<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>School-based research has historically played an important role within the education system contributing to our understanding of the organisation and practice of formal education. Supported by relevant literature, this article reports on current challenges in conducting school-based research in Aotearoa New Zealand as experienced by one researcher. It suggests that conducting school-based research is becoming increasingly difficult, with possible explanations for this being the divergent workflows of researcher and school-based participant(s), the volume of demands on teachers and schools, and restricted roles for teachers and parents, which increase the risk of research fatigue. The article argues that although school-based research is rarely an immediate priority for school leaders, it is imperative that they support it if they want to be informed by its insights for policy and practice.</p></abstract>

School-based research has historically played an important role within the education system contributing to our understanding of the organisation and practice of formal education. Supported by relevant literature, this article reports on current challenges in conducting school-based research in Aotearoa New Zealand as experienced by one researcher. It suggests that conducting school-based research is becoming increasingly difficult, with possible explanations for this being the divergent workflows of researcher and school-based participant(s), the volume of demands on teachers and schools, and restricted roles for teachers and parents, which increase the risk of research fatigue. The article argues that although school-based research is rarely an immediate priority for school leaders, it is imperative that they support it if they want to be informed by its insights for policy and practice.

Contemporary pressures on school-based research: A cautionary tale for school leaders

Journal of Educational Leadership, Policy and Practice

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

School-based research has historically played an important role within the education system contributing to our understanding of the organisation and practice...

Contemporary pressures on school-based research: A cautionary tale for school leaders

Article Category: article

Published Online: Mar 23, 2020

Page range: 44 - 64

DOI: https://doi.org/10.21307/jelpp-2020-001

Keywords
School-based research, research fatigue, field-based research, Aotearoa New Zealand

© 2019 Megan Smith et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Contemporary pressures on school-based research: A cautionary tale for school leaders

Article Category: article

Published Online: Mar 23, 2020

Page range: 44 - 64

DOI: https://doi.org/10.21307/jelpp-2020-001

KeywordsSchool-based research, research fatigue, field-based research, Aotearoa New Zealand

© 2019 Megan Smith et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Keywords
School-based research, research fatigue, field-based research, Aotearoa New Zealand