The BERA Guide to Practitioner Research

Developing Professional Knowledge in Educational Research and Practice

Kate Mawson|Claire Haresnape Tyson|Thomas Perry|Joyce I-Hui Chen
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Paperback / softback
9781836089636
02 December 2025
£24.00
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9781836089605
02 December 2025
£24.00
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9781836089629
02 December 2025
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  • Description
  • Contents
  • About

Practitioner research offers a distinctive platform for educators to develop and share their professional expertise. It is the only approach that fully recognises the vital role practitioners play in generating and applying new knowledge in education.

The BERA Guide to Practitioner Research is a companion guide for those who see themselves as practitioner researchers or those who are interested in becoming practitioner researchers within educational settings. Chapters highlights the considerations for understanding and engaging in practitioner research by drawing upon a range of case studies that exemplify the varied forms practitioner research can take, the influence it can have, and the subsequent questions it may raise for how we understand research and the role and relationship between teachers and higher education.

Grounded in concrete examples of the characteristics and possibilities of educational practitioner research, The BERA Guide to Practitioner Research usefully illustrates the characteristics, principles, strategies, and challenges by presenting a range of real-world examples of practitioner research projects and reveals the variety of practitioner researcher roles and projects, promoting the voices of practitioner researchers in their educational settings.

Introduction and Editorial Perspective on Practitioner Research; Thomas Perry and Claire Haresnape Tyson

  • Introduction to Section 1: The Field of Practitioner Research and Worldviews; Thomas Perry and Claire Haresnape Tyson
  • Chapter 1. Practitioner Research in Education: Philosophical Foundations, Contextual Applications, and Policy Implications; Holly Heshmati
  • Chapter 2. Practitioner Research in Initial Teacher Education; Vicky Christoforatou
  • Chapter 3. Bridging the Gap: Enhancing Research-Practice Links in Education for a Research-Informed Future; Adriane Martini
  • Introduction to Section 2: Power, Positionality, and Identity in Practitioner Research; Kate Mawson
  • Chapter 4. Empowering a Research-Engaged Profession; Rachel Marsden and Gillian Peiser
  • Chapter 5. The Cyclical Nature of Being Both ‘Practitioner’ and ‘Researcher’ and the Influence on Professional Development Design; Rebekah Gear and Tazreen Kassim-Lowe
  • Chapter 6. Three Lecturers, Three Universities, Three Countries: Can Facilitating Connecting Art Workshops in International Educational Contexts Create Connection and Criticality?; Frances-Ann Norton
  • Chapter 7. Researching on the Inside Looking In: Navigating Issues of Power in Conducting Practitioner Research Projects; Sarah Peters and Joyce I-Hui Chen
  • Chapter 8. Teachers Teaching Teachers; Sylvia Ikomi
  • Introduction to Section 3: Professional Learning and Sharing Skills; Joyce I-Hui Chen
  • Chapter 9. The Journey towards a Whole-School Culture of Teachers as Researchers: Reflections from a State-Maintained School for Students with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities; Hannah Lovatt and Gina Stafford
  • Chapter 10. Developing Research-Informed Trainee Teachers; Elizabeth Hidson
  • Chapter 11. Disrupting to Develop; Debbie Bogard, Freya Cox-Willmott, and Neil Hart
  • Chapter 12. Developing Professional Knowledge as a Consortium - Moving from ‘I’ to ‘We’; Claire Haresnape Tyson, Matthew J. Easterbrook, Lewis Doyle, Alison Glover, Elizabeth Hidson, and Thomas Perry
  • Chapter 13. An Insider Perspective: Exploring Teachers’ Engagement with Professional Development in Cooperation with Practitioner Co-Researchers; Marianne Talbot
  • Chapter 14. The Research-Engaged Practitioner: The Importance of Research Literacy and Critical Reflection for the Novice Teacher’s Professional Learning; Leanne Henderson, Danyah Alsayeud, and Ian Collen
  • Introduction to Section 4: Research Knowledge, Quality, and Ethics in Practitioner Research; Kate Mawson
  • Chapter 15. How the Quality of Research and Research Partnerships (Practitioner Researcher) can be Enhanced by Using Critical Theory as a Framework; Kate Newby, Matthew Lee, and Amanda Lee
  • Chapter 16. Unpacking and Underpinning the Ethical Conduct and Sharing of Practitioner Research; Alison Twiner, Patrick Carmichael, Pete Dudley, Sara Hennessy, and Ying Ji
  • Chapter 17. Exploratory Practice: What about the Learners?; Rachel Bate
  • Chapter 18. Managing Ethical Dilemmas with the Dual Identity of Practitioner and Researcher; John Parkin
  • Chapter 19. Dialogical Knowledge Curation in Education: Integrating Research and Practice in North East Wales; Tomos G. ap Sion, Lisa Formby, Sue Horder, and Karen Rhys Jones
  • Chapter 20. Reflections and Future Directions in Practitioner Research; Kate Mawson, Thomas Perry, Claire Haresnape Tyson, and Joyce I-Hui Chen

Kate Mawson is an experienced practitioner-researcher, leading initiatives in Higher Education. Her research interests include practitioner research methodologies, assessment and feedback, as well as leadership and gender issues in HE.

Claire Haresnape Tyson is a teacher researcher based at Homewood School and Sixth Form Centre, where she combines teaching science and the extended project qualification with her research role.

Thomas Perry is an Associate Professor at the Department of Education Studies at the University of Warwick. His research and teaching focus on how research, evidence and data can improve education policy and practice.

Joyce I-Hui Chen works at the College of West Anglia in England and her role includes professional development and teacher education, organisational development, and quality improvement.