Possibilities of realizing action research in prolonged stay

Abstract

This paper presents development and evaluation aspects of a prolonged stay curriculum which was realized with first and second year students of an elementary school in Belgrade. The aspects show in what way action research might contribute to changing and improving educational practice, with researchers' and teachers' active contribution in all the stages of the research. The main goal of the research was to encourage the school and the students to improve their work in prolonged stay in the way that would enhance their education, but that would at the same time satisfy student's educational and studying needs and encourage their creativity and interests. The project had three stages. The stage of planning problem solving or strategic stage included registration of those parents and students who were interested in attending prolonged stay; designing and equipping the premises in which the stay would be set; designing program activities and contents and prolonged stay teachers' training. The second stage, simultaneous with the realization of program activities, was evaluation of the process, which meant activities monitoring by the researchers, critical reflection of own work by the teachers who wrote reports on realized activities and mutual discussion with the goal of determining the difficulties and improving further work on the project. Evaluation of the program's effects, done at the end of academic year, included examining teachers' and students' opinion about the program and suggestions on its future development and use. On the one hand, the experiences gained during the project realization point out to a need for designing special program for prolonged stay and, on the other hand, to the possibilities and significance of action researches in developing such programs.

U ovom radu su prikazani aspekti razvoja i evaluacije programa rada u produženom boravku koji je realizovan sa učenicima prvog i drugog razreda jedne beogradske osnovne škole, a koji ilustruju kako se akcionim istraživanjem, uz aktivno učešće istraživača i nastavnika u svim fazama istraživanja, može doprineti menjanju i unapređivanju vaspitno-obrazovne prakse. Osnovni cilj istraživanja bio je da se škola i nastavnici podstaknu da unaprede rad u produženom boravku na način koji bi osnažio njihovu vaspitnu funkciju, a da se pritom zadovolje vaspitne i obrazovne potrebe učenika i podstakne razvoj njihovih interesovanja i kreativnosti. Rad na projektu se odvijao u tri faze. Faza planiranja rešavanja problema ili strategijske akcije uključivala je registraciju roditelja i učenika zainteresovanih za pohađanje produženog boravka, dizajniranje i opremanje prostora u kome će se odvijati rad, osmišljavanje programskih aktivnosti i sadržaja, kao i obuku nastavnika koji će realizovati program. U drugoj fazi, paralelno sa realizacijom programskih aktivnosti, tekla je evaluacija tog procesa, što je uključivalo posmatranje aktivnosti od strane istraživača, kritičku refleksiju sopstvenog rada od strane nastavnika kroz izveštaje o realizovanim aktivnostima i zajedničke diskusije sa ciljem da se utvrde teškoće i unapredi dalji rad na projektu. U fazi evaluacije efekata programa, na kraju školske godine, ispitivana su mišljenja nastavnika i učenika o programu, kao i davanje predloga o njegovom budućem razvoju i primeni. Iskustva stečena u toku realizacije ovog projekta ukazuju, s jedne strane, na potrebu za izradom posebnih programa za produženi boravak, a sa druge, na mogućnosti i značaj akcionih istraživanja u razvijanju ovih programa.