GUIDELINES FOR EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH TRAINING THROUGH ACTION RESEARCH

The goal of this paper is to present guidelines for training teachers as educational researchers. These guidelines emerge from the experience of an educational research project which worked at the National Polytechnic Institute (IPN) with a group of 16 professors, all of them professionals in the areas of Engineering, Management and Humanities. The study was qualitative and the methodology was based on action-research and grupo operativo (task-oriented group). Based on this methodology, the study consisted in developing the following phases with the group of professors: a) constructing and reconstructing a group research protocol, b) appropriating concepts and theoretical references, c) training professors to be classroom observers, d) constructing and reconstructing group research instruments, e) redirecting the methodological aspects of research, f) analyzing the data obtained in the investigation as a group. From this research for training as educational researchers teachers who come from areas other than this disciplinary field, the following guidelines emerged: a) creating a common language, b) generating a climate of trust through face-to-face meetings, c) encouraging flexibility as far as schedules and places to meet, d) developing strategies for adapting to different learning rhythms, e) ensuring that teachers become objects of study of their own training. We conclude that it is possible to train as educational research teachers who come from technical areas, applying these guidelines and following a methodology based on action-research and grupo operativo.