A teacher training program on designing participatory educational action research proposal

Abstract

This study aimed to develop, implement, and evaluate a teacher training program on designing participatory educational action research projects. The program consisted of training teachers to conceptualize an action research problem and design a methodology specific to their proposed topic. Starting with a professional needs assessment on Action Research (AR) as the basis for the planned teacher training opportunity, the teachers underwent training and mentoring sessions to develop a group AR proposal as the outcome of the program and as evidence of their professional growth. At the end of the program, five action research proposals were developed and presented, which include: (1) the design and evaluation of an Information and Communications Technology (ICT) mentoring program for basic education teachers; (2) improving students’ conceptual understanding on selected Social Psychology topics through Case-Based Approach; (3) integrating Canvas during an online departmental examination of board course programs; (4) facilitating career choice of Senior High School students through a career guidance program; and, (5) enhancing pre-service elementary teachers’ pedagogical knowledge for online teaching through instructor modeling. Four of these five proposals were rated acceptable and approved for implementation by a panel of reviewers. The details concerning the strengths and areas for improvement of each proposal are individually reported in the results section. In conclusion, training as a professional development model has the potential to effectively gauge teachers to develop and design educational action research proposals.