ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the ontological dimension of teachers' work through an exploration of the nature of their work and the role of research in that work. It begins with a survey of selected literature to determine the traditional construct of teachers' work and the way in which traditional constructs of this work have resulted in the silencing of teachers' voices in educational debates. The chapter explores salient issues in the debate regarding the inclusion of research in teachers' work, namely, institutional exclusivity and related epistemic concerns, questions of validity, teacher subjectivity, role conflict and workplace constraints. It provides some definitions from the literature, followed by a short discussion of the diversity of aims of action research, concluding with an overview of the provenance and development of action research including its place in the age of performativity. The chapter concludes with an exploration of the nature and development of action research.
