IP 91-1 Research genres in teacher education.
Abstract
This paper reviews five broad types of research that are designed to determine whether or how teacher education has made a difference to teachers. Each genre follows its own line of reasoning about where one might look for the effects of teacher education and how one might design a research study to see the impact of teacher education.
The first genre consists of open searches for contributions to pupil achievement. The teacher's education is one of the contributions typically examined.
The second genre consists of comparison studies, in which teachers who have received formal teaching credentials are contrasted with teachers who have not.
The third genre consists of studies in which researchers ask teachers what they think they have learned from their teacher-education programs.
The fourth genre consists of experimental studies, in which different approaches to teacher education are compared.
The fifth genre consists of longitudinal case studies in which teachers are followed over time to see how their thinking changes as they participate in teacher education.
In this review, three questions are asked of each genre: What aspects of teacher education does it examine? What outcomes does it look for? and What kind of reasoning does it use to develop a link between these aspects of teacher education and these outcomes? The paper closes with some suggestions for researchers on ways to strengthen their research designs.