ABSTRACT
So-thank you to Vicki and her colleagues for all they have shown us. And I am compelled to remark on the intricacy and complexity of the case inside the originally muddled contents of this black box.
In pursuit of understanding the nature and effect of teacher action research, the story has had much to say. It caused me to look well beyond the surface understanding one has of the teachers as they come in and out of the lecture room at the beginning and end of the award-seeking days. It caused me to peel away the outer, and relatively thin, layer of my initial ‘knowing’ of teachers such as Vicki. In this process I gained a richer and more respectful sense of the multiple challenges to be overcome by the teacher researcher as she seeks to extend her learning for her own benefit through empirical enquiry; as she seeks to please the academy’s tutors and examiners in construction of her written texts; as she seeks to reflect upon and develop her practical professional work for her pupils’ sakes; and as she seeks to contribute some of her professional learning to her colleagues’ development and the healthy growth of her workplace. She has these several audiences and these several purposes, with the concomitant task of trying to reconcile them all in the same teacher research process. The consequent achievements constitute significant success.
