Gordon Griffiths wrote about the problems facing teachers who wish to research their immediate work environment. Difficulties mentioned are:

• It is not easy for teachers to look at their everyday surroundings and see them as unfamiliar.
• Recording the enormous amount of activity happening in a school hour/lesson/day.
• Finding the time to rewrite the large volume of field notes.
• The tiring research process which is in addition to the exhausting duties of the teacher.
• Knowing who the research plans and processes should be negotiated with and at which stage.
• One or more of the researcher’s regular school positions may hinder the process of data collection. This in turn may prevent the researcher from following certain research trails.
•  Collegues may feel threatened by the research, even if the teacher is researching his/her own classroom.
• There is danger of the teacher researcher exploiting the information gathered for purposes other than research goals.
• The teacher researcher is often jeopardizing something – position, social contacts, respect…in the exposing research process.

 An important point raised is that even if a teacher is researching his/her own classroom practice, the context must be presented, involving the whole school environment. 

   

Griffiths, G. (1985).  Doubts, dilemmas and diary-keeping: Some reflections on teacher-based research. In R. G. Burgess (Ed.), Issues in educational research: Qualitative methods (pp. 197-215). London, UK: The Falmer Press.