Educational Action Research as a Powerful Vehicle for Transformation

Abstract

One of the most significant challenges in the educational field is teachers’ inability to combine teaching and research in the context of action research process as a theory-driven and practice-based approach. To address this issue, the article considers detailed theoretical and practical action research background, challenges revealed in six countries and problems in Kazakhstan education in the light of critical reflection: comparison and contrast, similarities and differences. Similar issues revealed when studying different countries’ action research approaches are as follows: teachers’ personal, intrapersonal, social, professional and cultural challenges, insufficient knowledge about action research theory and practice, problems with documenting findings and representing results. To solve these complicated issues the author suggests principles of sequential action research procedure, introducing action research courses into in-service teachers’ retraining qualification courses as one of the primary requirements to conduct school research systematically, including ‘a theory and practice based research’ discipline into universities in order to encourage undergraduates and postgraduates to design ‘action research handbook’. Overall, action research approach will be an ultimate tool for reconstructing curriculum aims and principles, remodeling teaching strategies and techniques in case numerous barriers are resolved jointly under teachers’ constructive and collaborative critical reflection.