‘How does an initiative which is about teacher improvement understand its own
environment?’
In Kazakhstan, fundamental ways of thinking and seeing became enmeshed in
the action research. The new pedagogy and the principles of action research
challenged teachers’previous thinking in profound ways. The relationship between
theory and practice was turned upside down. Teachers had been trained in the
Soviet tradition where it was the norm to learn theory and then‘try (frequently in
vain) to apply it to practice...’In addition it challenged the notion that‘...the
academy...is the source of this professional knowledge. Rather, [in the Action
Research project] theory is generated out of practice, reflection upon that practice
and inquiry into practice, and it is generated primarily not by academicians but by
teachers’(Bridges et al. 2015 : 16). This was not something that was explicit or
recognised before the programme started. It also led to shifts in teacher’s percep-
tions of their worth for they saw themselves as having elevated status as they could
conduct research.
In both cases, there were issues related to power and traditional hierarchies of
power. In societies where there arefirm hierarchies of power the more democratic
approaches in action research can cause shifts and dissonance. Bridges et al. ( 2015 )
cite this example from the retraining of teachers on the professional development
course in Kazakhstan.
This said, one school director, who had not attended any of the CoE programme
herself (because she was‘too old’) found herself with 23 trained teachers from the
level 3 programme who clearly had found new self-confidence
I can share information from my own school. Twenty-three teachers were sent for Level 3
training. They came and they were boycotting saying that our experts said that we can do
anything we want in this course and we are not going to listen to the director.... The
director was having a hard time, she said they don’t listen to me, they just go, they do
whatever they want and now I don’t know where to go and to whom to complain
(Participant B, FG-CoE-trainers).’(Bridges et al. 2015 : 16)There was evidence in the Kazakhstan example that the action research had
impacted upon the professional community and teachers talked of learning new
ways of communicating with each other. These practices need to be synthesised
with planned changes in leadership and internal structures.
I cannot say that there is a global change, but gradually step-by-step we can notice different
kinds of changes especially in the way of thinking of teachers. Teachers know they do not
prepare for lessons individually but in groups and earlier teachers were ashamed to share
their problems or talk about that aloud but right now if they have problems they can come
to other teachers and ask advice and consult.
(Deputy Principal and Teacher Researcher Coordinator B) (McLaughlin and Ayubayeva
2015 : 63)592 C. McLaughlin