Lo School Improvement Advisor-researcher (SIA): un nuovo ruolo nel contesto formativo
Giorgio Ostinelli
This article presents the results of a research performed in some schools during a decade, whose focus was and still is the action of an innovative professional, the School Improvement Advisor/researcher (SIA). Its content is both a balance and a reflection on this particular approach to school improvement. From a methodological point of view, what is being described here is the evolution of an experience located somewhere between action research and design-based research. During the stages of his action, the SIA was able to combine effectively his coaching — aimed at the fostering of improvement at school and individual teachers’ level — with the creation/development/adaptation of tools whose main function was to answer effectively to actors’ needs and problems. This was developed on the basis of some considerations, related on the one hand to the change processes put in place, and the other to the research related to them. The choice of such an approach was not random, but originates from a double consideration: on the one hand the difficulties faced by the «academic» research in education to build up, so to speak, as a «compass» for teachers in their daily practice, and on the other the need to conduct action research experiences where the rigour will not altogether be sacrificed to the immediate relevance of the results.
Keywords
School innovation, Action research, Coaching, Design-based research, Understanding by Design.