Action Research: Professional Development to Help Support and Retain Early Career Teachers

Source: Educational Action Research, Volume 21, Issue 2, 2013, pages 131-146.

In this article, the author analyzes how participation in teacher-led, semester-long, action research projects influences early career teacher (fewer than three years of teaching experience) perceptions of support and learning.

All teachers at an urban, newly developed, small high school participated in action research projects.
Two cycles of action research projects were implemented and teachers provided feedback through an end-of-project evaluation.

Results show that teacher-led action research projects as a professional development structure contribute to the development of a supportive professional culture, feelings of context-specific support, and feelings of empowerment and being overwhelmed in an urban school staffed primarily with early career teachers.