Practitioner Research in Education

`Practitioner Research in Education should become a millennium "must" for principals and school leaders whose schools are under OfSTED spotlight and for all those practitioners who earnestly aim to undertake higher managment studies whilst "in situ" in their teaching posts.... It is a publication well worth reading by all those who continue to be, justifiably, enthused by school development issues′ - Angela Monkman Brushett, OfSTED Inspector

`This is a very simple but notable piece of work... They have done a service to education in providing evidence (and there is remarkably little elsewhere) that continuous professional development does pay off in terms of a better education for pupils in schools′ - School Leadership and Management

Much debate currently concerns the value of education research : how is it perceived by practitioners and students ? How useful and relevant is it ? Who best carries it out ? Can it be free from political influence ? While practitioner research is widely advocated, little is known about its effect on individuals, teams and the institution.

In Practitioner Research in Education, the authors explore the effects of teachers′ and lecturers′ research and its impact on organizational improvement. Whether affecting whole school cultures through teachers′ group work, or influencing practice through an individual′s research, the accounts in this book show how research can make a difference. They show how improvements in management and leadership arising from practitioner research can contribute to advances in teaching and learning.

The book includes material on how to conduct research, the types of research which practitioners can carry out in a school or college, and the implications of research for organizational development. Readers will be able to draw valuable lessons for personal, professional, team or school improvement.

Practitioner Research In Education will be useful to students and practitioners of educational management, to those doing research in educational settings, and to school managers who are committed to school improvement.

David Middlewood is currently a part-time Research Fellow at the Centre for Educational Studies in the University of Warwick, having previously worked at the University of Lincoln and the University of Leicester where he was Deputy Director of the Centre for Educational Leadership and Management. Prior to working in Higher Education, David taught in schools for many years, culminating in the principalship  of a comprehensive secondary school for nine years, where awards were won for creative arts and equal opportunities. He has taught and researched extensively in the UK and also in various countries in Europe and Africa, being a visiting professor in New Zealand and in South Africa. David has written and edited more than twenty books, many on people leadership and management, strategic leadership, appraisal, practitioner research and some recent research includes work on high performing teams, support staff and student voice. He was co-editor of two professional journals for both primary and secondary school leaders for over six years. He recently co-authored a book on the  leadership of groups of schools and his current work (with Ian Abbott) concerns leadership of learning for disadvantaged pupils. Marianne Coleman is Reader Emerita in Educational Leadership at University College London, Institute of Education. Before a career in higher education at the University of Leicester and the Institute of Education she was a secondary school teacher and an advisory teacher in an LEA. Now retired, she continues to research and write focusing on her interest in gender and leadership and wider issues of diversity and social justice. She has recently co-authored a book on ageing and is a trustee of the Nurture Group Network, an educational charity which supports children with social, emotional and behavioural difficulties. Jacky Lumby (Ph.D. University of Leicester) is Professor of Education and Head of the School of Education at the University of Southampton, UK. She has taught and led in a range of educational settings, including secondary/high schools, community and further/technical education. She has also worked for a Training and Enterprise Council, with a regional responsibility for developing leaders across the public and private sectors. She has researched and published widely on educational policy, leadership and management in schools and colleges, in the UK and internationally. Her work on leadership encompasses a range of perspectives, including diversity issues, comparative and international perspectives and leading upper secondary education. She has co-edited International handbook on the preparation and development of school leaders (2008). Her most recent book is, with Marianne Coleman, Leadership and Diversity: Challenging Theory and Practice in Education (2007). She is co- editor of the journal International Studies in Educational Administration and a member of the Council of the British Educational Leadership, Management and Administration Society.