Teachers as Researchers: Qualitative Inquiry as a Path to Empowerment (Falmer Press Teachers' Library Series)

This book urges teachers - as both producers and consumers of knowledge - to engage in the debate about educational research by undertaking meaningful research themsleves. Teachers are now being encouraged to carry out research in order to improve their effectiveness in the classroom, but this book suggests that they also reflect on and challenge the reductionist and technicist methods that promote a 'top down' system of education. The author, a leading proponent of qualitative research, argues that only by engaging in complex, critical research will teachers rediscover their professional status, empower their practice in the classroom and improve the quality of education for their pupils. Postgraduate students of education and experienced teachers will find much to inspire and encourage them in this book. Updated and revised for this new edition, it retains both its clarity and insistence on sound research practice. Joe L. Kincheloe is Professor of Education at the City University of New York Graduate Center and Brooklyn College. he is the author and editor of many books on critical pedagogy and qualitative research in education. Series Editor: Ivor F. Goodson. Book Cover......Page 1 Title......Page 4 Contents......Page 5 Introduction: Positivistic Standards and the Bizarre Educational World of the Twenty-first Century......Page 8 Teachers as Researchers, Good Work, and Troubled Times......Page 29 Connecting Knower and Known: Constructing an Emancipating System of Meaning......Page 55 Exploring Assumptions Behind Educational Research: Defining Positivism in a Neo-Positivist Era......Page 78 What Constitutes Knowledge?......Page 98 Purposes of Research: The Concept of Instrumental Rationality......Page 117 The Quest for Certainty......Page 148 Verifiability and the Concept of Rigor in Qualitative Research......Page 166 The Value of the Qualitative Dimension......Page 195 Values, Objectivity and Ideology......Page 213 The Foundations of Teacher Research: A Sample Syllabus......Page 233 References......Page 262 Name Index......Page 287 Subject Index......Page 294 "This book urges teachers - as both producers and consumers of knowledge - to engage in the debate about educational research by undertaking meaningful research themselves." "Teachers are now being encouraged to carry out research in order to improve their effectiveness in the classroom, but this book suggests that they also reflect on and challenge the reductionist and technicist methods that promote a 'top-down' system of education. The author, a leading proponent of qualitative research, argues that only by engaging in complex, critical research will teachers rediscover their professional status, empower their practice in the classroom and improve the quality of education for their pupils." This book provides a critique of teachers' work in a era marked by top-down technical standards. It urges teachers to engage in the debate on educational research by undertaking meaningful teacher research Argues that teachers should engage in research to increase their skills in the classroom and improve the quality of education for their students. Joe L. Kincheloe. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 255-279) And Index.