ABSTRACT
My beliefs about the practical and practitioner nature of self-study serve as catalysts for the self-study methodology I describe in this chapter. Central to my beliefs are the following definitions: Self-study ‘is conducted by practitioners to help them understand their contexts, practices, and in the case of teachers, their students. The outcome of the inquiry may be a change in practice, or it may be an enhanced understanding’ (Richardson, 1994, p. 7). Self-study is mainly qualitative research that is focused inward (Cole and Knowles, 1996). It is ‘a deliberate attempt to collect data systematically that can offer insight into professional practice’ (Clift, Veale, Johnson and Holland, 1990, p. 54).
