Developing research questions linked to school improvement

Some schools may decide to embark on a research journey with a specific topic in mind. Others may wish to involve members of the school community in deciding on their research focus. What is important is that the topic is directly linked to an area of school improvement and focuses on pedagogy or a closely related issue.  Research engagement can help schools gather evidence for audit and for the Ofsted self-evaluation forms.  The schools that took part in the NFER study chose to investigate the following topics.

In primary schools:

• how to improve reading standards in nursery and key stage 1(Colmore Infant and Nursery School)
• the impact of rhyme and songs on pupils’ speaking and listening skills in key stage 1(Hatfield Peverel Infant School)
• the impact of three early interventions on children’s attainment at key stage 1 (Field Place First School)
• improving writing through drama in key stage 2 (Mayfield Primary School)
  supporting pupils who had recently arrived in the country (newly arrived pupils)(St. George’s Church of England School)
• improving family involvement in school decision-making (Horton Mill Primary School)
• the effectiveness of interactive whiteboards in teaching writing (Little Sutton Primary School and Hammond Primary School)

In secondary schools:

• the effect of teachers’ and students’ questioning styles(Bushey Meads School)
• the impact of a key stage 3 accelerated learning programme on student motivation (The Sandon School)
• teachers’ use of behaviour management strategies (Angmering School)
• exploring reasons why some students do not achieve as highly as expected in GCSE mathematics (Notley High School and Rickstones School)
• the effectiveness of e-learning in key stage 3 geography teaching(Blue Coat Church of England Secondary School)
• the impact of different teaching approaches in year 7 (Longdean School).

The following examples show how schools related their research topics to a school improvement issue. 

Little Sutton Primary School: Investigating the use of interactive whiteboards to improve writing

Little Sutton Primary School is located on the edge of Birmingham. It takes about 400 children. Staff knew that the school was achieving high standards, but a comparison of their results with those achieved by similar schools showed a miss-match between children’s’ attainment in reading and writing. The school had recently purchased two interactive whiteboards and this presented an opportunity to consider whether the whiteboards could help improve children’s writing. The research team decided to focus on children’s experience of writing in lessons using the whiteboards.

Angmering School: considering behaviour management

Angmering School in West Sussex is a comprehensive school for about 1,500 pupils. Behaviour management featured in their school improvement plan and staff had received training in a range of strategies as part of a whole-school approach. When staff decided to start their own research project, they felt it was logical to focus on this issue. Their study explored teachers’ use of the recommended behaviour management strategies as the first step in moving forward on this issue.

• Which aspects of your school improvement plan could research help to address?
• Are there certain issues that are not suitable for research?
• How will you decide on the priorities for research? Who will be involved in making the decision?

St George’s Church of England School, Birmingham: a whole school approach to setting research questions

The research team at St George’ Church of England school arranged an after-school session for all the teachers and teaching assistants to work on their research priorities. They decided that an area of concern to the school was supporting newly arrived pupils who had little or no English. 

Through a process of discussion, they decided on the following research questions:

• What are teachers and teaching assistants doing at present to assist newly arrived pupils?
• What do teachers and teaching assistants feel is needed to help newly arrived pupils on entry to school?
• What resources/support would benefit teachers, teaching assistants and pupils?