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Research informed professional practice |
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"We’ve had years of implementation, but now it’s time to get into enquiry. Research is about improving your professional practice. It’s a way of putting the ‘wow moments’ back into teaching. We’ll do the things that we’re interested in and we know that it will have a pay off for our school."
Primary school teacher
What are the core principles of research informed professional practice?
Lawrence Stenhouse defined research as ‘systematic enquiry made public’. He argued that research enquiry aims to solve problems by the achievement of understanding (Stenhouse 1980, pp1). Graham Handscomb and John MacBeath developed this concept and proposed that schools could become research engaged by placing research activity ‘at the heart of the school, its outlook, systems and activity’ (Handscomb and MacBeath, 2003). They suggest that a research engaged school has four main features:
The core principles
Research engagement in a research-engaged school is:
What benefits can research-informed practice bring to you and your school?
Engaging with research can create opportunities for teachers to take a lead, question and reflect on their practice, try new things in their classrooms and learn more about teaching and learning. Research-informed practice gives teachers the ability to contribute to whole-school improvement for the benefit of their pupils.
Research projects can supply the opportunity for teachers to investigate and interpret elements of their practice in a detailed and systematic fashion. They can use research to answer questions about what works and why and to explore and understand the needs of their students.
Being a research-informed practitioner can help teachers to re-engage with what it is like to be learner. Doing research in their classrooms give teachers the opportunity to find out more about how students experience learning. This can impact positively on their relationships and improve their practice.
Understanding the needs of learners
Research engagement can help teachers link with and contribute to some of the major developments in policy that have been taking place in recent years, for example the move towards school self-evaluation by Ofsted. Becoming research engaged can help teachers meet the demands of other initiatives such as Leading Edge or specialist status. It can also contribute towards personal development, motivation and career development.
Research engagement can impact on the whole school, improving relationships between staff and other members of the school community. Research engagement can open a dialogue between school leaders, teachers, support staff, pupils, parents and governors. It can improve understanding of the needs and concerns of all groups and help to create a ‘learning community’.
Research engagement can provide sound professional knowledge for educational decision making. It can help to explain cause and effect and provide a means of investigating the effectiveness of new initiatives, technology or teaching methods. In so doing, it can encourage more staff members to become interested and take ownership for developing excellent practice.
Research engagement can help the staff in your school to reflect collectively on pedagogy, assessment, curriculum and school leadership. Becoming engaged in research can inspire curiosity, interest and professional discussion among staff in a school, making it a great place to work.
‘If you can become aware of what you’re doing in a lesson you start to actively think 'Could I do this differently?' because you are consciously looking for cause and effect. Encouraging teachers to become researchers is going to have tremendous benefits for the teaching profession."
‘We’ve been used to seeing CPD as sending one person on a course and getting them to filter it down… but doing research with support from professional researchers – that’s the best form of professional development you can get.’
Engaging in research is a professional development activity. It involves reflecting on your own practice, gaining new insights and making changes as a result.
Engaging in research gives teachers a chance to consolidate existing skills and develop new ones. It provides opportunities to plan a research activity, refine questions, gather data, analyse results and share your findings with others.
Research engagement can contribute to career development, especially when staff receive recognition for enquiry activities as part of their CPD portfolios. This can be achieved through a range of options, including practice-based study at a Teacher Learning Academy or postgraduate study at a University. Experience of research is likely to help those seeking promotion, especially for anyone wishing to become a CPD coordinator, Advanced Skills Teacher, or headteacher.
Research enquiries are an ideal opportunity for collaborative CPD. Everyone can contribute, regardless of their role and status. Through working with others, questions become refined and new insights gained.
‘The power of working with another teacher has been so good for me. Where I might be tempted to cut a corner, the other person has a good idea.’
Research engagement as effective CPD
What does it mean to work in a Research Engaged School?
Research can be a great way of tackling a problem or addressing a question within your school. To be a research-engaged school means that the research should be relevant to the school, as well as the individuals directly involved. The school improvement plan can be a good starting point to help identify a topic for research. It is quite common for the research team to start out with a number of possible research ideas and then to decide which one is most suitable and important to pursue.
The research question is central to the success of the research project. This will identify what the research project is and is not about, guide the methodology and keep the research team focused. The development of a good research question involves a process of refinement and clarification to make sure it is answerable, practical and specific. It can help to access support from researchers, colleagues and local authority advisers in this process.
Developing research questions linked to school improvement
Anyone can become a research-engaged practitioner, including support staff and NQTs as well as more experienced and senior members of staff. It can be particularly relevant for teachers who wish to become or are already Advanced Skills Teachers and for the CPD coordinator. Research experience is not essential, but it is helpful to have someone to support you from within the school and from outside (e.g. a member of the senior management team, a professional researcher and/or local authority adviser).
Who can be involved in the research team and what role can they play?
Anyone in the school community can be involved in the research team (including pupils, parents and governors). There are a range of models that can be adopted, depending on the scale of the research and the size of the school.
In order to answer your research questions, there are a range of research methods to draw upon. These can include reviewing literature, looking at existing data, observing, taking photos, surveying and interviewing people.
Link to further information on examples of research methods
Planning a timetable with key milestones helps to keep the research project on schedule. This should include time for: planning, design of research instruments (e.g. questionnaires or interview schedules), data collection, analysis, reflection, and identifying your findings.
Planning and managing your research project
Sharing the research project with others can help the team resolve difficult issues, focus their thinking and ultimately improve the quality and relevance of the research. Sharing can take place at any time in the lifespan of the project as well as at the end (for example, updates in staff meetings, discussing research questions with colleagues, piloting interview questions). Most teachers would not want to write academic articles as a result of their research projects – this is not essential as there are many other ways of sharing your findings.
Sharing your research with others
What are the main challenges associated with becoming a research engaged practitioner?
Teacher may ask themselves: ‘Can I become a researcher?’ They short answer is yes. Many teachers picture educational researchers as boffins in white coats – an image far removed with how they see themselves as teachers. But if you look more closely it is possible to see that much of what teachers do in their everyday practice is closely linked to research.
Can teachers be researchers too
Finding out about existing research can be great way of being inspired and setting your own research in context, but teachers can find long academic articles off-putting. Several publications and websites are now available, featuring research digests and articles written for teachers.
People undertake research in order to find things out. There isn’t a great deal of point in doing research if you already know the answer. But this very ‘open-ended’ nature of research can make it unsettling – how do you know you’re getting it right? The answer lies not in trying to make research predictable, but in approaching it as if you are setting out on a journey of discovery. It is important to be very clear about your research questions and systematic in your processes, but to remain open to new information and different points of view. Again, having people on hand to offer support and advice can help you decide which direction to take.
Support from mentors, researchers and the local authority
The biggest challenge for teachers wanting to engage in a research enquiry is finding the time. You will need time for planning, refining your questions, designing your research instruments, collecting and analysing your data, reflecting on its implications and reporting your results. Not only that, but if you want to reap the benefits of collaborative working, your school needs to find a way of releasing at least two members of staff at the same time. Most school leaders can find a way to release staff if the issue is sufficiently high on their agenda. Workforce reform is prompting schools to use staff time in different ways. Ask around: there may be other sources of support (such as bursary schemes) available to staff wishing to undertake research activities.
How was this leaflet developed?
The information in this leaflet was prepared by Anna Eames, Caroline Sharp, Dawn Sanders and Kathryn Tomlinson. They worked on the NFER’s two-year research and development programme which began in September 2003. The programme involved eight primary schools and seven secondary schools from five local authorities (Birmingham, Essex, Hertfordshire, Oldham and West Sussex). It was sponsored by the NFER, GTCE, LGA, NCSL, the five partner LEAs and the schools themselves.
References
