What Use Is Research? Primary School Teachers’ Experience of School-based Practitioner Research

This dissertation reports on a study which aimed to identify teacher-researcher competencies through an exploratory case study probing the perceptions and realities of teachers’ engagement in research. The literature and findings support a hypothesis that research skills which new teachers develop during their initial training are seldom put to use. A central argument which develops through this study is that school leaders may be failing to identify, value or develop the research skills which their teaching staff hold, and therefore miss opportunities to enhance teaching and learning in their respective institutions.