Episode 7: Limitations, Challenges & Honest Reflections

What if the most valuable insights from research come from its challenges?

In this episode of Education Unlocked — Learn. Apply. Thrive., Marc Pietersen reflects honestly on the limitations and challenges of his action research into reading fluency and learner confidence.

This episode explores:

•The realities of small-scale classroom research

•Ethical considerations in practitioner inquiry

•Why progress isn’t always linear

•What teachers can learn from reflective setbacks

A must-listen for educators engaging in — or considering — action research or even applied classroom practice.

References:

British Educational Research Association. (2018). https://www.bera.ac.uk/publication/ethical-guidelines-for-educational-research-2018

Lincoln, Y. S., & Guba, E. G. (1985). Naturalistic inquiry.

Virginia Literacy Partnerships. (2024). https://literacy.virginia.edu/sites/g/files/jsddwu1006/files/value-series/infographics/Fluency-Infographic-20240611.pdf

Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674576292

About the Podcast

Education Unlocked supports teachers in building confidence, clarity, and classroom impact through research-informed, practical strategies. Hosted by Marc Pietersen, this podcast bridges the gap between theory and practice — helping teachers thrive, one lesson at a time.

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Learn. Apply. Thrive.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:10

And welcome back to Education Unlocked. Learn, Apply, Thrive. My name is Mark Peterson, and today's question in this episode is: what if the most valuable part of research isn't what worked, but what didn't? So far in this series, I've shared the design, the implementation, the analysis, the impact, and the implications of my action research in reading fluency and learner confidence. Today's episode is going to be different, but also I feel it's going to be essential because credibility research includes limitations, challenges, and actually an honest reflection on what worked and what didn't. So we're going to be looking at five things today. The first thing is going to be acknowledging the limitations. The second thing is time, consistency, and practical constraints. The third thing is learner variability and emotional factors. And then the fourth thing, which is always important, is ethical reflections. And then the last thing, which would be what teachers can learn from the challenges. So again, I asked you that question: what if the most valuable part of research isn't what worked but what didn't? So if you had to look back and honestly reflect on any lesson, are you just looking at what went well or how it could have been even better? So the role of a teacher is to identify what areas your students don't progress in and to find ways of building and growing their progress. So this happens from honest reflecting on your practice and also linking with other teachers who have the same drive as you because they think differently. So this grows our teaching practice and how we develop in being better teachers. But as well as that, it strengthens our pedagogy and supports learning our students better and developing better student growth overall. So the first thing we're going to look at is acknowledging the limitations. So one of the key limitations in this research was scale. So I only used and focused on a small group of students in my own class. And you know what? Looking back, I think I would have done better if I extended that beyond my classroom and to other classes in my year group. I had a discussion with one of my colleagues who was at who's at this very moment busy with their masters in psychology. And we were just chatting and acknowledging that it would have been better if I extended to the rest of my teaching cohort and not just to support students in my class alone, but in other classes. And then I could have also then had input from other teachers who think differently to me, have the same drive, but their thoughts and their findings could have added to that research. So I don't think keeping these type of things to ourselves would have been a benefit. Actually, extending beyond that, and especially if you're relying on cohort members that you really trust and value and have those connections with. So this was a small action research project. It was focused on a specific cohort. So it was just my class focusing on students who were struggling with their reading. Another point was it had a defined time frame. So it was only over seven weeks. I'm really looking at now, I think if I extended that and if it was longer, it could have probably had a more significant and more impactful impact, if I can say that, with my class and especially across other classes as well. The other point was a contextual school environment. So this was only based on a British school within one year group. So maybe looking over different year groups could have been more impactful and have a bit more of an extended added value into that. Now, as Lincoln and Goober of 1985 reminds us, naturalistic inquiry prioritizes depth over generalization. So the goal was not to claim universal solutions, but to understand that what worked and why and under what conditions. So leading to a more impactful solution or teaching tool that can rather focus on actionability in the classroom and teaching practice that just than just gathering data, if I can say that. So it should have been rather focused on what action you carried out in your classroom was more important than just gathering data. And in this case, for a master's, I think looking at from a different perspective, there's so much more that you can gather from that. And then are we also sometimes too quick to dismiss small scale research? So even though it is reflective in real classroom impact and practice, we mustn't just also think that small scale isn't good enough. Because if we look at the needs of our students in our classrooms, sometimes we do have small groups that we need to look at. So I'm not saying that small scale research is not important. And it is not just about the it's not just about the bigger picture. So we have to start somewhere, and normally it starts in our own classrooms, if we have to honestly think about that. And I can I can now take what I've learned and I can share that with other teachers. So hence me now creating this podcast. I'm sharing my findings with those who are willing to listen. And impact comes from sharing, and sharing comes from stepping out of our comfort zones. And if we can expect our students to do it, shouldn't we be doing it as well? For us as teachers, stepping out of their comfort zone, trying something. If it works, then sharing that with someone else and growing that professional learning community in our schools, in our year groups, in our grades, in our cohorts in sure in key stages, or even across the whole school. Something really to think about because impact doesn't just have to be in our classroom. It can extend part that it past that as well. And that brings me to my second point that I want to talk about was time consistency and practical constraints. So another challenge was time. It wasn't just based on just time at school, but also with time within me having to carry out this action research. And it was looking at balancing that. There's a few things I had to learn to balance. It was curriculum demands. So school practice and continuous demands from school. So this research continued throughout my normal day life. When I was at school, I was looking at how the reading fluency affected students in the classroom. And then when coming home, analyzing things when they submit to their work. So this also helped me to then reflect on that reflection. And that reflection doesn't stop. It it should be built into our everyday lives as teachers. And one of my biggest things is teaching my students to reflect as well. It's like, so looking at your piece of work, don't just look at the mark. Look at, okay, well, identify what went well. Where could you have done better? How can you make sure that you are having progress within that certain area? The next thing I had to learn to balance was assessment pressures. So balancing daily school assessment needs and research, they had to work like alongside each other. So it required a lot of overtime, but the results could be seen and drove my research forward even more because I could see that. So even though the action research was designed to be carried out at home for home learning support, I could see that starting to filter into the classroom. So even though you claim looking at overtime, the results drove me to wanting to make sure it was even working even better. And then it was looking at balancing ethical responsibilities. So protecting my students and protecting your students is key, especially in a day now with AI and developing and technology and everything else. It's so easy to just throw everything in. But considering protecting your students through the process without compromising their identity and personal struggles is so important. And that brings us into the consistent intervention. So reviewing and and changing what was not working with also how it could have been done better. So if I was looking at listening to a student's work that they submitted to me, was that then affecting their learning positively or negatively? And then, but also looking at it from was the reading piece suited with the week that we're reading with linking it back into the classroom. So looking at where we were going in the class and adjusting the research to follow that same support. And then that support then could support their learning in the classroom while linking back at home. So it was like a continuous cycle. So what we're doing at home is what they're carrying out at school and supporting that to bring back into the classroom. And that built their confidence. And this mirrors the reality faced by most teachers. The research reinforced that consistency mattered more than intensity. A finding echoed in literacy research and fluency development models by Virginia Literacy Partnership of 2024. That consistency was more important than upping the level of work, if that makes sense. So the more doesn't mean better, but consistency supports learning leads to a deeper impact of the overall result, is what I found. So when learning is impactful and meaningful, it leads to better results. So it's not about more, it's about making it impactful and meaningful. And when you have a cohort that is leading, driving, and developing student growth and development, meaningful progress develops over all attainments and achievement. And it's it's it is okay to do something alone, but with the support of others, you're developing a movement that doesn't only drive student learning, but builds a student culture that moves, impacts, and build real life learning moments. And those moments stick. And that is what reflection does. It helps to identify, fix, and build solid learning moments for your students that stick because they are impactful and meaningful and develop long life, long life learning moments within that. And this brings us to the third point today. So learner variability and emotional factors. So not all students progressed at the same pace. Students are different and their learning needs are different. So what might work for one will not necessarily work for another. And that's something that we really, really need to look at. And if that is, then looking at differentiation or adaptive teaching is adapting to your students' needs. Some students, okay, some students needed longer exposure. Maybe some students couldn't have sat with a piece of reading for longer until they felt prepared and ready to apply that. Some students would have to maybe practice it a bit more compared to others. So they could have journalized that they felt they needed more time with a certain piece of reading task instead of just pushing them along. So this can where it could become individual in impact in your classroom. Is when a student is ready to move on, then they can push on beyond that. Another point would be requiring repetitive reassurance. So regular check-ins to share their thoughts and their feelings. They knew that it was okay to not move on yet. And that progress happens in stages. And that's what worked well with it being in the classroom because then you could link up with those students with one-on-one. So I saw that you you said XYZ that you were struggling with expression. So how do you think that's something that we could develop together? Or how is that something that you think you could maybe look at progressing and what could we what we could we do there? And then there was a lot of some students also struggle with confidence despite improved accuracy. So confidence is vital for moving forward. Students can reflect that even through their progression in accuracy, confidence still needs time to grow. So even though the reflecting is like, oh no, I'm progressing in this, I'm I'm getting accurate, confidence still needs time to grow. So even looking and listening to that, maybe sometimes it may just might lead to you saying, like, listen, I think you need to just go back and practice that again. Look at XYZ, and that's where our feedback is so essential. So remember with confidence, anything is possible, and that should be more of a focus to develop than just overall accuracy. So this reflects Vongotsky's uh 1978 review that learning is socially meditated and emotional situation. And he talks about it not being just it's not just linear. So it needs to be mediated and emotionally focused, and it doesn't just happen on one straight line. There will be ups and there will be downs, and that all depends on what the student is feeling at that moment. So today's reading might be different to tomorrow because they had a different experience at school today. They could have got a terrible mark in in a test, and now they must go home and practice reading and reviewing, and those are all things we also need to take into consideration. It's just also building that honest reflection. So we need to remember that every incident affects the students in that moment. If they are shouted at, how can they focus? If they they can't just turn off a switch, can you? Can you as a teacher, if if a parent or a child or another teacher just shouts at you, can you just turn off a switch? Or do you need to take the time to actually reflect on that and just process what actually happened? Because then how does that affect the next thing? So if you had if you had an encounter with an angry parent, do you walk out of that meeting meeting feeling normal? No. You walk out thinking like, what just happened? What did I say something wrong? Did I do something wrong? Why is the parent upset? So an environment affects the progress. So that's why it's also important to ensure that our classroom environment is an environment where students know that they can make mistakes. Because if it is that they just have that pressure the whole time, they always are going to be under stress. And neuroscience proves that when you're under stress, you don't learn. So we need to make sure we have that environment because our environment affects our progress. And that's not just children, that's everyone. If you're in a bad environment at work, that affects your progress. It affects the way you think about things as well. So if that affects us as adults, can you imagine how much it also affects students in our classrooms? The next thing I want to talk about is if progress isn't linear, are they always are we always allowing a learners enough time to grow? So yes, there will be ups and downs based on emotions and and environments. So are we allowing that? There should always be time to support learning growth based on a student's ability and progress speed. Not everyone learns at the same time. So how are we as teachers focusing on these areas to ensure students are progressing for themselves, within themselves, within their abilities while still extending themselves? It's not about making the teacher look good. It should never be about that. The classroom is never about making a teacher look good, it's always about helping the students achieve their full potential while going through their educational journey. We're just the people to help guide and support and to steer that boat. So if you had to think about that, you're a you're a captain of a boat steering, and that's your students. You're trying to steer them in the right direction, navigating challenges and and all these other things. So there will be ups and downs. How are we helping our students climb after they've fallen? Or how after they feel like they've just hit hit a rough patch. And this brings us to the then the next thing, the fourth thing I want to talk about is ethical reflections. Ethics were central throughout this project. It had to be. I had to ensure that my students were kept at the center of it all the time. And this is vitally important for keeping our students safe and their personal notes and information safe. And that's what I mentioned about earlier with AI and technology. You know, it's all great that we have these things to support our students learning. But I never ever once used my students' names. I gave them like names like student one, student two, etc. And this was a way I could see how AI could support teachers with assessing students and monitoring progress without giving too much information and details about it. So it kept my students uh protected throughout this whole process. And this also helped with identifying any areas or concerns or patterns across the program to support with adjustments or seeing which students need additional or further support. Now, a teacher can never and will never ever be replaced by AI. Okay, and huge human engagement and interaction is always vital. So AI cannot pick up on emotional tone in reading transcripts. And that's that's something that I actually saw. Because when I would ask AI, well, analyze the student's work through the transcript that it created. And when I listened to it and wrote my mark, what I think they should get, and then compare the two, it was it was something that stuck out because AI can't. It's not made to pick up on emotional tone. So this was an important aspect that needed human engagement and target support when evaluating the reading on a constant basis. So even though like AI could calculate for me words per minute and work on pace on the based on the number of words, I had to go in and to ensure that okay, well, oh, I could hear that they they went up in this area. I can hear that they they had a dramatic pause in this area as well. And that added value into their work, which was also so uh crucial and important. Now, I followed the Bureau of 2018 guidelines throughout my action research. So informed consent. You needed to have parents uh support and consent, which was vital throughout this in any action research or research that you're doing. And this is the standard through any research. But this also informed parents what was being done, what was being carried out, and how their child was going to be supported and what parents needed to support with at home. Okay, which was which was really, really important. The next thing was anonymity. So parents were informed that due to this being an academic research project, their child's name was not going to be included and it was not going, and everything was going to be anonymous. Like that was really, really important. Also, another buying point for parents to know that it's just looking at the data aspect of it. This supported with parents' participation and that no single child would be singled out. Okay, they wouldn't their name wouldn't appear in anything. So learner well-being over outcome was also really essential. With students already feeling in inverted commas less than because they were in a reading program, their well-being was essential throughout the whole progress. Uh the whole process, sorry. So humans are created to fit in, to feel that they belong, which was vital in this project. So whenever you carry out or test a strategy, the first priority should be that the students' well-being and feelings come first. They should never feel less than or be targeted. This is also really important, and it starts with how you set your classroom's learning environment at the start of an academic year or at the start of a term. The classroom should always be a place where students can learn and make mistakes. That's what school is for. School is a place where students make mistakes so that they can learn from them and build better neuron pathways to build better thinking skills, problem-solving skills, and life choices. It comes from mistakes. So it should not just be about learning outcomes or tick boxes. Learning needs to be meaningful and intentional for lifelong learning process, uh progress. And that's that's what happens when we make mistakes in our learning. Now, at times this meant slowing the research. But it strengthened trust and authenticity. Can I say that? Trust and authenticity is so important in the classroom. We need to focus on building these skills more. Something to seriously consider. Well, in my school in South Africa, we had morning check-ins, rating yourself on like a one-to-four scale. So a one is really feeling down. Number two is like, I'm okay, not great. Number three is like, I'm good. Number four is like I'm ecstatic. I'm really happy for today. And this would allow me as a teacher to connect with my students and engage with them to see how they are starting a day and to connect with them. So it was either down through like a fist bump or a high five or something. There had to be some form of connection. So I could not expect to lead or guide my students through a day unless I knew what they were feeling. If they had a fight in the morning and they come into my classroom not paying attention, and then you just like you have a go at the child because they're seeming like they're lazy. How are you able to then teach that child if they're just like basically in survival mode? I mean, they could have had an argument with the parent getting out of the car in that morning. Now they walk into the classroom and the teacher just has a go at them. So like they feel even worse. They're not going to start learning. You never learn in survival mode. Another thing that we learned was if you're in survival mode, you have to then get to the feeling safe. And only once you're feeling safe, you get to your cognitive brain where you're actually ready to learn. So are we creating those environments? You can't direct a ship without a wheel. The wheel needs to be connected to the ship in order for it to steer in the right direction. So we we would we would have to do this in the day. And if I knew how my students were feeling, I'm able to meet them where they were and support them accordingly in that situation. I can't expect a student who is feeling a one to be ready to learn and progress or to challenge them. It's the same with reading development. Check-ins, seeing how they're doing is vital and that they feel that support in their learning journey. And that leads to allowing enough time to grow and develop the confidence they need in order to help them move forward. So meeting your students where they are is essential and connecting with them, sharing stories with them, letting them know that you are human as well is really important. And that brings us to our fifth point. What teachers can learn from these challenges. Here's what teachers can take from this episode. The first thing is small scale inquiries still matters. It doesn't matter about the size of the group. What matters is the group you are impacting. Even though my focus group was small, and I feel I could have done it on a bigger scale. I was proud of them for the steps that they took. Every single step, move them forward and try to develop their ability. Small steps forward is still moving forward, correct? It doesn't matter, they were moving forward. The next thing was progress looks different for every student. Like I said earlier, progress happens differently and at different stages for different students. Where are you meeting your students at their needs? And how are you ensuring that they're making progress based on their ability and looking at that? The next thing is confidence is fragile and it is powerful. I always end my LinkedIn post with confidence anything is possible. And it's true. Reflecting on my own practice, the more confident I was, the more chances I'm willing to take. So if you had to stop now, just stop and pause and think about that for a minute. When you're feeling confident about something, are you more willing to take action or steps? See, building a student's confidence is so vital to ensure that they're willing to take that first step, the step towards progress. And we need to ensure that we're building that. Ethical practice strengthens impact. And building a solid student connection and for them to feel that they are at the center of your focus, which of we can look back and honestly say that there are some challenging students for sure. But making them have that connection is so impactful. Some students take more effort. You know that student if you stop and think about that. Stop. Even right now, pause. Pause for now and think about that student or students that you're really needing to put more effort into. I can guarantee you, if you start building and looking at connections, building connection with with that child, it'll be vital to show that they have that right and their respect to build it. If you're showing that child respect, they're gonna allow you that time to build that connection. Were you able to challenge them? And once you have that right and that connection, things will tend to be easier. It's just taking that time to really build that connection. So what if reflective teaching mattered more than perfect results? What areas do you need to reflect on or to build on to ensure that you are placing your students at the center of your teaching? I'm not saying that results aren't important, not at all. But changing how you teach could impact the results. What environment do you foster in your classroom? What questioning skills do you use? What supportive strategies have you or have you not implemented in your classroom yet that you need to change? And this brings us to our final conclusion and reflection on this podcast or this episode. So this research reminds me that teaching is complex, it's human, and it is imperfect. It's it's not one day is the same, no task is the same as the previous one. But how we adapt to these changes affects our students. The only way we can adapt is to reflect and look back on how you, oh I, if I had to look back on mine, how I could have done things better. We make mistakes. How are we showcasing how we pick ourselves up and keep on moving forward? Because we're modeling that for our students every day. Action research isn't about proving success, it's about learning honestly. Research is hard and it takes time. Sometimes it shows what we expect, but it also highlights areas or weaknesses that need fixing. So if we can be honest with ourselves, are we are there always areas in our teaching or lives that need change or building? How honest are you with with yourself? And as I'm telling you this, I'm telling myself this is at the same time, right? As I say these things, I'm talking to myself as well. Change starts with me, then it filters to others. So are you going to be that positive change in your classroom, in your environment, in your school, in your life? In the next episode, we'll turn to one of the most debatable aspects of education, technology. So when it helps and when it doesn't. Until then, thank you for listening to Education Unlocked, learn, apply, and thrive. If today's episode gave you something to think about or something to try or just something to grow with, share that with a colleague who you feel might need it too, or leave a review to help others discover this podcast. You can follow along with the podcast for more episodes where we continue to break down real strategies and real classroom research and real classroom impact as well. You can also follow, I've created an Instagram page. It's called Education Unlocked LAT. And there'll be new updates and posts on there as well. So until next time, keep learning, keep applying, and keep thriving. And I'll see you in the next episode.