Video · Teachers Media
Action Research
Action research is enquiry into your own practice — a small, disciplined study of something specific that's puzzling or promising in your teaching, aimed at understanding it well enough to change what you do. It's the classroom teacher's version of research: rigorous where it matters, but rooted in the real problems of your own pupils.
About this video
Action research has a long tradition in UK education, going back to Lawrence Stenhouse's argument in the 1970s that teachers should be researchers of their own practice, not just consumers of research done by others. The idea is disarmingly simple. Notice a question you can't answer from experience. Plan a change you'll make. Enact it deliberately. Gather evidence of what happened. Reflect on what you learned. Refine. Repeat.
What makes action research different from just "trying stuff and seeing" is the discipline of the evidence step. Instead of relying on impression ("that went well"), the teacher collects something concrete: pupil work, a short recording, an exit ticket, an observation by a colleague. That evidence gives them something specific to reason from, and something specific to share with colleagues when they discuss what changed.
The best action research projects tend to be small in scope. Not "how do I raise attainment in Year 10 English?" but "what happens to the quality of pupil discussion when I introduce structured talk protocols in Year 8?" A narrower question is more answerable, and the answer is more likely to travel into someone else's classroom.
A working structure for an action research cycle
- Notice. What is puzzling, frustrating, or promising in your current practice? What question would you genuinely like an answer to?
- Plan. What will you change, in which class, over how many weeks? What evidence will you gather, from whom, when?
- Act. Enact the change deliberately. Don't let it drift back to your old habit.
- Observe. Collect the evidence. Pupil work, recordings, exit tickets, peer observation, brief pupil interviews.
- Reflect. What does the evidence show? What surprised you? What would you change next time?
Discussion prompts
- What is one puzzle in your current teaching you'd genuinely like an answer to?
- What piece of evidence would count for you as a signal that something you've tried is working?
- Who in your school could you share your enquiry with — someone whose questions and challenges would sharpen your thinking?
Try this in your classroom
- Write a one-sentence action research question about your practice. Refine it until it's specific enough that you could gather evidence about it in a month.
- Pick one change you'll try for a fortnight, and one piece of evidence you'll gather. Set a coffee-length reflection meeting for the end of the two weeks.
- Once you've done one small cycle, write a paragraph on what you learned. Share it with a colleague. That's a valid piece of practitioner research.