<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>In Western cultures, subjectivity has often been seen as the “black sheep” of educational research because of its heavy emphasis on objectivity. Consequently many research initiatives in education share the assumption that objective reasoning should play a central role. However, mentoring teachers’ practice improvement research often requires us to go beyond the objective dimension and encompass the subjective dimension of the research process such as teachers’ intuition, tacit knowledge and personal meaning-making. The challenge that lies in front of us is how to mindfully make sense of the role of subjectivity in teacher expertise development. This paper examines this issue in terms of three case studies of in-service teachers’ action research projects and points to what it takes for us to mindfully embrace subjectivity in mentoring teachers’ practice improvement research.</p></abstract>

In Western cultures, subjectivity has often been seen as the “black sheep” of educational research because of its heavy emphasis on objectivity. Consequently many research initiatives in education share the assumption that objective reasoning should play a central role. However, mentoring teachers’ practice improvement research often requires us to go beyond the objective dimension and encompass the subjective dimension of the research process such as teachers’ intuition, tacit knowledge and personal meaning-making. The challenge that lies in front of us is how to mindfully make sense of the role of subjectivity in teacher expertise development. This paper examines this issue in terms of three case studies of in-service teachers’ action research projects and points to what it takes for us to mindfully embrace subjectivity in mentoring teachers’ practice improvement research.

The role of subjectivity in teacher expertise development: Mindfully embracing the “black sheep” of educational research

University of San Diego 5998, Alcala Park, San Diego, CA 92110

International Journal for Transformative Research

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

In Western cultures, subjectivity has often been seen as the “black sheep” of educational research because of its heavy emphasis on objectivity. Consequently...

The role of subjectivity in teacher expertise development: Mindfully embracing the “black sheep” of educational research

Published Online: Aug 06, 2016

Page range: 16 - 23

Received: Feb 01, 2016

Accepted: Apr 01, 2016

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/ijtr-2016-0003

Keywords
Subjectivity, Action research, Teacher expertise development, Objectivity, Intersubjectivity

© 2016 Noriyuki Inoue, published by De Gruyter Open

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

The role of subjectivity in teacher expertise development: Mindfully embracing the “black sheep” of educational research

Published Online: Aug 06, 2016

Page range: 16 - 23

Received: Feb 01, 2016

Accepted: Apr 01, 2016

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/ijtr-2016-0003

KeywordsSubjectivity, Action research, Teacher expertise development, Objectivity, Intersubjectivity

© 2016 Noriyuki Inoue, published by De Gruyter Open

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
Subjectivity, Action research, Teacher expertise development, Objectivity, Intersubjectivity