In specialized schools, teachers were encouraged to engage in action research, a learning approach focused on collaborative inquiry, which aims to develop teachers' collaborative and research skills. There have been almost no studies that have dealt exclusively with how teachers who are required to carry out action research perceive and approach action research. Using a purposive sampling strategy with maximum variation, the participants selected for this study included seven teachers and three facilitators of action research courses.
The results of this study are mainly derived from the semi-structured interviews, reviews of action research reports and articles written by the teacher. The results of the study will help the school management to know the different, sometimes conflicting, views of the teachers about action research. Practitioners also become more aware of conducting action research effectively, handling research methods, collecting data and analyzing it in a systematic way.
The research can contribute to developing a deeper understanding of action research in other schools where teachers engage in action research. It can also contribute to the literature on action research, especially in the context of Kazakhstan.
Introduction
This approach aims to promote teachers' collaborative and research skills through action research. In addition, teachers conduct action research in their classrooms as a tool to improve their teaching practice. A specialist school teacher cannot be promoted to 'specialist teacher' unless he successfully completes action research.
One of the courses at the school is dedicated to action research and is taught by experienced teachers called facilitators. The school has not established a specific mechanism for evaluating and monitoring the quality of action research studies carried out by teachers. The participants of this study are teachers who have been involved in action research for more than two years and facilitators of action research courses in the school.
First of all, the results of the study will help the school management to know the teachers' different, sometimes conflicting, views on action research. It will also expand the specialist school teachers' understanding of how they can incorporate action research into their teaching practice, so that it will serve them as a tool for professional development.
Literature Review
Inquiry develops as others participate and become co-participants in the action research process (Creswell, 2012). Therefore, the author suggests that action research becomes an integral part of teacher education. When designing a curriculum or academic program, teachers engage in action planning, the final step in the action research process.
They describe reflection as “the most challenging aspect of action research” (p. 570) and see it as the review of data that is done continuously. In her article, Noffke (1992) asserts that “there has been very little examination of the diversity of visions within action research” (p. 15) particularly with teachers. The problems that teachers face when participating in action research have been discovered by many researchers.
In addition, the lecturers take the time to painstakingly explain to the students what the process of action research should be. A remarkable way to learn about the conduct of action research was presented by Vogrinc and Zuljan (2009).
Methodology
To arrive at the best answers to the research questions, the data collected from the semi-structured interviews, observations of course sessions and reviews of the action research articles were synthesized, compared and contrasted. The research was conducted in one of the specialized schools, located in the western part of Kazakhstan. Aware of the importance of selecting participants to obtain credible answers to the interview questions, I paid close attention to the number of participants and their experience in action research.
So, maximum variation sampling was applied to the study to ensure the diversity of participants and to look at the research problem from different perspectives. During the research it was found that most of the male teachers were not engaged in action research, and some did not have two years of experience in conducting action research. The gatekeeper received an invitation letter (see Appendix A), in which the researcher explained the purpose of the study and the benefits the school would derive from the research.
I promised to provide the participants with the copy of the research findings by the end of the study. With the permission of the course moderators, non-participant observation was made during the courses. I planned to observe the two meetings of the teachers involved in pair and group action research.
All my data on the analysis of the articles and course plans are recorded in the document analysis sheet (see Appendix E). Before starting the study, the researcher had approached the school gatekeeper with an invitation letter. The participants in the study received an invitation letter via their company email and on paper.
The expected benefits for the participants were a better understanding of the concept of action research and the implementation of action research as a way to improve their teaching practice. At the end of the study, participating teachers will receive a brief summary of the research and recommendations on how they can benefit from action research to improve their teaching practice. In particular, the chapter described the study design, choice of study site, and selection of the study site.
Findings
Almost all study participants understand that involving other people is crucial to problem solving through action research. Analysis of respondents' comments about the stages of action research showed that action researchers have a common understanding of how to organize the steps for research. Teachers often talked about the "importance of the problem", which can be part of the research article, but not an action research phase.
This situation is common with most of the participants, even though they attend weekly action research courses at school. I have read about the stages of action research in literature written in the Kazakh language. More surprising is that most research practitioners and course facilitators have never heard of the notion of the "action research cycle".
To see the teachers' learning, I observed two sessions of the in-school action research courses conducted in different groups by different moderators. In addition, the issue of time influences the type of action research that the teachers apply. The ways to deal with the issue of lack of knowledge about the action research stages.
Aizhan spoke on behalf of the teachers, who were the first to be involved in action research. Gulzhan, who has also been engaged in action research since the school opened, applies a similar strategy. At the end of the interviews, all participants were asked to provide their recommendations for improving existing action research practices in the school.
They suggest that the school administration should give teacher researchers a day for action research. Another recommendation mentioned by the participating teachers is that the results of previous action research practices should be disseminated throughout the school. The moderators of the courses also gave their suggestions for improving the work of action research subjects in the school.
Discussion
Almost all of my study participants agreed with the view that action research is productive when conducted internally. In the study of Pellerin and Nogués (2015), teachers were involved in the collaborative action research project. Similarly, the participants of my study noted the positive impact of action research on the teaching practice of new teachers.
For these two reasons, there is a risk that teachers will conduct action research of low quality. In addition, it proposes a balanced action research model that teachers can follow when doing research. In other words, there is not much 'action' in their action research, but mostly 'research' (surveys) to find out the learning outcomes of students.
There is also a group of researchers who conduct surveys twice during their action research. Teachers simply follow the stages of action research that are appropriate for them or that they believe are appropriate. Upon completion, teachers make conference presentations and publications of their action research reports (Edwards, 2016).
Also, there are some teachers in the school who have abandoned action research without being able to complete it. Its inefficiency is also seen in the reports and articles written by the teachers after the action research was completed. In contrast to the findings of Nagibova (2016), the participants of my study elaborated a clear understanding about action research.
During the cycle approach, the facilitators planned the action research steps as activities for the teachers to carry out. To begin with, the course facilitators were not specifically trained to conduct school-based action research courses. There are also teachers, who are oriented and oriented towards following the stages of action research thanks to the strict supervision of the course moderators.
Conclusion
Preimushetva i trudnosti proektov Action Research i Lesson Study [The benefits and challenges of the Action Research and Lesson Study Projects] [PowerPoint presentation in PDF file].
