Research section: Teaching as a ‘research-based profession’: encouraging practitioner research in special education

Richard Rose is head of the Centre for Special Needs Education and Research at University College Northampton as well as being Research Section Editor for BJSE. In this article, he reviews aspects of the relationship between teaching, special education and research. He argues that 'educational research, and consequently policy making, has too often taken insufficient account of teachers' professional credibility and expertise'. He proposes that teachers should be encouraged to become more involved in research activities and that practitioners and researchers should work together 'in determining the agenda for a research-based profession'. Richard Rose and I hope that the Research Section in BJSE will have a key role to play in promoting this kind of partnership. It is our shared intention to publish a series of examples of practitioner or partnership research, showing the influence that systematic, practice-focused enquiry can have on the evaluation, review and development of practice and the formulation of improved policy. We hope that many practitioner researchers will wish to put forward their work for publication in this series. Contact Richard Rose to discuss this possibility and watch for further guidance in future issues of BJSE.