Self-Study in Elementary and Secondary Teaching: A Living Theory Approach

Abstract

In this chapter we present examples of Living Theory research, a form of Self-Study, which show teachers, teacher educators, and administrators researching to improve their teaching and the educational experience of students and contributing the knowledge they create in the process to a professional educational knowledge base. We clarify the relationship between education and educational research and show how Living Theory is distinguished within other forms of Self-Study research. Consideration is given to the opportunities and challenges of promoting this approach and other forms of Self-Study research, as ways to improve practice in schools. We show the development of ideas since Whitehead’s contribution 14 years ago, in 2004, to the first International Handbook of Self-Study on, “What counts as evidence in self-studies of teacher education practices?.” Our emphasis in this chapter is on practicing educators, their professional development, and gaining academic recognition for the embodied knowledges of master and doctor educators.