在初级教师教育计划中引入了行动研究课程，使教师能够为持续学习开展反思性和探究性实践。在实施行动研究课程一段时间后，研究发现中学教师仍然缺乏研究能力。这种情况引起了人们对在初级教师教育项目中教授的行动研究课程的有效性的质疑。本研究旨在探讨行动研究在坦桑尼亚教师教育项目中的实施，以期促进教师专业的可持续发展。具体的研究问题：首先，了解教师教育者及职前教师对行动研究的认知；第二，了解幼儿教师教育行动研究的教学过程；第三，了解教师教育者和职前教师在支持职前教师开展行动研究过程中面临哪些挑战，职前教师如何开展行动研究，教师教育者和职前教师如何克服这些挑战；最后，探讨行动研究对职前教师专业发展的贡献程度及作用机制。

本研究采用质性研究方法，并采用个案研究设计。这项研究是在一所选定的大学里进行的，其中包括职前教师和教师教育者。这些数据是通过深入的半结构化访谈、课堂观察和文献回顾收集的。通过内容分析对数据进行分析，将代码分为类别和主题。研究伦理贯穿于整个研究过程。

研究结果表明，教师教育者和职前教师在教与学的过程中，在所期望的与所面对的现实之间，以及在指导与实施行动研究的过程中，都会产生一种紧张的关系，这种紧张关系影响着教与学的全过程。督导支持由教师教育工作者提供，但并非所有职前教师都得到统一的支持。在这一过程中，教师教育者和职前教师都面临着行动研究内容安排不合理、内容宽泛、时间有限、工作量大、参与行动研究相关活动的积极性低等挑战。教师教育者和职前教师相互协作，并在某些情况下分开工作，采取各种办法来应对这些挑战，例如重新组织和选择适当的内容，为职前教师建立学习小组，使用在线平台，适当利用空闲时间，缩小研究范围，以适应可用时间。由于第一位教师受社会文化学习理论的指导，而第二位教师几乎没有坚持理论基础，因此教学过程是多种多样的。这一过程也遵循了行动研究模式的要素，但由于职前教师没有机会反思这一过程、评估行动的有效性和重复研究过程，因此，这一过程是线性的，而不是循环的。

综上所述，虽然一些职前教师透露他们已经发展了行动研究能力，但他们证明缺乏自信，他们的技能不足以使他们独立进行行动研究。这些发现与促使这项研究的观察结果相似，即大多数在职教师缺乏进行行动研究的技能和信心。建议对行动研究课程和指导方针进行相应的审查和修订，以应对支持职前教师实现行动研究预期成果的挑战。未来的研究应考虑研究其他初级教师教育机构，以便更广泛地了解如何实施行动研究，从而有助于政策的制定。此外，未来的研究还应考虑调查初级教师教育机构与学校教师合作以指导其行动研究能力的利弊。

Action research course was introduced in initial teacher education programs to enable teachers develop reflective and inquiry practice for continuous learning. After a time of implementing the action research course, studies found that teachers in secondary schools still lacked research abilities. The situation raised questions about the effectiveness of action research courses taught in initial teacher education programs. This research aimed to examine the implementation of action research in initial teacher education programs in Tanzania towards sustainable professional development. The specific research questions of the study were: How do teacher educator and pre-service teachers perceive the action research course in initial teacher education programs and why? How teacher educator teaches action research and facilitate pre-service teachers in conducting action research during teaching practice, what challenges do teacher educator face in these activities and how did they overcome them? How do pre-service teachers learn and conduct action research during teaching practice, what challenges do they face in learning and doing action research, how did they overcome them? How action research has contributed to pre-service teachers’ professional development?

This study adopted a case study design with a qualitative research approach. The study was conducted at Mzumbe University where it involved pre-service teachers and teacher educators. The data were collected through in-depth semi-structured interviews, classroom observations and documentary review. The data were analysed through thematic analysis where codes were developed into categories and themes. The process of data collection, analysis and discussion were guided by action research model and the sociocultural learning theory. The study adhered to research ethics throughout the process.

The findings have revealed that teacher educators and pre-service teachers experience a tension between what they expected and the reality they faced during teaching and learning. Again, teaching and learning action research had influenced the whole process of supervising and conducting. The supervision supports were provided by teacher educators but not uniform to all pre-service teachers. In the process, both teacher educators and pre-service teachers experienced challenges such as illogically arranged and broad content of action research, limited time, huge workload and low motivation to engage in action research related activities. At one point, teacher educators and pre-service teachers seemed to collaborate and at another point, they worked separately to adopt various approaches to address these challenges such as re-organizing and selecting appropriate content, creating study groups for pre-service teachers, using online platforms, proper utilization of free hours and narrowing the study to fit in the available time. The teaching process varied as the first teacher was guided by the sociocultural learning theory while the second teacher hardly adhered to the theoretical underpinnings. The process also followed the elements of the action research model, but in a liner way rather than cyclic as pre-service teachers did not have a chance for reflection of the process, evaluate the effectiveness of the actions and repeat the research process.

To sum up, although some pre-service teachers revealed that they have developed action research competencies, they proved to lack self-confidence and they showed the skills were inadequate to enable them conduct action research independently. The findings share similar observation that prompted this study, that most of in-service teachers lack skills and confidence to conduct action research. Hence, it is recommended that action research course and guidelines be reviewed and revised accordingly to address the challenges to support the attainment of action research expected outcomes among pre-service teachers. Future studies should consider studying other initial teacher education institutions for broader understanding of how action research is implemented that will contribute to policy formulation. Also, the future studies should consider investigating the pros and cons of initial teacher education institutions in collaborating with teachers in schools to mentor their action research capabilities.