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School-led Research Development

School-led Research Development. Research and development opportunities for teachers, where the ultimate goal should be to empower professionals with evidence, are significant. How can research capacity be built in schools? How can research practice be embedded as part of general practice?

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School-led Research Development

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  1. School-led Research Development Research and development opportunities for teachers, where the ultimate goal should be to empower professionals with evidence, are significant. How can research capacity be built in schools? How can research practice be embedded as part of general practice? How does it benefit learning in school? In what ways can strong partnerships between schools and HEI promote and enhance opportunities for school-led research?

  2. Long Term Vision • Getting staff more engaged WITH research and IN research • Supported by collaborative enquiry / lesson study format • Teachers taking responsibility for their own CPD through collaborative learning and use of internal expertise.

  3. We need to focus on classrooms, not schools Slide from Dylan Wiliam • In the UK, variability at the classroom level is at least four times that at school level. • As long as you go to school, it doesn’t matter very much which school you go to. • But it matters very much which classrooms you are in. • It’s not class size. • It’s not the between-class grouping strategy. • It’s not the within-class grouping strategy.

  4. “Every teacher needs to improve, not because they are not good enough, but because they can be even better.” Dylan Wiliam Research suggests that the impact of teachers on students’ outcomes plateaus after a few years. We need to challenge ourselves to deliberately seek improvements in our practice.

  5. Where did we start this academic year? Building on last year’s successes • Evidence: • Departmental reviews • Ofsted • Overall positive feedback from teachers (qualitative comments on the sessions offered) • All noted some impact on Teaching and Learning borne out of focus on what makes excellent lessons and reflecting on a continuum of teaching styles. • Some excellent practice observed, supported by some positive exam results at GCSE particularly. • HOWEVER need for more consistency across and within departments.

  6. What we learned from our staff… Teacher Feedback mentioned: • The need to share and embed good practice. • The need for more time to develop and consolidate strategies, plan collaboratively within departments. • The feeling that some of the CPD offer lacked coherence. The wishlist: • More time (!) • More peer lesson observations – developmental ,not high stakes • Differentiated CPD offer. • Some wish for sessions where independent reading, including research, is offered.

  7. Culture and Ethos • Willingness to move away from what makes an ‘Outstanding’ lesson, Ofsted-approved or otherwise • Focus on the learning of our specific pupils rather than focus on what the teacher is doing at the front • “Encouraging authentic collegiality” (Alex Quigley) - Collaborative work and coaching • Evaluation of impact on students’ learning • Creating the right conditions for teachers to thrive • Evidence-informed

  8. Professional Development Leading a Collaborative Enquiry

  9. The Plan • Making use of the Monday CPD sessions for this purpose (once an half term broadly) • Working in clusters with a mentor – regular input and discussion & planning time.

  10. The approach • Decide why you’re doing this • Decide who’ll benefit, how they’ll benefit and how you’ll know • Decide what you’re not going to do instead • Dig in to the theory and research • Collaborate, try, reflect, evaluate. • Beware group-think, find some challenge • Embed and disseminate!

  11. Teacher buy-in • In depth expertise on an area of their practice rather than sound bites and strategies which are rarely embedded • Gathering a portfolio of evidence to document the process; focus on outcomes • Disseminating good practice • Encouraging further research into a question by formulating more related questions that haven't been addressed or answered yet

  12. Example: Lesson Study • 1. Plan • Plan a lesson together. • Address each activity to your Learning Goal and predict how pupils will react and how you will assess this. • Pick 3 case pupils. • 2. Observe • Teach the lesson with your colleagues observing. • Pay particular attention to the case pupils • Conduct any assessments and/or interviews during & after. • 3. Reflect & Plan • As soon after the lesson as possible, reflect how each activity elicited the sought-after change. Were your predictions correct? Why? FOCUS ON THE STUDENTS, NOT THE TEACHER

  13. THE PROCESS Set up Choose an Enquiry question / goal Design your evaluation Guidance Framework Investigate the issue, get a baseline Enquiry, throughLesson Study Plan and try an intervention Interim review & expert input/research Refine your intervention Complete your evaluation Finish evaluation Write a summary Dissemination & Sharing

  14. Evaluating the impact of our practice Range of evaluation FORMATIVE AND SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT OTHER STATS eg attendance figures, number of comments/detentions/merits in contact book QUALITY OF HOMEWORK AND CLASSWORK, INCLUDING PARTICIPATION / CONTRIBUTIONS TEACHER’S OWN OBSERVATIONS – NOTES, PHOTOS OF WORK PRODUCED, USE OF STAR CAMERA POST LESSON INTERVIEWS WITH FOCUS PUPILS TEAM MEMBERS’ OBSERVATIONS AND COMMENTS GETTING A BASELINE FIRST?

  15. Evaluation Importance of starting with evaluation in mind.

  16. One group’s question: How effective is diagnostic marking between students and teachers and does it have an impact on their learning or attainment?

  17. Selection • We picked a top, middle and bottom student based on data and professional judgement from the 3 classes. • We took in their books and looked at the marking and if they were answering questions that had been asked.

  18. Examples…

  19. Examples…

  20. Examples…

  21. One group’s question: How can we change the perception of computer science and IT to encourage more girls to choose this subject for further study?

  22. We narrowed down our research by selecting girls with high and average CAT scores and questioning them regarding their interest in computer science. Through our investigation into papers written and our contact with CAS – Computing at School, we made contact with Dr Pau who has been working on this view and attitude of girls to computing. In light of this and the ways in which attitudes could change, we held an intervention which gave the girls exposure to different forms of technology (i.e. Lego Mindstorm). As well as this Dr Pau agreed to visit our school and the girls. Following this the girls were invited to a free event, planned for International Women's Day here at the University of Southampton. It took place on the 7th March from 10am – 4pm, and was a day of interactive events for female students.

  23. One group’s question: How can we strengthen the knowledge retrieval capacity of our students? (Beating the ‘I can’t remember’ line)

  24. Experimenting with ‘cheat sheets’ Responses provided by students on use of cheat-sheet: • “I think it’s a good idea and they help make me think and remember. It’s good to condense information. I can see how it has really helped me.” • “I think Cheat-sheet was helpful, but if I had added more things that were my weaknesses, it would have helped me more.” • “Yes, it has helped, due to me making so many minor mistakes that have cost me many marks.”

  25. Another group’s question: How can we facilitate critical thinking at KS3 level through a variety of discussion based tasks?

  26. Another group’s question: How can we get students to gain more marks in the 8 mark questions in the AQA GCSE Physical Education written paper?

  27. Wider reading Engaging with research • Group mentors’ suggested reading • Enquiry groups’ own reading • Reading resources by themes on school system and supporting blog • Access to JSTOR http://phsenquiry.blogspot.co.uk/

  28. Lessons Learnt • You cannot coerce colleagues into ‘doing an enquiry’ – Start with volunteers or as part of the CPD offer • Time is needed. This requires time and effort. Creative timetabling needed. • You don’t know what you don’t know… Choosing a ‘good’ enquiry question is a challenge in itself.

  29. What next? • Building on the work done • External expertise? How? • Link with universities • Harvesting the expertise of colleagues completing Masters • Possibly: Learning Communities developing their own action research • Different levels of engagement depending on experience and willingness • Support from NTEN   • Exciting developments with focus R&D as a Teaching School within a Teaching School Alliance • More robust evaluation of the programme

  30. Wider reading – What next?

  31. Capitalising on… Slide from David Weston

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