ABSTRACT
Unlike other professions, which are organized to support research activities, teaching is a profession in which it is extraordinarily difficult to find enough time even to collect data and almost impossible to find time to reflect, reread or share with colleagues…When groups of teachers come together as researchers, they need sufficient chunks of time in which to work, and they also need sufficient longevity as a group over time…When the pace of a community’s work is unhurried and when members of the group make a commitment to work through complicated issues over time, then ideas have a chance to incubate and develop, trust builds in the group, and participants feel comfortable raising sensitive issues and risking self revelation. (Cochran-Smith and Lytle, 1996, p. 100)
