Brudenell Primary School

As a school we are committed to lifelong learning and as such we fund release time for all our staff; teachers, support staff and office workers to carry out action research. Already we have noticed staff feeling more empowered and passionate about their work.   As you walk around the school you will see staff talking to one another and the pupils about their area of interest.  We are now into our third cycle and staff are continuing to use academic research to develop their understanding of an area of interest in order to increase pupil achievement.   

Action research has two aspects:                            

1) The starting point is to identify a problem or issue in practice; the action researcher seeks a solution through reading published material related to the area of interest.               

2)The next stage is to put these ideas into practice and evaluate the impact within your relevant context.  This can include microteaching; recording sessions to evaluate the impact in depth.  Pupil/staff interviews and questionnaires are also an effective way of evaluating the impact.
The process of action research can also be used as a deliberate attempt to understand practice better .
What is most important in action research is that you are open, honest and rigorous.