Chapter 11: Observing the Observers: Reflections on Our Research

In this chapter, I reflect on the origins of the Observing Teachers project. I make links to two facets of observer dependence: the dependence of the origins and conduct of the project on the researchers who originated and conducted it; and the methods we adopted and adapted to allow us to position the teachers as observers in the research. I reflect also on the object of the research, pedagogy, whose meaning is, again, observer dependent. We used one of those dependencies to gain insight into the teachers’ meanings of ‘pedagogy.’ The dependency on our own meanings evolved from obstacle to advantage as we explored among our community of researchers our own backgrounds, assumptions, and values. Out of these reflections came some results and partial answers to our original questions, which are valuable, but not as valuable as the new questions we have come to ask.