When research meets practitioners and teachers

Why and how can we bring together those who are searching (and often find what they aren’t looking for!) and those who are trying to reconcile what is prescribed with the reality of what they are given and what they do – or do not do – with it?

When I attend an event where researchers present their work, I actually see only practitioners, because everyone works within their own field and meets others who work in other fields.

The researcher in human sciences wants to find out what the other person does, how they view their profession, how they see themselves in their work, how they feel, and the challenges they face. The professional meets someone who knows little about the demands of their work, who follows a protocol, who analyses using a rigorous methodology, who delivers results and raises further questions. The teacher may be able to express what they do not usually have the opportunity to say, caught between the demands of curriculum guidelines, classroom management and the myriad administrative tasks that squeeze into an already packed and ever-more-hectic schedule. The time set aside for the interview offers an opportunity to reflect on their profession by taking a step back.

Ultimately, the researcher’s role is not merely to investigate, reveal, demonstrate and shed light on what had not previously been revealed. The researcher opens up dialogue, establishes connections, encourages reflection on little-explored aspects, and may sometimes disturb; yet their research aims to set things in motion beyond what was previously taken for granted and regarded as set in stone.

And they fulfil this role thanks to all those – professionals and teachers – who agree, anonymously, to answer their questions. I have often heard those I have interviewed say, at the end of the interview, that it had given them the opportunity to see themselves in a different light and to ask themselves new and challenging questions.

For my part, at the end of an interview, the only word that comes to my mind to describe how I feel is: gratitude.