Methodology thoughts

 Look at backbone document - written with key points 

Action research is about an intervention in practice and offers iterative cycles to test and retest.

Action research however is practitioner as researcher, usually one practitioner reflecting on and developing their own practice. In the context of primary school teaching it is an unfamiliar context to me as a researcher. My contextual understanding comes from teaching the subject within a workplace settings which holds a different set of logistics.

Using the contextual knowledge of primary teachers as active participants for the research would be the most appropriate action.

However, it has also been identified the teachers are not familiar with the subject with it not being a familiar or yet included part of the curriculum, and as yet no studies are evident in the primary school setting to guide them, so following teachers as practitioners isn’t on its own going to be possible, but also hindered by the lack of pedagogical resources to fall back on. 

This research calls for a collaborative approach combining primary teachers with their contextual teaching knowledge and researcher as knowledgeable teaching the subject matter.

The Iterative cycles of action research would still however be crucial to build an understanding of teaching a new subject, each cycle offering a deeper understanding of the context.

DBR - intervention focused

However the research question is how can teachers deliver the topic, which broadens this beyond just an intervention. This being a new topic is about teachers also learning to teach a new subject rather than an intervention to improve an existing one, therefore their professional development in the knowledge of teaching becomes a core component. However, DBR does not fully account for professional development, its primarily objective is to develop and design an intervention. 

A similar iterative model that explores teaching in the classroom and specifically looks at professional development is lesson study. This takes a deeper look into pedagogical content knowledge that combines deeper learning of a subject area, with how it can be taught and understanding how learners learn it. Lesson study is teacher-led, similar to action research, but is a collaborative approach amongst a group of teachers rather than one. It doesn’t fully account for the researcher as an observer or as a joint stakeholder in the process but does reflect the iterative approach needed for this study.

Lesson study and design based research combined has been approach adopted by others where the aims of the research aren’t fully accounted for by one or the other framework. This research similarly aims to combine the two, using design based research as the overarching framework to guide the study as a coproduction between teachers and the researcher and lesson study to facilitate the professional development aspect needed for this research to give it a multidimensional benefit.

The iterative cycles of both models bring it together as a research design, it also lends itself to several research methods specifically associated with qualitative studies and the social construction of knowledge.

The cycles to planning teaching and the debriefing to evaluate lessons can be fostered by the use of focus groups. Focus groups 4-12, lesson study 3-6. 

Focus groups come with challenges of - nominal group technique.

Focus groups ethical considerations- disclosure- dominant figures - clear rules, structure, and the influence of nominal group technique acts as a contingency. Focus groups don’t always capture individual responses but the group reaction- relative to how peers would work and learn in contextual practice.

Interview will also be adopted to explore in more depth personal accounts of their experiences and learning journey to help identify any specific challenges or personal reflections. This will also aid pulling the study together.

Pedagogical framework- planned, enacted and experienced - the interviews lend themselves to a reflective interview approach at the end of the study to capture the more personal voices.

With a significant amount of data that will be generated- use of thematic analysis- triangulation of data in the final interviews.

The study will be broken down specifically to structure and capture experiences throughout the teaching journey. Initially the first session of me teaching- pre-teaching knowledge at the start, concerns etc.

Longer term impact and application having a more rounded lens of both subject and teacher development to be able to plan and deliver digital accessibility awareness education.