To establish a school-based teaching research institution compatible with the new curriculum responds to the urgent demands of current school development and teacher growth, as well as facilitates further reform of teaching research. School-based teaching research is applied research guided by theories and conducted by teachers. It targets at serving the new curriculum and promoting every student’s development. School-based teaching research usually focuses on school-level problems and issues identified in the curriculum implementation. Ideally, such research could solve practical problems as well as distill experiences through synthesis.

1 Guiding Ideas of School-Based Teaching Research

1.1 Schools Are the Foundation and Premise of School-Based Research

It would be promising for education reform and development if schools could shift from an instrumental existence (existence in space) to an ontological existence (existence in culture) for educational activities, move from the periphery to the center of educational decision-making, and finally become a cultural subject of self-identity, self-discipline, self-fulfillment, self-affirmation, self-reshaping, self-return, and self-development.

1.1.1 The School-Based Concept

Schools are the place where education is being practiced (i.e., the exact place for ongoing education) and the center (and soul) of education is located in schools. More attention has been paid to education or education reform itself than to the school, which is the basis of education and educational reform. However, because the focus has been on human behaviors rather than on human culture and environment, the expected goals of education and education reform have not always been achieved. Schools are the main carrier of education, which implies that the development of education must be realized through the development of schools, the reform of education must be achieved through the reform of schools, and more importantly, the improvement of educational quality must be gained through the enhancement of school capacity. If schools remain the same and no change in management is adopted, educational development and reform are impossible. Rebuilding school culture entails the success of the curriculum reform. The key to ongoing curriculum reform lies in building nouveau schools with fresh ideas, new spirits, and updated institutions. Therefore, the attention of curriculum of reform focuses on rooting the reform in schools.

1.1.1.1 Orientation for Schools

All school-based efforts should be oriented for school development, for building educational competence and spirit of schools, and for the enhancement of school culture. Currently, schools should pay special attention to building internal mechanisms for sustainable development and to promoting individualization, humanism, and characteristics. Efforts oriented toward schools are ultimately for the benefit of all students, including current and future students. Any reform should be conscious of promoting the school development.

1.1.1.2 Root in Schools

Every school is specific, unique, and irreplaceable. An individual school’s complexity is not fully explained by the experience of other schools, or fully verified and explained by theory. Therefore, school development can only be conducted in each school itself; it cannot rely on simple transplantation (i.e., learning from others’ experience), but rather on the school’s self-awareness, self-effort, and self-improvement. Only the reform, that is rooted in a school, based on the school’s processes, and is recognized, embraced, and pursued by all teachers, can be absorbed into the tradition and culture of a specific school.

1.1.1.3 Stakes in Schools

Principals and teachers are the major players behind school development due to their vested interests in schools and because they have authentic experience with and a comprehensive grasp of schools. Thus, their opinions matter. Principals and teachers are the masters of schools, and they bear the most direct responsibility for school development. We should make organic links between principals and teachers’ personal growth and the fate of schools. We should believe in principals and teachers’ potential creativity, encourage their agency, and guide and drive their planning and developing schools out of schools’ real situations. It has been demonstrated from experiences that schools can be full of life and vitality only by fully mobilizing the initiatives and creativity of principals and teachers.

1.1.2 Based on Schools and Teachers

From the perspective of the relationship between schools and teachers, sustainable development can be achieved in the true sense only by focusing on the interaction and integration between school development and individual teacher development. Schools may gain a temporary achievement by relying solely on a teacher’s individual repeated labor or personal struggle, but schools cannot achieve sustainable development in this way. On the contrary, if schools are short of capacity, they will become an empty shell (similar to a hotel) that operates outside of teachers, and teachers will become hurried sojourners. Therefore, we should adopt two countermeasures: first, we should transform teachers’ personal wisdom, experience, and ideas into collective wealth and move forward forming schools’ characteristics and traditions to realize school development by promoting the development of teachers; and second, schools should mobilize their own culture, mechanisms, and traditions to impact, nurture, and cultivate teachers to allow schools to advance teacher development. In the long run, the second countermeasure is more important.

1.2 Research Returns to Practice

It has been a global common trend that teaching research is tracing back to anchor in schools, teachers, and the teaching practices. Academicians and teachers are researchers to conduct teaching research. On the one hand, when doing teaching research, scholars should hold the principle of “practice first,” engage in a deep concern for practice, and consciously and continuously commit to the field of curriculum reform practice. Doing so, scholars would summarize, synthesize, theorize, and construct timely and lively teaching theories out from teachers’ practical wisdom and creative practice.

On the other hand, teachers are also researchers and reflective practitioners in doing teaching research. Research by primary and middle school teachers is practical research; this kind of practice is not only the object of research, but also the destination of research. From the perspective of the source of research problems, the research problems of primary and middle school teachers emerge directly from their needs in the practice of teaching; from the perspective of the research process, primary and middle school teachers’ research is conducted in their own practice of teaching and is inextricably intertwined with their teaching activities; from the perspective of the research purpose, the orientation of primary and middle school teachers’ research is mainly to solve the problems of teaching practice. Thus, practice is the most fundamental characteristic of primary and middle school teachers’ teaching research. As far as primary and middle school teachers are concerned, research that cannot solve real problems in teaching, cannot improve the level and quality of teaching, and cannot promote their own professional development, is not teaching research in the real sense.

In brief, the aims of school-based teaching research are to promote school development; equip schools with the research capacity; foster the internal mechanism for self-development, self-improvement, self-innovation, and self-transcendence; and transform schools into a learning organization. School-based research sets the teacher as both the research subject and researcher. Being a teacher researcher, teachers should develop the consciousness for research, and reflect, analyze, and solve the problems in teaching practice as a researcher. School-based teaching research emphasizes effectiveness and sustainability of research, and integrates teaching research with daily teaching practice, and on-the-job training. Thus, this research becomes a kind of occupational style for teachers and promotes their professional development. Based on this, I have established two basic propositions for school-based research. Proposition One: the positive proposition is that teaching research should change the school’s daily life (i.e., teachers’ daily life and school routine system); the negative proposition is that if teaching research cannot change the school’s daily life (i.e., if the teaching research and school routines are not integrated but rather two separate activities), this kind of teaching research is invalid. Proposition Two: the positive proposition is that all teaching research should be accepted and appreciated by teachers; the negative proposition is that if teaching research cannot be accepted and appreciated by teachers in the long term, teachers are not to blame. It is the underlying theoretical assumptions that need to be adjusted and corrected.

2 Fundamental Elements of School-Based Teaching Research

Individual teachers, teaching group, and academics constitute the trinity of school-based research. The individual teacher’s self-reflection, the teacher group’s peer coaching, and academics’ professional guidance are the three fundamental forces driving school-based research and teachers’ professional development. Their relationship is integrated and they are each indispensable, as shown in the following diagram (Fig. 12.1):

Fig. 12.1
A pyramid diagram indicates that self-reflection or the teacher's self-dialogue, peer coaching or the teacher's dialogue with their peers, and professional guidance or the dialogue between theory and practice are the three fundamental forces of school-based research teacher professionalization.

The model of school-based research

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2.1 Self-Reflection

Self-reflection is a process in which teachers take their professional activities as the object of thinking, and examine and analyze their professional behaviors in their careers and the corresponding results. “The essence of self-reflection is a dialogue between understanding and practice, a bridge between them, and a spiritual communication between the ideal-self and the real-self” (Zhu 2000: 337). Obviously, self-reflection is not a review in the general sense, but a contemplation, consideration, exploration, and resolution of problems that emerge in the teaching process. It is the most fundamental drive for and pervasive form of school-based research. Self-reflection is considered to “be the core factor for teacher professional development and self-growth,” (Zhu 2000: 337) which is based on three basic beliefs.

First, teachers are professionals. Being professional does not mean teaching the subject content as their professional performance, but rather refer to their educational action and educational activities as their professional field. “However, the most formidable challenge for anyone in a profession is not applying new theoretical knowledge but learning from experience. While an academic knowledge base may be necessary for professional work, it is far from sufficient. Therefore, members of professions have to develop the capacity to learn from the experience and contemplation of their own practice” (Shulman 1998: 519).

Second, teachers are individuals in development, and they need to grow continuously. As professionals, teachers need time to grow from a novice to an expert teacher, and this process is endless. Lifelong learning entails professional growth of teachers.

Third, teachers are both learners and researchers. Teachers’ professional development is the result of self-guidance, and teachers are continuous learners. Teachers are able to think about, research, and improve their own educational action and activities. Professional development is the most direct and suitable way for teachers to learn and to research spontaneously, rather than the passive development pressed by the external demands. Self-reflection is the basis and premise for school-based research, and school-based research can only be practiced and implemented with a teacher’s self-consciousness and willingness. The new curriculum places heavy emphasis on teachers’ self-reflection. Teaching reflection is divided into three stages according to the teaching process, namely pre-teaching, in-teaching, and post-teaching. Pre-teaching reflection is a forward-looking practice making teaching conscious and effectively improves teachers’ prediction and analysis in teaching.

In-teaching reflection happens timely and spontaneously in the process of action. This reflection is of a monitoring nature and ensures that teaching is conducted in a high-quality and efficient manner, which contributes to the improvement of teachers’ ability to adjust and adapt in their teaching. Post-teaching reflection is a critical reflection after the teaching has ended. This reflection is critical in theorizing the teaching experience and helps to improve teachers’ abilities of synthesis and evaluation.

Self-reflection always points to the self. Reflectors are both the object of reflection and the undertaker of reflection. In fact, the teacher’s reflection process enables teachers to fully demonstrate dual roles in educational and teaching activities: they act both as leaders and reviewers and as educators and students. Therefore, the process of teachers’ reflection is actually a process integrating “learning to teach” and “learning to learn,” and one that promotes teaching practice and becoming a scholarly teacher. In the past, teachers were in the passive position of being the objects of research, but now they can become researchers and reflective practitioners. Thus, teachers should not only become the subject of teaching, but also the subject of teaching research by treating themselves as the objects of research; exploring their own teaching ideas and practice; and reflecting on their own teaching practices, ideas, behaviors, and outcomes. Through this process, teachers can constantly update their teaching concepts, improve teaching practice, and promote teaching excellence through reflection and research. At the same time, they can develop independent thinking and creative ideas about phenomena and problems in teaching, become the true masters and researchers of teaching, and enlarge autonomy of teaching, and overcome blindness and passivity. Practice has shown that the combination of teaching and research, as well as teaching and reflection, can help teachers obtain the rational sublimation and emotional pleasure in teaching, enhance their spiritual realm and thinking, and change their way of life by allowing teachers to realize their own value and significance.

Self-reflection helps to transform and promote teachers’ teaching experience; there is an equation that states experience + reflection = growth. Many studies have shown that teachers’ own experience and reflection are the most important sources of teachers’ professional knowledge and competency. Experience without reflection is provincial, unconscious, and fragmented, which leads to superficial understanding and a closed mind, which may hinder the professional development of teachers. Only through reflection can the original experiences be scrutinized, modified, strengthened, criticized, and distilled. All of these processes will contribute to promoting and modifying the experience, and will turn into an open system and rational power which will, in turn, leverage teachers’ professional development.

The new curriculum presents a completely new challenge for the traditional teaching experience, and the importance of reflection over experience has been raised to an unprecedented height. However, only teachers can change themselves because only they are aware of their teaching experience and limitations, and they may make adjustments to their experience through reflection. Through this process, they will develop advanced teaching ideas and a personal educational philosophy consistent with the requirements of the new curriculum.

2.2 Peer Coaching

School-based research emphasizes teacher’s self-reflection, but it also indicates that teachers should open themselves up to professional consultation, coordination, and cooperation about teaching activities in the curriculum implementation process. Through this kind of experience sharing and mutual learning, teachers gain mutual support and shared development. The essence of peer coaching lies in the communication and cooperation between teachers as professionals. Typology of peer coaching is described below.

2.2.1 Dialogue

The types of dialogues can be divided into: (1) exchange of information, (2) sharing experience, (3) in-depth talk (curriculum reform salon), and (4) thematic discussion (debate). By (1) exchanging information between teachers, teachers can maximize the flow of educational information to expand and enrich the amount of information and knowledge. The main methods of exchanging information are informative meetings in which the attendants make their information public, and reading salons in which the attendants exchange information and understanding about the books they read. Through (2) sharing experience, teachers provide reflections and improve upon their experience through sharing, learning from, and absorbing the experiences of others. Experience can only be value-added when it is activated and shared. The main ways of sharing experiences are experience exchanges or experience summary meetings in which the attendants share and communicate with their colleagues about their successes, experiences, and failures. (3) An in-depth talk (curriculum reform salon) can be either with a topic or without. The key is that teachers should be authentic and sincere with each other. Only by mutual trust and friendship (treating each other as spiritual partners), they can express freely and interact together. In-depth talks are a free and divergent thinking process that will induce teachers to express and share their deep opinions, thoughts, and wisdom. This dialogue process is the most generative and constructive, resulting in many new valuable insights. (4) A thematic discussion (debate) is a forum where everyone speaks freely about a single problem and provides his or her opinions. In this process, everyone defends their opinions, while also considering and questioning other people’s opinions. The attendants enrich each other’s thoughts and improve their understanding of problems with their colleagues. Therefore, their knowledge is constantly changing and expanding. In an effective discussion, each teacher learns something that he or she cannot learn alone.

2.2.2 Collaboration

Collaboration means that teachers share the responsibility of fulfilling a task. The new curriculum requires teachers to undertake teaching research projects and teaching reform together. Collaboration emphasizes teamwork and has two key points: the first one is that every teacher must showcase their hobbies and personality, which will develop through complementary symbiosis; the second one is that every teacher must play a role because when all teachers contribute, they develop through interaction and cooperation.

2.2.3 Coaching

Coaching refers to the process in which excellent teachers with rich teaching experiences and outstanding teaching achievements provide guidance to new teachers, and in which excellent teachers help provide experiences to new teachers to allow them to adapt to the role and environment as soon as possible. Backbone teachers and subject teacher leaders are outstanding in morality as well as capability. They usually play an active role in peer coaching. Through peer coaching, the phenomenon of teachers’ working alone and loneliness can be prevented.

School-based research is different from teacher-based research, which is the research process of teachers conducting research according to their personal interests or based on problems they face in their own teaching. School-based research is conducted at the school level, and it is dedicated to solving problems at the school level (in other words, the common problems encountered by teachers). However, school-based research does not depend solely on the power of individual teachers but rather on the collective power. Therefore, school-based research is often reflected as a kind of collective cooperation that embodies mutual cooperation between teachers as researchers and also relies on the strength of the whole group to ultimately achieve the research purpose.

School-based research must be conducted by a group of teachers. The teachers’ collective participation in the research forms the atmosphere and culture of the research and becomes a common way of life for teachers. Only this type of research can really improve a school’s educational capacity and problem-solving. Although teaching behavior can be temporarily changed due to an individual teacher’s research, this kind of change is difficult to sustain and even more difficult to effect change in the behavior of a group of teachers. Although teacher-based research was conducted in the past, schools as well as teachers’ behaviors remain unchanged.

Collective peer coaching and a cooperative culture among teachers are the symbols and soul of school-based research. Therefore, we must effectively renew the school educational situation for schools to truly transform into democratic, open discussion areas, and particularly, to emphasize professional debate between group teachers. Professor Yuan stated, “In a group of teachers, it is very valuable and important to have communications and conflicts raised by different thoughts, ideas, teaching patterns, and teaching methods. It is not the school’s luckiness but a disaster if school teachers do not have different ideas. In particular, some prestigious school leaders and senior teachers should pay special attention to the support of different thoughts, ideas and behaviors” (Yuan 2002: 10). School-based teaching research emphasizes the scientific spirit and a realistic attitude, and thus schools should foster a culture of academic dialogue and criticism and create an atmosphere for debate among teachers.

2.3 Professional Guidance

School-based research is conducted in a school and concerns the facts and problems of that school, but it is not entirely limited to mobilizing the power inside that specific school. On the contrary, the participation of professional researchers is indispensable in school-based research. Without the participation of professional researchers and other “outsiders,” school-based research will often be constrained by repetition and not achieve substantive progress, or will even be stagnated, resulting in formalization and mediocrity. From this perspective, the participation of professional researchers is the key to sustainable development of school-based research. Schools should actively seek the support and guidance from professional researchers.

Professional researchers mainly include teaching research staff, academic researchers, and university teachers. Compared with front-line teachers, their strengths lie in the accomplishment of systematic educational theory. School-based research is practical research under the guidance of theory. Theoretical and professional guidance is critical support for propelling school-based research forward. Professional researchers should have a strong sense of responsibility and great enthusiasm for the teaching practice, should actively participate in the construction of school-based teaching research systems, and should provide effective assistance to schools and teachers.

In essence, professional guidance is the guidance of theory to practice, the dialogue between theory and practice, and the reconstruction of the relationship between theory and practice. From the perspective of teachers, strengthening theoretical study and consciously accepting the guidance of theory, improving the accomplishments in teaching theory, and enhancing theoretical thinking ability are the only ways in which ordinary teachers can become educators. At present, there are misleading notions and practice excluding theoretical guidance. In fact, teacher’s self-learning of theory is actually a kind of implicit professional guidance.

Professional guidance takes many forms, including academic reports, lectures on theory, field teaching advisement, and professional consulting (discussion) for teaching; each form has its particular function and helps to achieve a particular purpose. However, field teaching advisement is the most effective form of teachers’ professional development, and it is the most popular among teachers. Professional researchers help teachers the most if they prepare lessons (design), attend the lessons (observation), and review the lessons (conclusion) together. However, time is a prominent limitation for professional researchers. Professional researchers providing field advisement should strive to be in place, and not offsite. Being in place means providing teachers with the help they need; being offsite means not acting on their behalf. Offsite guidance (including providing overly detailed teaching references) may meet the teachers’ timely needs, but can stall teachers’ inertia and lead to psychological dependence, neither of which is helpful and may even hinder teachers’ professional development. Teachers are the real subject of teaching, and no matter how much is directed by professional researchers, they cannot and should not replace a teacher’s independent thinking. Professional researchers should provide guidance oriented to improve teachers’ independent teaching ability and independent research competence. Currently, when professional researchers are organizing and participating in reviewing a class, they must break through traditional and popular ideas, not engage in formalism, and be pragmatic and realistic. Professional researchers should not only discuss the teachers’ strengths in the class for the sake of encouragement, but also carefully analyze the teachers’ weaknesses for the purpose of enlightenment. At the same time, they should abandon discourse hegemony, advocate academic dialogue, and pay special attention to tolerance, encouragement, and support of different ideas.

Self-reflection, peer coaching, and professional guidance are seemingly independent, but they complement each other, through reciprocal penetration and mutual promotion. Only when we maximize their separated roles and fully integrate self-reflection, peer coaching, and professional guidance, can we effectively promote the school-based teaching research system.

3 Typology of School-Based Teaching Research

From the perspectives of practice types and concrete implementation, school-based teaching research can be divided into three types: instruction-oriented teaching research, which focuses on teaching and is based on lessons; project-oriented teaching research, which focuses on study and is based on research projects; and learning-oriented teaching research, which focuses on learning and is based on reading.

3.1 Instruction-Oriented Teaching Research

Instruction-oriented teaching research focuses on teaching and directly serves teaching. This research usually focuses on lessons, and it is also known as lesson study. It concentrates on how to teach a lesson and is fully involved in the whole teaching process, from lesson preparation and design to instruction and evaluation. The activities of this research are mainly conducted through peer communication and discussion. The results of this research are generally written teaching plans and lesson cases. This kind of research is a universal practice that is a very effective method for improving teaching quality.

Lesson study can be categorized into three research steps such as lesson explanation, lesson listening, and lesson evaluation. Lesson explanation is the process during which the teacher orally explains the teaching plan for a specific lesson to peers or experts and leaders based on lesson preparation, and then they discuss ways to improve the lesson plan. If the lesson preparation is an independent static teaching behavior of individual teachers, lesson explanation is a dynamic teaching research activity carried out jointly by a group of teachers. We can define lesson explanation as a special form for collective lesson preparation. Lesson explanation is a more scientific preparation activity compared to lesson teaching (Yang 2004: 22).

Lesson listening is the inspection, observation, or investigation of the classroom teaching activities conducted by peer teachers or experts and leaders. For the teachers who deliver the lessons, lesson listening is a time to showcase their own teaching ideas, personality, ideas, experience, wisdom, etc.; for teachers who visit the class to listen, it is a time to learn from the experiences and lessons of their peer teachers. As a form of teaching research, lesson listening should not only pay attention to listening, but also to watching, and thus many experts suggest that lesson listening should be renamed to “lesson observation.”

Lesson evaluation is the further exchange and discussion of lessons among teachers after lesson explanation and lesson listening. Lesson evaluation provides a feedback and correction system for teachers’ classroom teaching and ensures the improvement of the quality of classroom teaching. As one form of activity of school-based research, lesson evaluation should identify problems, analyze problems, and propose measures for solving problems, so that it will become a professional activity for teachers’ professional development and the improvement of teaching skills.

As for the expression of the research results, lesson cases = teaching design + teaching record + teaching reflection.

The teaching design is the teacher’s planning and imagination for classroom teaching activities. The design is similar to a construction plan, and it is the basis of teaching activities. The teaching design contains innovation and research elements. Simply following old traditions or copying other people’s experiences means no design at all.

The teaching record is the actual recording of the implementation of the classroom teaching activities by text or video. The record is different from the design because teaching design is static while the record documents teaching activity is dynamic. The teaching design is presupposed, but the teaching activity is generative.

In addition to teaching design and record, teaching reflection is a more important factor for lesson cases. The teaching design is the scheme, teaching record is practice, and teaching reflection is evaluation. The teaching reflection includes the teacher’s own reflection, expert comments, and peer suggestions.

The common style for the research report of lesson cases follows the same formula described above: the first section is the explanation of the background, ideas, and intentions of the teaching design; the second section is the description of the actual classroom teaching process, including how the students learn and how the teachers interact with the students; and the third section contains the reflection and discussion of the teaching process and effect, which may not only adopt and absorb advice from experts or peers, but also refute opinions from the experts or peers to rationalize the teacher’s own practice (Xia 2005: 43).

3.2 Project-Oriented Teaching Research

Project-oriented teaching research focuses on exploration based on research projects and a particular research problem. Project-oriented teaching research follows the general procedures and basic norms of scientific research, and its corresponding report is the main avenue for research activities, discovery, and innovation. Its main activity is a group research project, and the primary presentation form of the research results is the research project report. Compared with instruction-oriented teaching research, project-oriented teaching research is considered to be more advanced, standardized, scientific, and targeted.

The objects of focus of lesson cases are lessons, and the objects of focus of research problems are problems. The problem is the core factor that constitutes the research activity and the internal motivation for science advancement. However, how is the problem identified? It is the result of researchers’ questioning. Only when teachers develop the consciousness and habit of asking and questioning in their daily educational and teaching life, can they continue to identify meaningful and worthwhile educational and teaching problems.

The research project process is a dynamic process of spiraled, upward, and cyclical development. It is not a linear structure, but a complex loop structure with constant movement toward the resolution of problems. Practice has shown that the research project plays a particularly important role in promoting the scientific literacy and theorization of teachers.

3.3 Learning-Oriented Teaching Research

Learning-oriented teaching research focuses on learning that aims at improving the teaching level and professional quality of teachers. It improves teaching quality and lays the foundation for teacher professional development. Research is demonstrated as a kind of learning: research learning. This kind of learning is not aimed at mastering some theoretical and fashionable terms, but rather at understanding and grasping the essence of theory, learning the spirit of reflection, and researching theory. Research learning mobilizes not only the theory to solve one’s own practice problems, but also the theory to organize one’s thinking over practice. Reading and thinking are the main research activities, while observation and communication are the approaches to this research (Li 2005: 40). Reading notes and reviews after reading or watching something are the main types of research results.

Teachers are the professionals who guide and help students to learn. If teachers do not learn themselves, their guidance and help will become a kind of preaching done under compulsion, and the educational effect will be spoiled. An important feature of teachers’ labor is demonstration. Only teachers who have an insatiable desire to learn can foster a love of learning in students. The fundamental support for a teacher to become a teaching professional is to become a learned teacher. Without continuous learning and extensive reading, teachers cannot acquire profound knowledge, and thus their teaching will become awkward. Teachers should become learned teachers to be worthy of students’ attention, and through this, teachers will have a more profound and lasting influence on students than textbooks. “Reading for students” should be the primary driving force of teachers’ reading.

For teachers, learning is not only a kind of adaptation to changes in the outside world, but also a consciousness of their internal life—originating from the personal needs in the hearts of teachers; it is a form of self-care. Learning may have no direct correlation with teachers’ teaching in the micro sense. Learning is not for teaching but for the self-discipline and self-improvement as an accomplished modern “social person.” It aims to enrich human nature, culture, lifestyle, and the full life experience (Mao 2003: 40). This kind of learning is not directly targeted at teaching; instead, it helps to shape a new image of teachers, enables teachers to think of new ideas for the new curriculum, and allows them to put ideas into practice with a broader perspective. A more profound cultural literacy supports education, and edifies and infects the next generation with a more perfect personality. Only when teachers become true intellectuals can they appreciate the “dignity of educators.” Reading leads to teacher learning in a large sense. Teachers are encouraged to keep a teaching diary and write essays based on their experience of reading and learning.

Instruction-oriented, project-oriented, and learning-oriented teaching researches are three basic types of school-based teaching research. Their organic combination fully reflects the connotation and denotation of school-based teaching research. We should advocate instruction-oriented teaching research and prevent the deification of school-based teaching research; advocate project-oriented teaching research and prevent the generalization of school-based teaching research; and advocate learning-oriented teaching research and prevent the narrowing of school-based teaching research. These three kinds of teaching research are relatively independent, but in practice, they complement, promote, and influence each other. To effectively promote school-based teaching research, we must deeply understand the essence of all kinds of school-based teaching research, give full play to their respective functions, and consider how to integrate them.