Doing research in the rural school: Colombian schoolteachers’ experiences as researchers and their expectancies toward a research-based formation

This article analyzes the importance of research training for rural teachers in Colombia. The key dimensions explored are teachers' research experiences in rural contexts and teachers’ expectations for research-based training, academic writing, and publishing. The voices of 60 rural teachers in Colombia are analyzed using narratives and focus groups. Those narratives lead to a phenomenological exploration to understand specific relations among experiences of research, Professional Development expectancies, and implications for transformations of teaching practices. The study reveals the importance of identifying specific educational issues in rural schools and communities and identifies critical macro-social elements of rural education.