All 8 entries tagged Research

Without research its a career not worth having – Ralph Tabberer

I completed my initial teacher training in the 1970s and had no idea how important research was going to be in my career. Most of my early teaching experience was a battle to get organised and to stay ahead, with material and ideas that would work day to day, and week to week.

I fell into classroom research after two years’ teaching, entirely out of my interest in understanding more of what was happening from the students’ viewpoint.

I worked with colleagues in designing simple exercises to track how students approached learning challenges. First, we paired up students so that one was the observer while another took on a task requiring them to use the library. The written reports of how students struggled to find the resources they needed were unintentionally hilarious until, that is, we realised that our 13-year-olds had no idea how to conduct a proper search. We had never shown them; it wasn’t in our curriculum.

Our work progressed. We asked students to collect the comments and marks they received in each lesson they attended, for one week, and when they played back their written and spoken results, we were ashamed. I still recall one child who spent almost every lesson being told exactly how poor they were. There was no system to our feedback and marking; we were unaware of the accumulated effect.

After a series of these exercises – looking at reading, writing, searching, feedback, problem-solving and more – I deepened my interest in research into the classroom, and into the cognitive sciences, and this has sustained me all my career. In teaching, fashions change – just look at the recent debate about ‘mastery learning’ – and it is incredibly valuable to have a grasp of some of the underpinning ‘laws’ of teaching and learning.

I was fortunate in my school career. I worked for ten years in research after those early exercises in our classrooms. I joined a local authority and made my way in advising schools on their improvement strategies. I had the great honour of being appointed to run a government agency – funding teacher education – and from there I moved to take charge of school policy and operations at the Department for Education. That was during the Blair years when his celebrated top three priorities were: “education, education, education”. Heady days.

At every step, I was able to approach our work with that foundation in teaching and learning. We did not get everything right – by any means – but I have no doubt that our strengths and successes came in those areas where we knew and applied the lessons of research.

I didn’t know how important research was going to be when I started my career. I now realise there would have been no career worth having without it.

Abigail Ball : 18 Mar 2019 09:17 |  Tags: Research |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

The impact of research on my practice – Mike

Discuss how being research-informed has impacted on an area of your practice and explain how you hope to develop this in the future.

During this training year, one of my absolute passions has been the area of ‘diversity history’ within wider history education. The term ‘diversity’ encompasses many things and so is difficult to define. Here it is largely considered as a term to explain the need to widen the history taught in the classroom so that it is ‘responsive’ to the reality of the classroom in 2018 (Mohamud & Whitburn, 2014, p. 41). This means teaching a history that reflects the makeup of the classroom. History is a unique subject in that it can help shape the identity of pupils teaching a history that excludes a sizable portion of the classroom is not acceptable in 2018. Working in a school which has a higher than average ethnic minority within its cohort makes the need for this immediately apparent when considering race. However, diversity history should aim to challenge misconceptions and reveal hidden figures throughout history who may have previously been ignored for societal reasons. That means considering the history of influential women long before the suffrage movement or making students aware that LGBTQ people have always been a part of history. Students should engage with questions of why these histories has been largely erased. For many, speaking of ‘diversity’ instantly brings to mind topics of slavery, suffrage and civil rights. These remain valuable topics, but research suggests that we need to be moving away from narratives of victimhood when it comes to the diverse history as these remain problematic. (Traille, 2007). These topics often remain go to ‘diversity topics’ however due to ease of resources.

With the research in mind I have attempted to consider ways in which to diversify my own teaching of history. The reality is that this starts with working within established frameworks – especially as a trainee. I have attempted to implement this into a Civil Rights scheme of work taught at Key Stage Three. With a sensitive topic such as this and the research in mind, I have made a conscious effort to not look overly exploitative in presenting African-American’s as victims. The first slide on Evidence 1 shows a Coca-Cola machine that was only for white people. I had chosen this image as a replacement for a suggested image of lynching – yes this has a shock value. But ultimately students can take my word for it that these atrocities happened. By choosing a more obscure and intriguing image the point is ultimately the same – racism was ingrained into society at an unimaginable level, but it avoids perpetuating a troubling victimhood any further.

Ultimately, implementing a diverse history also means fostering a mindset in students which questions the dominating histories to question where other types of people fit into our historical study. I have been attempting to raise this questioning nature with Year 8 by posing questions and think pieces so that students do not accept dominating narratives at face value. The student response in Evidence 2 which asks ‘Who says that Jack the Ripper wasn’t a girl’ was an encouraging sign of this mindset being embedded into the classroom.

Looking towards the future, I am planning two schemes of work over the summer. A Suffragette module and a wider module on protest. My approach to this planning will be with the research on diversity history in mind. For example, the enquiry question for the Suffragettes will be ‘who were the hidden suffragettes?’. Although still a typical ‘diversity’ topic, I aim to offer a more modern take on it beyond the classic story which we know. Something which seems apt at the centenary of the event. I continue to adapt current schemes (introducing a lesson on the African-American women of NASA to Civil Rights) but hope that as my confidence in this area grows that I will be able to explore more exciting opportunities at planning a diversity history away from classic narratives.

References:

Mohamud, A. and Whitburn, R. (2014). Unpacking the suitcase and finding history: doing justice to the teaching of diverse histories in the classroom. Teaching History, 40-46.

Traille, K. (2007). ‘You should be proud about your history. They made me feel ashamed’: teaching history hurts. Teaching History, 31-37.

Abigail Ball : 04 Feb 2019 09:21 |  Tags: History Research Teaching |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Thinking about blogging?

What is WJETT?

The WJETT blog or Warwick Journal of Education - Transforming Teaching blog is designed to encourage staff and students to disseminate good practice and to engage with their peers on academic cultural critique or areas of research that they find interesting.

With the increased focus on ‘teachers as researchers’ in the sector, many qualified teachers are expected to publish the outcomes of any action research projects they undertake. The WJETT blog can be the first step on your journey towards publishing and enables you to experience publishing and reviewing in a friendly and supportive environment.

Can I write about anything in my blog post?

Yes pretty much. Academic cultural critique (Thomson and Mewburn, 2013) is always a good source of content for academic blogs. This can include (but is not limited to) comments and reflections on funding; higher education policy or academic life. You might also want to consider blogging about:

• Academic practice (Saper, 2006)
• Information and/or self-help advice
• Technical, teaching and careers advice
• Your research or practice
• How you’ve undertaken research
• Impact of research on your practice
• An area of research/practice that interests you
• Your experiences/reflections
  

How long can my blog post be?

Each individual blog post should be no longer than 500 words. Long blocks of text are sometimes hard for readers to digest. Break up your content into shorter paragraphs, bullet points and lists whenever possible. Also include a list of keywords or tags as this makes it easier for Google to find your work.

Do I need to use citations?

No, this is a reflective piece so it does not need to include citations (but you obviously can include them if they are relevant).

Can I include links or images?

We would encourage you to include links to any articles that you have considered whilst writing your blog post. We also welcome the use of images (as long as you have permission to use them) as they can often help to illustrate a point and obviously will not be included in the word limit. Please remember this is a public site so if you want to include images of your students in your classes then you will need permission to do this.

What is the process for submitting a piece of work?

Your blog post should be emailed to me at A.Ball.1@warwick.ac.uk. Once the submission has been reviewed it will either be uploaded at the beginning of the next available week or sent back to you for editing if it requires amendments. You should then send the amended work to me once again and I will then upload it onto the WJETT site.

Abigail Ball : 07 Jan 2019 09:10 |  Tags: Research Teaching Wjett |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

How being research–informed has impacted on my practice – Georgina

The PGCE course involved assignments which required us to gain understanding, appreciation and knowledge of research in teaching. This exposed me to an area that I was not familiar with. Initially we were required to look into the original learning models and theories of Pavlov, Vygotsky, Bruner and various others. These theorists set the baseline for educational research, regardless of this, I found most of it hard to read but the underlying message was common sense. Consequently, I felt I gained very little and these theorists gave me no inspiration into becoming research informed.

However, during my research into my PG1B essay I discovered that there was an extensive amount of academic research on education outside the original theorists. The research I read was extremely interesting, educational and demonstrated that the issues I observe in my current setting are issues nationally. With a foundation of a STEM career before retraining to become a teacher, the topic of girls not following into STEM post GCSE, regardless of high attainment at GCSE level was fascinating. Through the research I discovered that stereotyping, lack of female role models (evidence: Role model form filled in for Southam), lower self-efficacy and girls being more rounded educationally was still an issue. With more and more equality in the UK, why is this still an issue? The research book by Smith (2014) into gender participation in Mathematics covered the main reasons girls do not go further in STEM and therefore laid the foundation for my further research to support this work (Smith, 2014). He identified that girls preferred to understand ‘why’ in mathematics which leads to needing to adapt teaching to respond to the needs of pupils (TS5).

On my research for PG2, the focus was on behaviour management in schools. This was highly relevant to my training today when dealing with certain pupils, especially the low-attaining pupils. Payne found that there was a high level of discrepancy between the perspectives of pupils to teachers within a classroom (Payne, 2015). He concluded that pupils react better to positive encouragement and in particular positive feedback to parents (TS8: communicate effectively with parents). Consequently I have implemented a positive reward process (Evidence: HAPS rewards) in my low attaining group and also called home to positively praise (Evidence: call home) or show concern attaching a positive spin.

Being research-informed has enabled me to get an increased level of understanding of issues in education outside my current setting, it has enabled me to ensure I am a good female role model and practice positive behaviour management. After the initial struggle I had with the early theorists, I have found the more current research more accessible and useful. I will continue to refer to academic literature through my teaching career to find ways and understanding into my practice as a teacher. On the other hand, I did identify that all the research is based on very small subsets and will strive to look for research which is more at a national level.

Evidence:

• Role model form I filled in for Southam.
  
• Haps status demonstrating the positive structure in place.
  
• Call home email.

References

Payne, R., 2015. Using rewards and sanctions in the classroom: pipils' perceptions of their own responses to current behaviour management strategies.. Educational Review, 67(4), pp. 483-504.

Smith, c., 2014. Geneder and participation in mathematics and further A-Level: a literature review for the further Mathemeatics Support Proggramme. London: Insitute of Education.

Abigail Ball : 28 Aug 2018 09:28 |  Tags: Practice Research Stem Teaching |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Action Research: Making Students of Teachers – Beth

As part of the PGCE course, I have had to complete an Action Research project. What is Action Research, some of you might ask? In the simplest terms, it’s where you investigate a particular aspect of teaching and learning, so that both you as a practitioner and your students can improve. In my school, I noticed a particular issue concerned with the autonomy of my Year 12 group, who as lovely and bright as they all are, had no idea how to reflect and improve on their own learning. I began to wonder how we as a school could best prepare our A-Level students for the level of independent study that the majority of them will inevitably undertake at University-level, and to provide them all with a sense of responsibility over their learning and progression. Thus, I devised a simple and (what I presumed would be) effective intervention which invited my students to set their own learning targets at the end of every lesson, for a period of six lessons.

The result? Not life-changing, I’m afraid to admit. I wasn’t measuring for academic progression in such a short time-frame, so for all you mathematicians and scientists, I have no solid data. However, the research taught me a lot about my teaching, my students, and the kind of classroom environment that we like. In terms of my own teaching, I learned the value of dedicating reflection time in my lessons, and teaching my students how to reflect on their academic progress both critically and positively. I talked them through de Bono’s Six Hats Reflective Model, and they enjoyed using this process to consider their own strengths and weaknesses.

However, I also learned that at this age, my students still need my help and guidance. They suggested that, rather than setting their own targets as often as every lesson, that we dedicated time within each half-term where we sit and devise targets together, which they then have a substantial amount of time to demonstrate improvement. The class also collectively agreed that they liked the fact that the dedicated reflection time became a routine in the classroom, and it helped them to continually reflect on what they were learning over the course of each hour. For some of the less confident students in the class, they learned to consider their successes regularly, and this helped to boost their self-esteem.

Overall, my experience with Action Research confirmed to me what I had long suspected: that my students could help me to become a better teacher, as much as I can help them with their learning. Although I will admit my research did not produce any ground-breaking results, it enabled me to get to know my students, and my teaching style, better than I knew before. It is something I would recommend any teacher, either training or experienced, to undergo, as it reinforces a fundamental aspect of teaching: that we should never stop learning.

Abigail Ball : 18 Jun 2018 08:33 |  Tags: Action Research |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

An intern’s perspective – Andrew Petrie

Andrew Petrie, a teacher at King Edward’s School, is measuring the impact of ICT on learning outcomes in his project. This post is linked to the post written by Jocelyn D’Arcy at King Edward’s School, Birmingham.

There were many reasons that motivated me to sign up for the internship program across the KES consortium. Firstly, I saw it as an opportunity to observe good practice in another school environment whilst also sharing some of my own skills in return. In addition to this, it allowed me to research an area of my own interest in more depth and tied in reasonably well with my Masters studies into the use of technology in the classroom. Finally, as an aspiring middle manager I felt it was an opportunity to add something unique to my CV that represented a driven and reflective teacher with the ability to drive forward new initiatives.

The research is focusing on the usefulness of technology in the classroom with one of the initial challenges being the matching of the aims of the school placement with what is achievable in a small scale research project. Whilst it is hoped that the research will provide some insight into the impact of technology on attainment, it is difficult to provide any conclusive evidence within the timescale of the current research. Observations and interviews with a series of staff that might consider themselves ‘techie’ or technophobes have been conducted with the aim of gaining a rounded picture of the potential benefits or limitations of using technology. The feedback provided in these interviews and observations will add direction when forming a questionnaire for the whole staff of the placement school.

After reviewing the results, I hope a clear picture will form regarding the use of technology across the school, its problems and benefits and the impact it has on student learning. After reflecting upon these results I will consider what advice I might offer the Senior Leadership Team of the school, and offer to provide a CPD session for any interested staff. It is my hope that I might add some of the ideas acquired from interviews and observations with staff to my own teaching practice as well as adding something new to my own school environment.

Abigail Ball : 23 Apr 2018 08:37 |  Tags: Internship Methods Project Reflection Research |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

The Schools of King Edward VI Internship Programme – Jocelyn D’Arcy

Of the nine schools in the foundation, two are selective independent, five are single sex selective state, one is co-educational selective state and one is a co-educational non-selective academy. Given the extreme diversity of our schools, collaboration within the foundation has not always been a strength! Sub-groups of the schools work very closely together, but others see each other more as competitors than potential collaborators. The internship programme was launched in September as a means of beginning to collaborate more effectively, share good practice across the foundation and develop the teachers in each of our schools.

Description:

The Internship Programme is a free programme that provides aspiring middle and senior leaders with the opportunity to gain experience in another school while acting in the capacity of a consultant. Host schools benefit from the expertise and knowledge of an ambitious practitioner reviewing a developmental priority area forthe school.

Methodology

Phase I:

Each year, schools are invited to submit:

a) A list of issues on which they would welcome an external perspective (e.g. a review of an initiative in the school’s development plan or of a subject department to help inform self-evaluation). Some examples for possible projects include: quality of homework provision, Oxbridge programmes, strategies for teaching girls or coaching systems. It is also possible to review a particular subject or aspect of school life.

b) A list of the members of staff, probably middle leaders or aspiring middle leaders, who have been identified as being likely to benefit from an opportunity to broaden their leadership skills. Each school has their own process for identifying these staff members, but the process might include applications, or it might be incorporated into the performance management or CPD process.

Phase II:

Potential interns receive an email congratulating them on their nomination for an internship and inviting them to complete a questionnaire. This email is not a guarantee of an internship as that is dependent upon the allocation process.

Phase III:

The Internship Liaison Officer uses the questionnaires to match interns with projects and notifies host schools and successful interns with an email containing contact details, project brief and general expectations for scope and timescales of the internship project as well as the date and time for the central training. S/he also emails any unsuccessful applicants with brief feedback on their applications.

Phase IV:

Teachers selected for an internship receive training on areas such as qualitative research design, report writing and presentation skills before starting their projects. Clear expectations on confidentiality are included in the training. The training is delivered centrally through the King Edward’s Consortium.

Phase V:

The format of the projects will vary widely depending on the nature of the brief but could involve staff/pupil/parent questionnaires or face to face interviews. Following analysis of the data, a written report and/or oral presentation to the school’s SLT will be made. The amount of time an intern might then need to spend in the host school will vary depending on the nature of the project but likely timescales include:

• Initial meetings to agree brief and methodology: half day
• Data collection (interviews etc): one day
• Presentation of report and findings to school’s SLT: half day (or twilight)

If the methodology involved questionnaires, these could be administered remotely and thus reduce the face to face time commitment.

Phase VI:

Interns complete an online review of the programme; reflecting on their own development as well as offering insight into the programme. This information is collated by the Internship Liaison Officer and distributed to the headteachers of participating schools to inform future allocations for the next intern cohort.

In its inaugural year, we have 25 interns engaged in 25 different research projects exploring questions such as ‘How can we create truly independent learners at KS5?’, ‘Real stretch and challenge for the most able learners’ and ‘How does homework support the students’ mastery of their learning?'. We are excited to see how being an intern has developed teachers within the foundation while improving our schools.

Abigail Ball : 23 Apr 2018 08:34 |  Tags: Internship Methods Project Research |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

BELMAS Leadership Preparation and Development Research Interest Group – Dr Deborah Outhwaite

What is a RIG?

This summary explains the Leadership Preparation and Development RIG: what its aims are; how to get involved; what the benefits are of participation. As we all know, education policy is a fast-moving area. Consequently, Research Interest Groups (RIGs) are established when a group of academic colleagues team up with a group of practitioners to discuss and research the changes that are happening in a particular area. The BELMAS (https://www.belmas.org.uk/) Leadership, Preparation and Development Research Interest Group is open to all those who have an interest in researching leadership development in its broadest sense, including educational leaders, researchers and research students. Its aim is to build a forum and network capable of generating and facilitating exchange and partnership on a continuing basis across the full range of research interests, professional contexts and contemporary issues relating to leadership development, and the ways in which we prepare leaders in education for their roles.

The group might appeal to colleagues researching the changes in leadership preparation and development. This could include colleagues researching social policy, Initial Teacher Education, postgraduate education, those involved in CPD, those involved with recent NCTL developments as it becomes part of the DfE from April 2018, those involved in SSIF and TLIF bids, and so on.

Benefits from participation include:

• Membership of a community of researchers engaged in advancing the understanding of leadership development
• The opportunity to collaborate or correspond with colleagues engaged in similar studies, research or activity
• The opportunity to identify and explore contemporary issues linked to leadership development
• Participation in future events specifically covering issues related to leadership development

Networking and further information on this RIG's activities will take place in the members' area of the BELMAS website. Membership is free for the first year, if you apply before April 1st 2018.

Why should I be involved?

For teachers who are busy, but interested in their landscape, a RIG meeting is a day where a lot of connections can be made between researchers and practitioners that everyone benefits from. For students of educational leadership at all levels, a RIG is a great way to ‘dip your toe’ into an event to see if you like it, and the people involved, before you commit the time (or the money!) to attending a whole conference. Many RIGs (or SIGs as they are called in some organizations) hold free or day-cost only events where teachers, researchers, and students can present posters; research; or listen to panel events from experts on our changing educational landscapes.

Current Research:

We have just finished working on a Special Edition of the SAGE Management in Education journal to be published Easter 2018, on Leadership Preparation and Development: http://journals.sagepub.com/home/mie/

If you would like to come along to any events, and see what we do, please register on our Leadership Preparation and Development RIG page on the BELMAS website, or contact D.Outhwaite@warwick.ac.uk, we look forward to you joining us.

Abigail Ball : 09 Apr 2018 08:29 |  Tags: Group Interest Leadership Research Rig |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem