Een motortje erbij? Onderzoekende studenten en de ontwikkeling van reken-wiskundeonderwijs op de basisschool

To improve educational practice, students in their final year in teacher training college conduct practice oriented research in the primary education school where they work as intern. Cooperation with school based organisations like professional learning communities (PLC’s) is necessary to formulate meaningful research questions and to encourage the use of their research results. This article is a reflection of research into the connection between students’ research in maths education and organisations like PLC’s. At University of Applied Sciences iPabo a research has been conducted to explore different forms of cooperation and identify their strong and weak points. A comparison between the different forms of cooperation shows the importance of the school as learning environment for the students and the teachers. Students’ research may lead to improved teaching practice on a personal level, but if the school team does not invest in ownership of the research, the research project will barely lead to educational improvement at school level. Improvements in maths education need collective learning.