Communicative space and working locally: A report of a participatory action research project in a remote rural school in Bangladesh

Abstract

Teachers’ professional development is a top priority in education of Bangladesh, but the literature reports existing models of teaching are unsatisfactory. This article reports a participatory action research project in a remote rural secondary school in Bangladesh, and discusses how a locally focused process enabled teachers to create a communicative space in which they could explore their understandings of teaching and evolve as a learning community. It argues that improvement in teaching can occur at local level, despite constraints of poverty and lack of resources, when local teachers are enabled to challenge themselves and each other to better meet the needs of students within their community.