‘Where do I sit?’ Transitioning from classroom teacher to educational researcher to explore students’ ideas about the Holocaust

ABSTRACT This paper draws on recent doctoral research examining how students aged 12–14 make sense of the Holocaust during their history lessons on the topic. The research was ethnographically informed, and explored, through observing the ‘real life situation’ [Yin, Case Study Research, 2] of their history lessons, how students’ ideas about the Holocaust developed over time. The author is a former history teacher, conducting an ethnographically informed study in classrooms which were not their own, which required transitioning from teacher to researcher. This article is a reflexive [Brewer, Ethnography, 130–133] discussion of the challenges experienced making this transition.