Regarding the issue of the usefulness of pedagogical research in teacher’s work, 45%
of respondents answered definitely yes, 44% answered rather yes, and only 1% think
that conducting such research is useless. Over half of the respondents confirmed that teachers should get acquainted with the results of pedagogical research on a regular basis. In turn, 80% declared that teachers should take an active part in pedagogical research planning. According to the respondents, the reliability of the pedagogical re-search results depends on the entity that performs them - over 70% confirmed that the most reliable research is conducted by pedagogical universities. In turn, 85% of respondents declared that the analysis of pedagogical research results helps teachers to solve didactic and educational problems. Unfortunately, only 8% of respondents are keen to participate in pedagogical research, and 25% are willing to do so (chart 1). Teachers, therefore, use the results of pedagogical research and follow what is hap-pening in the educational / pedagogical space, but the research attitude is somewhat unfamiliar to them - they follow the results of research, they perceive them as impor-tant, but they do not want to personally / directly have something to say in the world of science. It is difficult, therefore, to hope that teachers of this type are able to engraft this research attitude in their students.
Chart 1. Summary of statements depending on the answers given - overlay chart of many variables presenting percentage responses to particular statements (statement 1. Pedagogical research is useful for teachers-practitioners; statement 2.
Teacher should become familiar with the results of pedagogical research; statement 3. Teachers should take part in the planning of pedagogical research, statement 5. Teachers are more inclined to accept the results of research conducted by pedagogical universities than other institutions, statement 6. Analysis of pedagogical research results helps the teacher to solve didactic and educational problems, statement 7. Teachers willingly participate in pedagogical research).
Exemplary interpretation of the results for the Mann-Whitney U test
The results of respondents’ answers (depending on sex) to the statement Pedagogical re-search is useful for teachers-practitioners (tables 1 and 2).
Table 1. Mann-Whitney U test results
Test U
Manna-Whitneya Sum.rang Sum.
rang U Z p Z p N N
Q. 1 148589 21064.00 17578.00 2.21 0.03 2.43 0.02 499.00 83.00
The p value for the adjusted Mann-Whitney U test of 0.02 - this value is higher than the standard assumed level of significance 0.05, so we can bear out the zero hypothesis say-ing that the level of the studied phenomenon in both groups is the same.
Table 2. Descriptive statistics for the Mann-Whitney U test
Avg. Valid Q25 Median Q75
Woman 4.36 499.00 4.00 4.00 5.00
Man 4.14 83.00 4.00 4.00 5.00
Total 4.33 582.00 4.00 4.00 5.00
Table 2 contains basic statistics for both groups tested. This is illustrated in more detail in histogram 1.
Histogram 1 contains basic statistics for both groups studied. Men more often responded rather yes and women definitely yes to the statement Pedagogical research is useful for teachers-practitioners thus confirming the respondents’ opinion on the usefulness of ana-lyzing the results of pedagogical research by teachers.
The box-whisker chart for the median (Chart 2) illustrates the average level of responses given in each group. The analysis of the results in relation to subjects taught by the re-spondents showed that the independent variable (grouping) - the subject taught in rela-tion to the quesrela-tion Teachers should participate in the planning of pedagogical research presents respondents’ answers depending on the subject taught. The median is 4; spondents answered that teachers should participate in the planning of pedagogical re-search - they answered “rather yes” - regardless of the subject they teach. The median equals 5 and this is a special case in which the group of respondents consisted of Polish, Art and Social Studies teachers.
The analysis of the results in relation to the levels of teaching on which respondents teach showed that, for example, in relation to the statement that teachers are more inclined to accept the results of research conducted by pedagogical universities than other institu-tions, respondents answered: “I have no opinion”, “rather yes” and “definitely yes”. At the same time, it should be noted that respondents - secondary school teachers definitely more often responded “definitely yes” (histogram 2).
Histogram 3 the number of observations broken down into the work experience of in-dividual teachers shows that the respondents answered “rather yes” and “definitely yes”
regardless of job seniority, so respondents are more likely to accept the results of research conducted by pedagogical universities than other institutions.
Out of 586 teachers, 32 conduct research in various aspects of education. However, in this group 7 teachers conduct their own research developed according to their own re-search concept and methodology - the course of the rere-search procedure is however sup-ported by university centres educating future teachers. What is more, 25 teachers actively participate in research carried out by pedagogical universities, but they are not the main authors of the research and methodology concept - but they have had an impact on the creation of project concepts and the course of the research procedure. Details on the teacher-researcher group are provided in Table 3.
Histogram 1. Distribution of responses in the surveyed groups of respondents categories with regard to sex
Chart 2. Analysis of results in relation to subjects taught by respondents - statement 3. Teachers should participate in plan-ning pedagogical research
Histogram 2. Analysis of the results concerning the levels of education taught by respondents in relation to statement 5 - Teachers are more inclined to accept the results of research conducted by pedagogical universities than other institutions
Table 3. Details of 32 teachers-researchers regularly conducting educational research Number
teachersof Comments
1.
Conducting scientific research in their school
yes 32
Among 32 teachers who conduct research in their school there are also those who conduct research outside of school, in places such as:
• universities
• PAN
• Internet
• Training centres
• Research groups
• Cultural institutions
2. Type of research carried out
educational, pedagogical,
subject didactics 32
Among 32 teachers, 10 also conduct laboratory research (exact and natural sciences) Histogram 3. Analysis of results in relation to seniority of respondents concerning statement 6 - Analysis of pedagogical re-search results helps the teacher in solving didactic and educational problems
Number
transformation of the content of
education 2 These are the main, but not
the only issues related to the research conducted by tech-nology on the way content is
presented 4
students’ attitudes towards
social issues 4
laboratory tests in the field of
exact sciences 4
laboratory tests in the field of
natural sciences 6 knowledge in a given field of science; in the case of 15 teachers, inclusion of ICT tools in the research as a research object or research tool scientific unit, but 7 of them are the main authors of the research and treat the sci-entific unit as an advisory body on substantive and
Number
the use of the results in improv-ing the quality of education modernization of educational methods
raising the level of substantive knowledge in a given field of science
usefulness of the research impact on the teaching meth-ods used and the general course of the didactic process
tracking new trends in educa-tion
drawing attention to the quality and direction of teachers’ pro-fessional development a critical approach to planning scientific and didactic activities
32
Each of 32 teachers-researchers emphasized the important role of conduct-ing research by teachers in raising the substantive and social competences of all participants of the educa-tional process; conducting research was recognized by them as a way to gradually update their knowledge in a given field of science, improve their professional
the main creator of the
meth-odology 7
Basing on the advice of science centres, they created their own concept
involved in the creation of the methodology
25
They considered the meth-odology as a very difficult element in the creation of a research project and only participated in supporting
Number their willingness to use the results of research
The development of teachers should be implemented based on systematic and compre-hensive tracking of pedagogical research results. Reliable interpretation of the test results depends on the entity conducting the research and formulating conclusions.
Teachers are more inclined to accept the results of research conducted by pedagogical universities than other institutions. Understanding the need to track the results of peda-gogical research is one of the criteria for teachers’ professional development and the evolution of their own educational practices, which also gives an opportunity for active cooperation of teachers with academic environment conducting research in the field of didactics. It enables more effective perception of a number of educational problems and organization of teaching-learning process.
Results of the research enable the development of proposals for the education of teachers involved in the research process, which may contribute to increasing the effectiveness of teaching.
Teachers willingly use the results of pedagogical research and scientific reports in the field of education, stressing that they are important to them, but the attitude of the teacher-researcher is represented by few. Teachers do not want to participate directly
in scientific research, conduct their own research, broaden their knowledge about the methodology of scientific research, which results in a situation in which they will not be able to develop their research attitudes and improve their education effectiveness based on their own research.
Teachers involved in research become more critical of their own actions and attitudes, they pay more attention to the type of teaching methods used; they also pay more at-tention to expanding knowledge about the didactic process and updating substantive knowledge in a given field of science. Conducting research should therefore be inte-grated with the work of professionally active teachers and conducted by people who know the contexts of the studied environment - schools, teachers and students. Teach-ers-researchers (discovering, seeking, professional, deducing, thinking scientifically and critically) provide the results of their research, which supports the creation of a scientific knowledge base on learning and teaching and, what is very important, conduct interdis-ciplinary research combining knowledge from a given scientific discipline with educa-tional space.
One of the key problems is the quality and direction of teachers’ professional develop-ment. Teachers whose activities in the area of professional development are not sufficient can have a demotivating effect on the decisions of other teachers regarding undertaking various development activities, including academic research in the field of education.
The research results can therefore contribute to the determination of the correct direc-tion of professional development of teachers and to detect problems emerging in this area. It should be noted that research conducted by teachers may be useful, but it cer-tainly does not replace educational research conducted by specialized university units.