Knowledge and Online Manager at Culham St Gabriel’s and a lecturer at Oxford University Department of Education where he is pathway leader for the MSc in Learning and Technology. His blog represents his personal opinions and does not reflect those of either of his employers.