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Special Interest Group

Practitioner Research

Embracing the diversity of practitioner researchers

This SIG is a supportive and collaborative community of practitioner researchers working in a diverse range of contexts. It brings together those with a special interest in all those (closely related) methodologies in which research is an integral part of practice and plays a significant role in promoting the publication and dissemination of practitioner research studies as well as studies which focus on the methodological approaches to practitioner research.

Research interests

  • Methodological approaches to practitioner research
  • The relationship between ethics and practitioner research
  • Practice development
  • Evidence-based practice

SIG aims

  • To develop and foster a close, collaborative and diverse community of practitioner researchers.
  • To contribute to the generation of theory, knowledge and expertise about practitioner research.
  • To provide ‘critical friendship’ to BERA members and others engaged in practitioner research with the intention of establishing broadly agreed ‘fitness for purpose’ quality criteria for such research.
  • To promote the principle of a spectrum of educational research that will enable stronger links to be established and sustained between small-scale practitioner research, larger-scale academic research and local and national decision-making.
  • To establish links with regional, national and international bodies that have a leadership role in practitioner research, for example, The Chartered College of Teaching. 
  • To give prominence to practitioner research within BERA’s activities, for example through contributing articles to Research Intelligence and BERJ and through organising accessible events which appeal to our membership and help to meet the overall aims of the SIG. 

BERA Practitioner Research Forum

SIG Convenors

Profile picture of Claire Tyson
Claire Tyson, Dr

Teacher Researcher at Homewood School & Sixth Form Centre

Claire Tyson is a teacher researcher based at Homewood School and Sixth Form Centre, where she combines teaching science with her research post. Her PhD was obtained by studying part time with Queen Mary, University of London in Clinical...

Profile picture of Joyce Chen
Joyce Chen, Dr

Further Education Quality Enhancement Manager and Teacher Education Lecturer at The College of West Anglia

Dr Joyce I-Hui Chen has recently been awarded her PhD in Education Studies. She has been working in different educational sectors for more than 20 years in Taiwan and in the United Kingdom (UK), from primary education to higher education. Her...

Profile picture of Claire Goodley
Claire Goodley, Dr

Senior Lecturer at Manchester Metropolitan University

Claire taught in secondary comprehensive schools for nearly twenty years before making the transition to working in Higher Education in 2016. She has worked on both primary and secondary ITE programmes, and led part-time and full-time Masters...

Content associated with this SIG

BERA Educational Research Book of the Year

Closes 22 Jul 2025

This award celebrates the publication of educational research and is awarded to a scholarly book on education deemed to be high quality, engaging and innovative.

AwardOpen

BERA celebrates 10 years of the BERA Blog

2025 marks 10 years of the BERA Blog, and we’re so proud of all that it has accomplished! Thank you to all those who have contributed to the Blog, whether as authors, editors, or readers. The...

BERA in the news6 May 2025

Research Intelligence Article of the Year Award 2024

This award, introduced for the 2024 volume, recognises the highest quality and most original and impactful articles published in Research Intelligence. Guest Editors of issues published in  2024...

BERA in the news15 Apr 2025

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