intuition - research supplement - spring 2016
DESCRIPTION
InTuition magazine's first research supplement. Published Spring 2016 by Create Publishing for the Society for Education and Training.TRANSCRIPT
https://set.et-foundation.co.uk
The journal for professional teachers and trainers in the further education and training sector
ResearchInTuition
Issue 1 | Spring 2016
‘For the sector, by the sector’
Visible learning:
a global synthesis
John Hattie, p5
The Scholarship
Project in CHE
John Lea, Gail Hall, Patrick Leonard, Leila Mars and Chris Dows, p10
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www.elmag.org.uk is aimed at all leaders in all parts of the sector. Course discounts may be available for small providers. Bursary support is also available for certain individuals.
Book high quality and relevant professional development on:
Inspirational leadership in a time of change
CPD opportunities | Resources | Network
www.elmag.org.uk The leadership portal of the Education and Training Foundation
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Welcome
InTuition contacts
Welcome to the first research supplement to accompany your membership magazine InTuition. We plan to publish this supplement at regular intervals to accompany InTuition.
You will already appreciate that the Society for Education and Training and the Education and Training Foundation are committed to supporting and promoting research for the sector, by the sector. Much of our research work is devoted to providing practitioners with the time, space and resources to undertake their own research to improve an aspect of practice, and to assisting them in relating this to theory and to already published research.
Those commitments underpin how we design this supplement and its content.
So, this first edition includes:• articles written by current practitioners about their own
research; • some key research texts that we have reproduced from the
recently published textbook for the sector (Readings for Reflective Teaching in Further, Adult and Vocational Education); and
• contributions from other authors who are all engaged in supporting and better understanding the use of research in the sector to develop and improve professional practice, and outcomes for learners.Our objective of helping the sector to become more
research active is, of course, shared with a number of our partner organisations. So we are pleased to also be able to share with you an update on the HEFCE-funded Association of Colleges’ Scholarship Project.
I hope that you find this supplement to be a useful addition to the main publication. If you have any comments on this first edition, have suggestions of content for future editions, or indeed would like to see your own research featured, please do contact me at [email protected]
Sheila KearneyHead of Research,Education and Training Foundation
‘For the sector, by the sector’ is our ethos
The Society for Education and Training, 157-197 Buckingham Palace Road, London SW1W 9SP.
Editor: Peter Clasby
PUBLISHINGThe InTuition Research supplement is published by the Educational and Training Foundation.
Design and layout: Create Publishing Ltd, Anerley Business Centre, Anerley Road, London SE20 8BD.Advertising: Alan Thomson 020 8676 5608 Printed by: PCP Ltd, Telford
CORPORATEThe Society for Education and Training is the membership service of The Education and Training Foundation. The Foundation is a registered charity (charity number 1153859) and a company limited by guarantee (company number 08540597). www.et-foundation.co.uk
The views expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the Education and Training Foundation, the Society for Education and Training or members of the editorial board.
Contents 4 Why practitioner research is importantThe link between research and the quality of teaching, learning and assessment is vital – a four-point plan to getting it right
5 Visible learning: a global synthesisJudge how you feel about your own practice in relation to the ‘six signposts towards excellence’ identified by John Hattie
7 Helping good ideas to become good practiceMargaret Gregson, Patricia Spedding and Lawrence Nixon on enhancing your professional practice through Joint Practice Development
9 A passion for engagement with researchLecturers Dominic Thompson and Alec Dyer, who took part in an ETF Research Development Fellowship programme, tell us about their project and share some key readings
10 Enhancing college higher education through scholarshipThe Scholarship Project is a three-year HEFCE funded catalyst project aimed at enhancing the learning experiences of students in college higher education in England through engagement with forms of scholarship
13 Connection and coherence for mathematics teachers in further educationDiane Dalby’s research looks at the factors that influence learning experiences for vocational students, including the effects of college structures, cultures and internal policies in addition to classroom practices and curricula
14 Joint practice development: an alternative approach to professional developmentMuch of the research in Tricia Odell’s PhD has focused on joint-practice development, the model adopted by the Foundation’s practitioner research programme
For more information, visit set.et-foundation.co.uk Or follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter
Cove
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Produced in association with The Education and
Training Foundation
www.elmag.org.uk is aimed at all leaders in all parts of the sector. Course discounts may be available for small providers. Bursary support is also available for certain individuals.
Book high quality and relevant professional development on:
Inspirational leadership in a time of change
CPD opportunities | Resources | Network
www.elmag.org.uk The leadership portal of the Education and Training Foundation
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4 Issue 1 | Spring 2016 InTuition Research
Practitioner research
Practitioner research has the potential to help teachers improve outcomes for their learners. Research also keeps your teaching vibrant, engaging and up to date and, by using research and literature to improve teaching, learning and assessment, you can really enhance your work.
Here are four steps to help you get started and see that engaging in practitioner research isn’t as difficult as you might have thought.
1. Get together with other teachers
It’s hard to do practitioner research on your own. Collaborating with colleagues can make all the difference, provided you go about it in the right way. This means talking honestly about what is actually happening and sharing these experiences in an atmosphere of trust, equality and openness. Trying out new things in the classroom is easier when done together.
2. Agree what to doIdentify and agree an aspect of practice that you both think needs to be improved. • Ensure the focus of your research is one
that you are both interested in.• Take good ideas from other people – read
around the topic. Identify ideas where research has already shown evidence of successful practice. Build on these existing ideas and test them out in the context of your practice.
• Keep the focus for your research tight and manageable. It is best to investigate a small aspect of practice carefully.
• Identity key milestones – what you will do and when will you get back together to discuss what is happening.
• Take small steps to start with to ensure you are on the right lines.
• Ask yourselves:• What difference do we think this research
will have on learners’ progress?• How will we know that the research has
had an impact?
3. Test out your research idea• Try out your research idea together
with students. • Collect evidence of the impact of your
research idea on students’ progress. • Get together to see how things are going.
Two heads are better than one. As you go along, think about what is working and what you might need to change.
4. Review overall progress together
Make time to evaluate the overall impact of your practitioner research. Consider the following questions: • What has worked and why? • What has not worked and why?• What has been surprising or troubling in
the data? • Decide together: are you going to continue,
adapt, expand, or abandon the ideas or try something else?
In this supplement we have printed two readings from Readings for Reflective Teaching in Further, Adult and Vocational Education (pages 5-8) and have published two more readings on the SET website.
You can use these readings, and those in the previous edition of InTuition (Issue 22), to help you focus your discussions on key aspects of practice in need of improvement.
Of the readings in this supplement, and on the SET website:• Hattie encourages teachers to use the
work he has conducted in relation to visible learning to identify aspects of practice which might be worthy of further research, (pages 5-6).
• Gregson et al remind us that you can enhance your professional practice through Joint Practice Development, (pages 7-8).
• Biesta asks us to think about the competing purposes of education and the need to strike a good balance between them, (https://goo.gl/LIOY5T)
• Heilbronn explains the deep roots of ‘practical judgement’ in Aristotle’s philosophy, (https://goo.gl/LIOY5T)
The link between research and the quality of teaching, learning and assessment is vital. Don’t just get by, get better and better through practitioner research.
Why practitioner research is important By Maggie Gregson, Lawrence Nixon and Patricia Spedding, University of Sunderland Centre for Excellence in Teacher Training (SUNCETT)
Maggie and her colleagues Lawrence and Patricia introduce us to the articles we have selected to appear in this supplement from Readings for Reflective Teaching in Further, Adult and Vocational Education
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As this reading points out, many teaching
strategies do work – but some work
better than others. Hattie used statistical
techniques to compare measurements
of the effects of teaching strategies
and harvested findings from across the world. The result is a synthesis of
more than 800 meta-analyses relating to achievement – and it is possible to
‘read off’ the most effective strategies. But, by offering an explanation,
Hattie tries to do more than this. How do you feel about your own
practice and experience in relation to
the ‘six signposts towards excellence’, which Hattie identifies?
Edited from: Hattie, J. (2009) Visible Learning: A Synthesis of Meta-Analyses Relating to Achievement. Abingdon:
Routledge, 1–3, 236–40 and 244.
In the field of education one of the most enduring messages is that ‘everything seems to work’ to some extent. However, a lot is also known about what makes a major difference in the classroom. A glance at the journals on the shelves of most libraries, and on web pages, would indicate that the state of knowledge in the discipline of education is healthy.
Why does this bounty of research have such little impact? One possible reason is the past difficulties associated with summarising and comparing all the diverse types of evidence about what works in classrooms.
In the 1970s there was a major change in the manner we reviewed the research
literature. This approach offered a way to tame the massive amount of research evidence so that it could offer useful information for teachers.
The predominant method has always been to write a synthesis of many published studies in the form of an integrated literature review. However, in the mid-1970s, Gene Glass (1976) introduced the notion of meta-analysis – whereby the effects in each study, where appropriate, are converted to a common measure (an effect size), such that the overall effects could be quantified, interpreted, and compared, and the various moderators of this overall effect could be uncovered and followed up in more detail. The method soon became popular and by the mid-1980s more than 100 meta-analyses in education were available.
My book is based on a synthesis of more than 800 meta-analyses about information on learning that have now been completed, including many recent ones. It demonstrates how the various innovations in these meta-analyses can be ranked from very positive to very negative effects on student achievement.
An explanatory story, not a ‘what works’ recipeThe table below provides examples of effects associated with teaching methods and working conditions.
There are many teaching strategies that have an important effect on student learning. Such teaching strategies include explanation, elaboration, plans to direct task-performance, sequencing, drill repetition,
Why practitioner research is important By Maggie Gregson, Lawrence Nixon and Patricia Spedding, University of Sunderland Centre for Excellence in Teacher Training (SUNCETT)
Visible learning: a global synthesisBy John Hattie
The readings on the following pages are reproduced exclusively for SET members from Readings for Reflective Teaching in Further, Adult and Vocational Education, published by Bloomsbury.
SET members can get 20 per cent off this, and a range of other Bloomsbury books, until 31 March 2016, as one of their member benefits. See the back cover of this supplement for full details.
As well as the readings published here, two more are available for members on the SET website: (https://goo.gl/LIOY5T)• What is Education For?
And What Does That Mean for Teachers? By Gert Biesta
• Practical Judgement and Evidence-Informed Practice. By Ruth Heilbronn
Examples of effects associated with teaching methods and working conditions
Teaching d Working conditions dQuality of teaching 0.77 Within-class grouping 0.28Reciprocal teaching 0.75 Adding more finances 0.23Teacher-student relationships 0.72 Reducing class sizes 0.21Providing feedback 0.72 Ability grouping 0.11Teaching students self-verbalisation 0.67 Multi-grade/age classes -0.09Meta-cognitive strategies 0.67 Open vs. traditional
classes/summervacation classes
-0.16Direct instruction 0.59Mastery learning 0.57Average 0.68 Retention 0.08
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Reflective teaching
providing strategy cues, domain-specific processing and clear instructional goals.
These can be achieved using methods such
as reciprocal teaching, direct instruction and
problem solving methods.
Effective teaching occurs when the teacher
decides the learning intentions and success
criteria, makes them transparent to the
students, demonstrates them by modelling,
evaluates if they understand what they have
been told by checking for understanding, and
re-telling them what they have been told by
tying it all together with closure.
These effective teaching strategies
involve much cooperative pre-planning and
discussion between teachers, optimising
peer learning, and require explicit learning
intentions and success criteria.
Peers play a powerful role, as is
demonstrated in the strategies involving
reciprocal teaching, learning in pairs on
computers, and both cooperative and
competitive learning (as opposed to
individualistic learning).
Many of the strategies also help reduce
cognitive load and this allows students to
focus on the critical aspects of learning,
which is particularly useful when they are
given multiple opportunities for deliberative
practice.
The use of resources, such as computers,
can add value to learning. They add a
diversity of teaching strategies, provide
alternative opportunities to practise and
learn, and increase the nature and amount of
feedback to the learner and teachers.
They do, however, require learning how to
optimise their uses.
It is also clear, repeatedly, that it is the
difference in the teachers that make the
difference in student learning. Homework
in which there is no active involvement
by the teacher does not contribute to
student learning and, likewise, the use, or not, of technologies does not show major effects
on learning if there is no teacher involvement.
Related to these teacher influences are the lower effects of many of the interventions
when they are part of comprehensive
teaching reforms. Many of these reforms are
‘top-down’ innovations, which can mean
teachers do not evaluate whether the reforms
are working for them or not. Commitment to
the teaching strategy and re-learning how
to use many of these methods (through
professional development) seems important.
Any synthesis of meta-analyses is
fundamentally a literature review and, thus,
it builds on the scholarship and research
of those who have come before. My major
purpose has been to generate a model of
successful teaching and learning based on
the many thousands of studies in 800 and more meta-analyses. The aim is not to merely
average the studies and present screeds
of data. This is not uncommon; so often
meta-analyses have been criticised as mere
number-crunching exercises, and a book based on more than 800 meta-analyses could
certainly have been just that.
That was not my intent. Instead, I aimed
to build a model based on the theme of
‘visible teaching, visible learning’ that not only synthesised existing literature but also permitted a new perspective on that literature.
The conclusions are recast here as six
signposts towards excellence in education:
1. Teachers are among the most powerful
influences in learning.2. Teachers need to be directive, influential,
caring, and actively engaged in the passion
of teaching and learning.
3. Teachers need to be aware of what each
and every student is thinking and knowing,
to construct meaning and meaningful
experiences in light of this knowledge,
and have proficient knowledge and understanding of their content to provide
meaningful and appropriate feedback such
that each student moves progressively
through the curriculum levels.4. Teachers need to know the learning
intentions and success criteria of their
lessons, know how well they are attaining
these criteria for all students, and know
where to go next in light of the gap
between students’ current knowledge and
understanding and the success criteria
of: ‘Where are you going?’, ‘How are you going’, and ‘Where to next?’.
5. Teachers need to move from the single
idea to multiple ideas, and to relate and
then extend these ideas such that learners
construct and reconstruct knowledge and
ideas. It is not the knowledge or ideas, but
the learner’s construction of this knowledge
and these ideas that is critical.
6. School leaders and teachers need to
create schools, staffroom, and classroom
environments where error is welcomed as
a learning opportunity, where discarding
incorrect knowledge and understanding
is welcomed, and where participants
can feel safe to learn, re-learn and explore knowledge and understanding.
In these six signposts, the word ‘teachers’
is deliberate. Indeed, a major theme is the
importance of teachers meeting to discuss,
evaluate and plan their teaching in light of
the feedback evidence about the success
or otherwise of their teaching strategies and
conceptions about progress and appropriate challenge. This is critical reflection in light of evidence about their teaching.
Note what is not said. There are no claims
about additional structural resources, although
to achieve the above it helps not to have
the hindrance of a lack of resources. There
is nothing about class size, about which
particular students are present in the school
or class, or about what subject is being taught
– effective teaching can occur similarly for all
students, all ethnicities and all subjects.
There is nothing about between-school
differences, which are not a major effect in
developed countries. There is little about
working conditions of teachers or students
– although their effects, though small, are
positive, and positive means we should not
make these working conditions worse.
Teachers and principals need to collect the
effect sizes within their schools and ask ‘What
is working best?’, ‘Why is it working best’,
and ‘Who is it not working for?’
This will create a discussion among
teachers about teaching. This would require
a caring, supportive staffroom, a tolerance for
errors, and for learning from other teachers, a
peer culture among teachers of engagement,
trust and shared passion for improvement.
John Hattie – director of the Melbourne Educational Research Institute at the University of Melbourne, Australia, since March 2011. His research interests include performance indicators, models of measurement and evaluation of teaching and learning.
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Why should education leaders and teachers use the JPD approach to CPD? It is customary for leaders of education to
use continuing professional development
(CPD) budgets to update the subject and
pedagogical knowledge of their staff. Usually
this involves attending time consuming,
often expensive, courses, conferences
or other events where someone who is
considered (or considers themselves) to be
‘an expert’ tells everyone else in attendance
what to do.
While such CPD events and networks
might be helpful in raising awareness of
new developments, exchanging ideas and
sharing resources – arguably a necessary
first step in improving practice, it is not enough to guarantee it. This is because a
lot more ‘new learning’ (Eraut, 2004) has to
take place before knowledge is ‘transferred’
well enough to bring about real changes
in practice. Eraut uses the metaphor of
an iceberg to explain how practice really
changes. He argues that abstract, theoretical
knowledge and information about a ‘good
practice’ constitutes only one eighth of the
knowledge needed to put a ‘good idea’
into practice and that the remaining seven
eighths represents the amount of new
learning needed to bring about real changes
in practice. In view of this, education
leaders need to think carefully about the
extent to which existing, taken-for granted
approaches to CPD can be justified in terms of value for money.
Central to Joint Practice Development
(JPD) is the recognition that changing and
improving practice involves more than
the simple transfer of information. The
JPD approach to CPD acknowledges that
change takes time. It recognises that the
reality of putting ideas into practice places
greater demands upon the relationships of
those involved in the processes of change
and those responsible for the practices of
improvement (Fielding et al., 2005).
How can JPD be organised and used to
improve teaching, learning and assessment?
This reading deals with the practical
issues of how to go about improving
teaching, learning and assessment (TLA)
in straightforward, cost-effective and
sustainable ways using JPD as an integral
part of an organisation’s CPD strategy.
We describe a sequenced series of six
workshops each with a distinct aim. We
summarise the sequence in the six-step
cycle diagram below. This outline has been
developed to help leaders of education and
teachers get a further sense of what JPD
could look like in practice. It is designed to
stimulate and focus the discussions required
to put JPD into practice. As such it is not
a template or a ‘recipe’ but a stimulus and
focus for discussion which can and should
be adapted to suit particular circumstances.
Figure 1: The six-step cycle for putting JPD into action (Each step should be supported by a workshop)
Workshop one: Creating conditions for JPD This first workshop will enable you to explain the need to take a new approach to CPD
and help you to introduce ideas about JPD
to colleagues in your organisation. This is
why it’s a good idea to think about how you
can use existing collaborative relationships
to lay the foundations for new ones and
decide who might be responsible for the
introduction, development and co-ordination
of the project.
Workshop two: Sharing experience of practice and making room for argument and improvement This workshop can help participants to begin
to talk about aspects of practice they would
Helping good ideas to become good practice: Enhancing your professional practice through Joint Practice Development (JPD) By Maggie Gregson, Patricia Spedding and Lawrence Nixon This reading draws upon five years of empirical research at the University of Sunderland’s Centre for Excellence in Teacher Training (SUNCETT). This work engages practitioners from across the further adult vocational education (FAVE) sector in HE-supported practitioner research, which aims to improve practice.
It offers insights into the practicalities of using a collaborative approach to improving teaching, learning and assessment, described as Joint Practice Development (JPD).
Focusing upon a six-stage cycle, it illustrates different stages in using JPD as an approach to the improvement of teaching and learning. It also points to the importance of measuring the impact of JPD through both hard and soft indicators of change and improvement.
Edited from: Gregson, M., Spedding, P. and Nixon, L. (forthcoming) Helping good ideas become good practice: Enhancing professionalism through Joint Practice Development (JPD). London: Bloomsbury.
Step one: Creating conditions for the collaborative improvement of practice
Step six: Final evaluation of impact and identification of
the next priorities for improvement
Step two: Sharing experience of practice and making room for
improvement
Step five: Interim evaluation of impact
and adaption
Step three: Identifying
improvement priorities
Step four: Developing and implementing improvement priorities
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Reflective teaching
like to improve and to identify possible
strategies that might be used to bring
this about.
Workshop three: Identifying improvement priorities This workshop invites participants to
discuss area(s) for improvement from the
previous workshop in order to agree which
priorities are the most important and need
to be addressed first. The workshop then encourages teachers and learners to work
together to identify possible interventions
which could be used to address these.
Workshop four: Developing and implementing improvement priorities This workshop encourages teachers to
work together to plan how the interventions
selected should best be put into practice
and how, their impact should be evaluated. This should include the identification of ‘hard’ and ‘softer’ measures of impact
and how evidence of that impact can be
collected, analysed and used to evaluate
the effectiveness of the intervention(s) at
different stages.
Workshop five: Interim evaluation of impact and adaptation This workshop focuses upon the
collaborative analysis of evidence of the
impact of the interventions selected for
implementation at an interim stage of the
process. Participants are given opportunities to consider if or how well the intervention
is working and if it needs to be developed,
adapted or even abandoned in the light of
emerging evidence.
Workshop six: Final evaluation of impact and identification of next priorities for improvement Workshop six brings together evidence
of the impact and experiences of
implementing the JPD interventions. Reviewing this evidence will help
participants to evaluate the success of the
intervention(s) in improving TLA and enable
them to decide if the intervention is worthy
of further development. This will include consideration of if/how the JPD community could be extended and what the next
priorities should be.
Measuring impact: Hard and soft indicators of JPD When you are setting up your JPD project it is really important that you take some
time to agree upon some indicators of
impact. These indicators need to play two closely related roles. First, to help you
with your interim reflections and a final review of what is happening and what you
need to adapt. Second, to help provide evidence of the positive or negative impact
that the intervention is having upon TLA. It will therefore be well worth agreeing
soft and hard indicators of impact that
you understand and are happy to use. Remember to make time for this at the
beginning of your JPD work and to review this together as you go along.
The questions below could help you to
structure your discussion of which soft and
hard indicators of impact to select:
• What positive outcomes do we expect this intervention to bring about?
• What hard indicators of impact could you use to demonstrate this impact? For example improvements in:
– grade profile of a cohort for a specific assignment
– retention rates
– attendance rates
– achievement rates
– course reviews
– inspection grades
– staff motivation/morale
– student motivation/morale
– staff attitudes and interest in CPD
Other types of hard impacts could include:
– robust research evidence and more
convincing arguments for the use of one
pedagogical intervention over another
– greater cross-curriculum/departmental
working
– beneficial links and collaboration with other providers/agencies
– robust evidence for subsequent funding
applications
– establishment of a community of
research and practice within your
organisation
– FAVE staff active in the education research community
– closer links with HE colleagues – students themselves being more
“research active”
• What soft indicators of impact could you use to demonstrate this impact? For example, – classroom atmosphere has changed;
more settled, more questioning etc. – students are more willing to collaborate
– students are more engaged with
their learning – teachers’ being more creative in
their approaches to TLA and prepared to experiment
– self-reported or observed autonomy
of students – staff willing and able to challenge
taken-for-granted practices
– senior managers and other education
managers more aware of the importance
practitioner research
– senior managers and other education
managers working collaboratively on
joint practitioner research projects – practitioner research projects within
and across different departments/ whole organisation.
Conclusion In this reading we have described a
cycle of six JPD workshops that you can use to develop teaching, learning and
assessment within your organisation and
across organisations. The research we have conducted with
practitioners across the sector over the
last five years demonstrates the potential of the JPD model to ensure the focus of activity remains squarely upon teaching and
learning. This cycle of JPD workshops could therefore be a significant factor in extending an organisation’s repertoire of strategies to
improve TLA through CPD. The key assumption underpinning this
reading is that most people want to do a
good job and want to get better at what they do. We have described how this model of JPD can provide a forum where teachers, education leaders and learners can work
together to improve TLA. Many teachers in the sector are highly skilled artisans, artists,
scientists, engineers, mathematicians,
linguists, poets, dramatists, dancers,
musicians, entrepreneurs etc., with much experience and highly qualified in their vocational or subject specialism.
This model allows teachers and education
leaders to devolve or share power to
improve the experience and achievements
of learners. We want to emphasise the significant role research plays in helping practitioners extend their thinking about
improving TLA both in terms of the
strategies they use and the quality of their
reflections. Our experience also suggests that practitioners benefit greatly from being supported to explore the framing of their
research, identifying its implications for
practice and to use their experiences of
research to effectively reflect upon what has happened. For these reasons, it is well worth considering using specialist support from
HE colleagues at particular stages of the JPD cycle.
Finally, we hope this reading will encourage you to think seriously
about trying out the JPD model with a colleague or colleagues within your team or across your organisation.
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Initially focusing on technology as the
driver of change, our project changed
dramatically over its lifetime, with the
final iteration investigating the role that traditional theories of teaching
and learning play in the modern day
classroom. Our aim was to understand
what impact trends in education would
have on lecturers, and therefore on
teaching and learning.
Our focus was on collaboration and
the impact of the more experienced
individual teacher/tutor on student
learning; whether technology was the
answer was a hotly debated question.
It was hoped that a greater discussion
about the facilitators of teaching
and learning would be encouraged
and that, possibly, technology is not always the answer.
The RDF programme has been a major benefit and influencing factor for our research project. The residential experience and constant support offered enabled us to gain invaluable access to some incredibly well-read academics who pushed us to succeed. The networking opportunities and the dialogues we had with other colleagues also on the programme provided a platform to share ideas, and build relationships with fellow education professionals. Without the RDF programme we would not have had the confidence to undertake our research and certainly would not have developed such a strong desire to continue with further research.
Our research was not without challenge. We had been involved in another research project prior to this one and in our application it became apparent that there were some similarities in the projects that impacted on the level of originality of our new work. We learned some valuable lessons here in the necessity for complete originality of research. Shifting the focus of the project took time but through dialogue, not only with each other but our peers and mentors on the programme, we were able to agree on something that we both felt equally passionate about.
There is a strong commitment to engagement with research and continuing professional development (CPD) at South Downs College with many lecturers
completing Masters/Doctorates. In addition, there is a designated Teaching and Learning Group with a purpose-built teaching and learning space. This space was extremely useful throughout the project; it resulted in obtaining lecturer engagement being easier than originally anticipated. BERA ethical guidelines were followed throughout, so all students involved were aware of the research being carried out and, in fact, rather enjoyed the experience. The fact they knew the research was attempting to make teaching and learning more effective seemed motivational for them.
As a result of the research we have disseminated our findings to the college Teaching and Learning Group via ‘Teach-meet’ sessions, and longer sessions to the department.
This has stimulated some interesting debate, particularly within the quality department. We hoped that the research would rekindle teachers’ passion, their understanding of possibly forgotten theories of teaching and learning, and also stimulate discussion around the focus on technology during training and CPD events. This has certainly been the case. In the coming year we hope to present our report during an all-staff development day and, off the back of that, create a working group around the understanding and application of theories of teaching and learning.
Most of our research fell into two categories. First, theories of teaching and learning, looking at collaboration and the role of the more experienced individual tutor. The most useful and relevant in reading this case were Wood and Middleton’s (1975) paper looking at the Region of Sensitivity, and Vygotsky’s (1978) concept of Internalisation. Second, more recent writing that questions the role of technology and asks the truly relevant question: “If technology is the answer, what is the question” (Collin and Higgins, 2013) was equally important. Helsper and Enyon (2010) and Dianna Laurillard (2005) also write interestingly about the true role and value of technology.
Our project report is available on request. Email [email protected] or [email protected] to request a copy.
Dominic Thompson and Alec Dyer are lecturers at South Downs College. In 2014-15, they took part in the Education and Training Foundation’s Research Development Fellowship (RDF) programme.
Here, they tell us about their project, how its focus shifted as it progressed, and they share with us some key readings that they found particularly useful.
You can see them talking about their project at the Foundation’s 2015 research conference on YouTube at http://goo.gl/YMn7KV
A passion for engagement with researchBy Dominic Thompson and Alec Dyer
References• Collin and Higgins (2013) If technology is
the answer, what is the question? Times Educational Supplement, November 15 2013, p24.
• Helsper, E.J. and Enyon, R. (2010) Digital Natives: where is the evidence? British Educational Research Journal, Vol. 36, no. 3, pp. 503-520.
• Laurillard, D. (2005) E-Learning in Higher Education, in P. Ashwin (ed.) Changing Higher Education: The Development of Learning and Teaching. London, Routledge-Falmer.
• Vygotsky, L. (1978) Mind in Society: The Development of Higher Psychological Processes, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press.
• Wood, D. and Middleton, D. (1975) A study of assisted problem-solving, British Journal of Psychology, Vol. 66, No. 2, pp. 181-191.
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The Scholarship Project
Introduction and background
By John LeaThe Scholarship Project is a three-year
(May 2015-2018) Higher Education Funding
Council for England (HEFCE) funded
catalyst project aimed at enhancing the
learning experiences of students in college
higher education (CHE) in England through
engagement with forms of scholarship.
The project is conceptually underpinned
by Ernest Boyer’s (1990) model of the
four scholarships – the scholarship of
discovery, the scholarship of integration,
the scholarship of application, and the
scholarship of teaching and learning.
It seeks to utilise these broad notions as the means by which student learning
might be enhanced.
For example, the project will provide an
opportunity for participants to explore ways
in which curricula and pedagogies might
explicitly and effectively integrate life and
work experience with academic studies (the scholarship of integration); encourage staff,
students and local employers to develop
productive knowledge exchange networks (the scholarship of application); and provide
opportunities for students and staff to work collaboratively on enhancing learning and
teaching (the scholarship of teaching).
Integral to the project is the testing and
trialling of the ways in which these wider
notions of scholarship might become
embedded features of CHE, and thereby
help to raise its profile within the wider landscape of higher education.
Key to the success of the project will be
finding ways to evaluate the quality of these wider forms of scholarship, and measuring
their effects on enhanced and more
engaged forms of student learning.
The project is administered by the
Association of Colleges through a small
central project team, but, importantly,
includes representatives from a sample
of around 50 colleges that run higher
education (HE) courses. This includes
colleges that are: geographically spread
throughout England; colleges with small
and large HE numbers; colleges with
established and beginner HE status; and
colleges with general and specialised HE
courses. Although these colleges will be
Enhancing college higher education through scholarship – the Scholarship ProjectBy John Lea, Gail Hall, Patrick Leonard, Leila Mars, and Chris Dows
John Lea – Scholarship Project’s research director
the prime means through which testing and
trialling will take place, all colleges can get involved in the project by responding to
the various calls that will be made on the
project’s website and in regular newsletters
(details at the end).
In the first phase of the project, four pilot colleges have been engaged in a range of
reconnaissance activities relating to local
scholarly activity.
Each of these colleges has appointed a
scholarship project development manager,
and the four short pieces published as part
of this supplement provide an overview of
what each manager has been engaged with
in their respective college contexts to date.
Two of the case studies are in this printed
edition, the remaining two can be accessed
on the SET website by following the links at the end of this article.
ETF
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Promoting and supporting a scholarly culture in college higher education
By Gail HallA key challenge to college higher education (CHE) is the creation of a distinct culture of ‘HE-ness’ within settings that are often predominantly further-education focused. While there are some tangible improvements that can be made in terms of the physical and social environments, capturing the essence of what it means to be ‘higher’, and then nurturing that ethos, is significantly more challenging.
Never one to turn down a challenge, I took on this one with the full support of my higher education manager colleagues at Leicester, Derby and Central Nottingham Colleges working as a consortium, alongside whom I work as scholarship development manager. Our first joint task was to establish what we imagined a scholarly culture would look like in CHE. Setting aside the wider debate about the nature of the term ‘scholarship’ and how it might be perceived by students and employers, we agreed a number of features:• Students would not blindly accept
knowledge and information but would have the confidence to question, challenge and explore.
• Students would work on enquiry-based activities.
• Students would work in partnership with each other, with staff and with employers.
• Through scholarship, students would develop a range of valuable academic and employability skills.
It all sounded wonderful; but how to achieve it? Six months into the project and we are making some headway. There was scholarly activity happening at all three of the colleges but, in common with many other CHE settings, it was mostly under the radar. An initial challenge was to uncover examples of scholarship so that it is seen as something of value, to be shared and celebrated. Logically, if we want our students to perceive themselves as scholars then we need teaching staff to see themselves in the same way.
So, we decided to invite staff involved in HE within the colleges to bid for small awards to support scholarly activity. We currently have 12 such scholarship projects underway across the colleges with teachers working with students to develop new learning and assessment methods; explore links between employers and curriculum development; evaluate the effectiveness of study skills support, and consider the pedagogy of higher education within further education settings among other topics.
Gail Hall – Scholarship Project Development Manager, East Midlands Consortium of Colleges
Each of the colleges also supports staff with their applications for Higher Education Academy (HEA) Fellowships – the professional recognition scheme for people involved in teaching and supporting learning in HE. Each of the three colleges subscribes to the HEA and funds its staff applications, and the consortium runs staff development sessions and writing workshops for applicants. Feedback so far has been very positive with teachers emphasising the value of the process for reflecting on, and developing, their scholarship and their practice.
With a view to getting students into scholarship mode from the outset of their courses, one of the colleges held a college-wide induction event for its new HE students. New students could present outcomes from enquiry-based learning projects they’d worked on during the first two weeks on their courses, and second-year students could share aspects of their course relevant to enquiry and scholarship. This was well received by the students, some of whom have since asked whether there could be further opportunities to meet with students from other courses to share and discuss things they have been working on.
Teachers at one of the colleges are also being encouraged to engage in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) through a peer review facilitated action-research process. Two lecturers, supported by a member of the HE team, choose an area of their practice on which to focus, for example, developing higher level skills, assessment and feedback, or academic practice in general. The peers then support each other throughout the process and together reflect on the findings and outcomes of the research, which is subsequently written up as case studies, which can be disseminated.
It’s still early days, but we are confident that we are heading towards our shared vision of a scholarly CHE culture and that our students will continue to be inspired and enthused by teachers who value, and are valued for, their scholarly activity.
We will be sharing and celebrating all of the above, and more, at our staff and student scholarship and research conference in spring 2016.
Promoting and supporting scholarship as a form of entrepreneurship in college higher education
By Chris DowsOne of the primary aims of the Scholarship Project is to help redefine the nature and breadth of scholarly activity, for both staff and students, by employing Ernest Boyer’s (1990) four-part model of scholarship (of discovery, integration, application, and teaching and learning).
Using his definitions provides an approach that captures the significant academic, creative and professional contributions to learning that do not fit comfortably with the more commonly held view of scholarship (particularly in research-intensive universities) as discovery, research and academic-journal publication.
Over the past few months, it has become increasingly clear to me that an opportunity has arisen to widen perspectives and challenge perceptions across a range of definitions – including, significantly, what an employer is and, particularly in the creative industries, the nature of employment itself.
In common with many further education colleges across the country, East Kent College (EKC) has a well-developed creative arts provision that extends from entry level to higher education (HE).
As a curriculum area notorious for its inability to attract and sustain real and meaningful employer participation, the college’s involvement with the Scholarship Project might have proved problematic in assessing employer impact on learning and assessment. However, thanks to the innovative approach taken within the creative arts department at EKC, an intriguing – and potentially replicable – approach has been identified that not only promotes entrepreneurship within learners, but whose effects can be measured by integrating it into curriculum design and observing how it influences the employment potential of creative arts students.
It is difficult to develop relationships with employers in vocational subjects at the best of times, but what can tutors do if the industry in which they are training their students has changed to such an extent that, regardless of geographical location and market conditions, it is virtually impossible to attract meaningful external input for course and assessment design?
The answer lies in the tutor’s own working experience, and teaching within the creative arts. For example, music tends to attract practitioners actively working within their subject area. In addition to using their own creative talents in the structuring and implementation of delivery, their first-person
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The Scholarship Project
experience of the industry’s changing
nature can – and does – directly inform all
aspects of curriculum design. Furthermore,
tutors on fractional contracts often
supplement their income with performing
themselves; they are effectively acting as
entrepreneurs, and this experience can
be as valuable to a learner as the tutor’s
performance abilities.
Many of the creative arts industries
comprise single or very small groups of
people working for themselves. Web and
graphic designers, photographers, film-makers, traditional and digital artists,
writers, singers, musicians, dancers – while
many of them would welcome being taken
on by one of the few remaining large
companies or organisations – the dramatic
rise in affordable technology (particularly
for digital artists and musicians) and the
significant change in the distribution of creative texts has left a major and indelible
impact on how artefacts are made,
marketed and sold.
It is perfectly feasible for a musician or
band to produce their own recordings to a
professional level, package and advertise
their music on the internet and financially benefit directly from their efforts.
Recording techniques, the use
of hardware and software, musical
composition and aspects of performance
are standard elements of music teaching
from the earliest levels and, at EKC,
several units and assessments have been
introduced to contextualise these creative
and technical aspects in understanding
what it is to be an entrepreneur, from
the formulation of a business plan to an
appreciation of how cash-flow works.Integrating these elements into the
curriculum, particularly from level 3
and above, is a delicate matter – an
understanding of entrepreneurship might
not be the most immediately attractive area
of learning for a creative student but, again,
the tutor’s commercial experience comes
to the fore. Similar to how other curriculum
areas might bring in employers to reinforce
the importance – and authenticity – of the
learning outcomes built into their curricula,
the creative practitioner-tutor can fulfil the same role.
A significant influence on recruitment
to creative arts courses is the experience
of the tutor – whether they are still
practising or not – and it is a key indicator
of course legitimacy, particularly for HE.
Recognising that staff have experience
and/or are working within the industry
– whatever its structure might be – is
important to students. They need to know
their time and, at higher levels, financial commitment will be rewarded by enhanced
chances of employment; and ensuring the
curriculum delivers aspects relevant to
entrepreneurship is a major component in
realising this.
Concluding commentsBy John LeaIn the next phase of the project, 11 more
lead colleges (each with two partner
colleges) will join the project (which will
complete the 50-college sample), and a more intense period of testing and
trialling of scholarly activities will begin.
The complete list of college participants is
available to view on the website.
If you are not a member of staff or a
student in one of the 50 colleges you can
still get involved in the project in a number
of ways.
For example, if you have a strong view
on any aspect of college higher education
(CHE) you might consider submitting a
1,000-word ‘think piece’ (guidance notes available on the website).
We will be publishing one think piece per
month for the lifetime of the project.
If you are involved in an innovative form of
curriculum practice you might also wish to
showcase this by submitting a 1,000-word case study (guidance notes available on
the website). Case studies will be published
on the project’s website as and when they
come in, with full acknowledgment of the
author and college context.
There will also be a CHE Scholarship
conference on 28 June 2016, in London, and
you might consider submitting a workshop
proposal or poster by responding to the call
on the project website (www.aoc.co.uk/enhancing-scholarship-in-college-higher-education-the-scholarship-project).
Alternatively, if you would like to discuss
any aspect of the project, or would like
advice on how to get involved, please feel
free to contact me at [email protected] you would like to be included on the
project newsletter mailing list or require
help navigating the project website, please
contact Barbara Baidoo, the project
administrator: [email protected]
Reference• Boyer, E.L. (1990) Scholarship Reconsidered:
priorities for the professoriate. Princeton, NJ: The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.
Chris Dows – Scholarship Project development manager, East Kent College
You can read the following further parts of this article on the SET websitehttps://set.et-foundation.co.uk• Promoting and supporting scholarship in
large established colleges. Patrick Leonard, Scholarship Project development manager, Hull College Group. Visit https://goo.gl/LIOY5T
• Promoting and supporting an employer-engaged scholarly culture in college higher education. Leila Mars, Scholarship Project development manager, Peterborough Regional College. Visit https://goo.gl/LIOY5T
Hull: student site visit
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Diane has more than 20 years’ experience
in various further education management
and teaching roles.
Her research takes a holistic view
of the factors that influence learning experiences for vocational students,
including the effects of college structures,
cultures and internal policies in addition
to the impact of contrasting classroom
practices and curricula. In particular, she
identifies how these affect the attitudes and engagement of students with low
prior attainment in mathematics.
Based on her three-year study of
vocational students learning mathematics
in a group of general FE colleges, she
presents some of the challenges for
teacher development that arise from her
research findings.
Within the patchwork landscape of
FE, with its wide-ranging curriculum,
vocational students often view the subject
of mathematics as standing alone in a
distinct and isolated space. This is not just
another manifestation of the long-standing
division in England between the vocational curriculum and an academic discipline
but often involves fragmented learning
experiences for students that are situated in
two contrasting social spaces.
Mathematics classrooms and vocational
learning environments often have different
cultures, ways of working and assumed
values. These social aspects of learning
have a strong influence on students’ responses to mathematics teaching.
Vocational students quickly adopt the norms
of their vocational department in FE and
this serves to exacerbate perceptions that
mathematics is remote and unconnected.
For students whose previous experiences
of mathematics are often characterised by
disaffection and failure, further disconnection
only adds to existing perceptions that the
mathematics classroom is a place where
they do not ‘belong’ and reduces the chances of re-engagement rather than
providing new opportunities for success.
Some mathematics teachers in my
research study recognised the need to
address these problems of isolation and
disaffection and took steps to develop a
more ‘connected’ mathematics classroom.
This involved a multi-level approach to
create a learning space where the culture,
values and teaching approaches were more
closely aligned to those within the vocational
area, as well as making links between the
two curricula. In these cases there was
evidence of more positive attitudes to
mathematics, increased engagement and
some significant gains in understanding.The positioning of mathematics teachers
within college structures and their own
relationships to the vocational culture did,
however, affect their ability to implement
such a ‘connected’ approach.Some colleges utilised a centralised
staffing structure with a team of specialist mathematics teachers servicing vocational
departments. Others use a dispersed
structure with mathematics teachers placed
into vocational departments.
These positions influenced the professional identities of mathematics
teachers, determined some specific professional development needs and
affected how easy it was to deal with them.
Potentially a ‘connected’ approach was more readily developed with a dispersed
staffing arrangement but the teachers themselves become detached from their
own subject-related professional community
and had practical difficulties accessing cross-college professional development.
In contrast, a centralised structural
arrangement facilitated the construction of a
strong professional learning community but
the separation from vocational areas made
teachers’ attempts to develop a ‘connected’ mathematics classroom more challenging.
An additional complexity arises from
the multiplicity of roles carried out by
mathematics teachers. Many teach across
a wide range of mathematics qualification courses and age groups, each with different
demands. Some teachers focus on GCSE
and A level mathematics, while others may
teach mainly Functional Skills, including
perhaps English as well as mathematics, or
they supplement their mathematics teaching
with other subjects.
This diversity makes it difficult to establish any coherent professional identity
for mathematics teachers in FE or address
the development needs associated with
their roles.
Tensions between students’ experiences of learning mathematics and their vocational
programmes are clearly accompanied by
some frictions in teachers’ professional identities resulting from their roles and
positioning within college structures.
Although this research indicates some
effective strategies to address issues of
isolation for students through creating a
‘connected’ mathematics classroom, it also highlights the need for further exploration of
how to build coherent professional identities
and learning communities for mathematics
teachers in this complex landscape.
Diane is currently working on research projects about: the use of digital technology for formative assessment in mathematics, the mathematics within vocational pathways for STEM technicians, and the promotion of inquiry learning and connections to the world of work in mathematics and science classrooms.
For more on Diane’s research:• Dalby, D., & Noyes, A. (2015) The isolation
of mathematics teaching from vocational learning. Adults Learning Mathematics.10(1), 40-49. www.alm-online.net/images/ALM/journals/alm-ij-volume10-1-september2015.pdf
• Dalby, D. M. (2015). A study of the experiences of vocational students learning functional mathematics in FE colleges (Doctoral thesis, University of Nottingham). http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/28308/
And in these two journal articles:• Dalby, D. (2014) The connections and
contradictions in student responses to contextualised tasks. Research in Mathematics Education, 16(1), 75-76.
• Dalby, D., & Noyes, A. (2015) Locating mathematics within post-16 vocational education in England. Journal of Vocational Education & Training, 1-17.
To contact Diane about her research, email: [email protected]
Connection and coherence for mathematics teachers in further educationBy Diane Dalby
Diane Dalby – a senior research fellow at the Centre for Research in Mathematics Education, University of Nottingham.
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Professional development
Improvement comes through the clash of ideas: right or wrong, good or badThe aim of this article is to provide an
insight into some of the emerging findings from my education doctoral thesis. It seeks
to gain a deeper understanding of how
teachers improve their practice through
peer-to-peer working in FE settings, in
contrast to more conventional approaches,
such as attending continuing professional
development (CPD) events.
Much has been written about how this
approach can be implemented successfully
in schools and my research builds on the
lessons learned from these studies and
aims to identify the conditions necessary
to enable this way of working to flourish in FE and skills settings.
In particular, I am examining how
practitioners, as well as leaders and managers,
benefit from this approach and, consequently, how self-development can be integrated
into organisational learning. Through a
series of 16 semi-structured interviews
conducted with practitioners and managers
involved in five JPD projects supported by the Education and Training Foundation, my
research aims to develop a model of joint working that can be generalised to other
individuals, groups and FE and skills settings.
BackgroundOver the past eight years, government
policy has placed an increasing emphasis
Joint practice development: an alternative approach to professional developmentBy Tricia Odell
Tricia Odell is currently completing her PhD into effective methods by which teachers can improve their practice. Here, she discusses her research and her findings. Much of her research has focused on the use of joint-practice development (JPD), which is the model adopted by the Education and Training Foundation’s practitioner research programme
1. Self-evaluation: As a teacher, what can I offer someone else?
What do I want to learn from someone else?
What aspect do I want to improve?
2. Pairs/small groups are set up, made up of teachers who have similar interests/
expertise to share. Teachers carry out observations of
each other’s practice.
3. Reflect: what did I share? What
will I now try?
4. Put new ideas into practiceSeek feedback from partner/mentor/coach.What went well/not so well? What was the
impact on my learners?
5. Reflect: what will I take forward to the next cycle?
How JPD works in practice – adapted from Hargreaves, 2012
on the ability of schools and FE and skills
providers to take responsibility for improving
the quality of their provision (BIS 2011). The deregulation of the FE sector resulting
from the Lingfield review (BIS 2012), has meant providers now have the flexibility to structure professional development in a way
that will meet the particular needs of the
organisation. Reductions in funding have
also meant that organisations are seeking
more cost-effective ways to continually
develop the skills of their staff.
Against this background, revised
professional standards were launched by
the Foundation in 2014 that were intended to enable practitioners to take ownership of
their own professional development.
What is JPD?JPD was first proposed by Fielding et al (2005) and later by Hargreaves (2012). Promoted by the National College for
School Leadership, these authors sought to investigate and propose how practice could
be transferred between individuals and
small teams, predominantly in schools and
local authorities.
The approach grew out of a rejection of the ‘Beacon’ model, where high-performing institutions are funded by the government
to disseminate best practice so that others
could benefit from their expertise. It was also informed by research into collaborative
models of CPD, which suggested that
classroom-based CPD resulted in better
student and teacher outcomes than externally
run CPD events, (Cordingly et al 2003).
What does it look like in practice?In setting up groups for JPD, teachers with common interests or skills are brought together and asked to reflect on questions such as: ‘What could I offer a colleague?’ and ‘What do I want to learn from another colleague?’
To initiate discussions, teachers may
also be asked to talk about their values,
answering questions such as: ‘What brought you into teaching?’
Partnerships are then set up, with teachers
working closely together, observing one
another’s practice over a period of up to six months, followed by opportunities to reflect and experiment with new ideas they have
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observed, as in the illustration (below, left).
The approach enables teachers to
recognise and discuss what it is they already
do in their practice that is effective, but that
they have not told anyone about because
they do not value it or they feel it will be
valued. This is a way for teachers to ‘check-
in’ with their own teacher identity and, as
a result, they feel more confident about themselves as practitioners.
“Here we have a professional
development approach where teachers
genuinely do feel valued, rather than
making them sit on the naughty step next
to an expert in maths and English saying:
‘Right, this is what you must do.’ It’s a
bit like students really… getting teachers
to realise for themselves what they need
and have to do.” Middle manager
There is a recognition, however, that there
is still a place for more conventional CPD
events, where a degree of compliance
is required, for example updating on the
latest government policies in relation to
safeguarding or the Prevent agenda.
What are the challenges?A key focus of my study has been to look in
depth at how practice is transferred from one
person to another, since research suggests
that it is unlikely that a practitioner can simply
lift an idea that works for one teacher and
apply it to their own practice; even though the
idea may be good, it may not be replicable
and will require translation.
A further problem is that some types of
information do not easily pass from one
person to another; it may ‘stick’ on its journey
and so impede transfer (Von Hippel, 2003).
So how are participants in JPD
overcoming this? In one of the projects
(referred to as research pods), trained
coaches or mentors are appointed to
facilitate or guide projects to: help them
engage with relevant educational research,
provide feedback, keep on track, and foster
a systematic approach:“We have tried pods without facilitators,
but they don’t seem to move forward
well. They get muddy and lose track of
what they’re doing. So it’s better to have
a facilitator who is facilitative, rather than
directive.” Middle manager
There is an emphasis on active
experimentation, rather than passive
copying, backed up by educational research.
There is also a growing awareness that this
model of working needs time if it is to have
an impact on practice and subsequently on
learners’ outcomes. JPD is a ‘slow burn’,
rather than a ‘quick fix’. Crucially, it is important to build
partnerships of equals. A focus of the role of
References• Ball, S, (2008) The Education Policy Debate,
Bristol, Policy Press.• Cordingley, P, Bell, M, Rundell, B & Evans, D,
(2003) The impact of collaborative CPD on classroom teaching and learning. In: Research Evidence in Education Library, London, EPPI-Centre, Social Science Research Unit, Institute of Education, University of London.
• Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, (2011) New Challenges, New Chances: Next steps in implementing the further education reform programme, London, BIS.
• Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, (2012) Professionalism in Further Education: Final report of the Independent Review Panel, London, BIS.
• Fielding, M, Bragg, S, Craig, J, Cunningham, I, Eraut, M, Gillinson, S, Horne, M, Robinson, C and Thorp, J, (2005) Factors influencing the transfer of good practice. Research Brief No RB615, Nottingham, DfES Publications.
• Hargreaves, D H, (2010) Creating a self-improving school system, Nottingham, National College for School Leadership.
• Hargreaves, D H, (2012) Powerful professional learning: a school leader’s guide to joint practice development, Nottingham, National College for School Leadership.
• Von Hippel, E, (1994) Sticky information and the locus of problem solving: implications for innovation, Management Science, 40(4), 429–39.
Tricia Odell – an experienced teacher and teacher trainer, who recently led for the Foundation on the development and embedding of the new Professional Standards and now heads up work to develop and improve QTLS.
power relations in this way of working has
been central to the study.
How do we identify what good practice is?The research suggests that managers tend
to agree that everyone has something to
share, regardless of any external judgement
that may have been made about an
organisation’s practice.
For one interviewee, there is a belief that:
“Improvement comes through the clash
of ideas: right or wrong – good or bad.”
Senior manager
However, another senior manager
expressed a strong concern that the
approach could reinforce poor practice if
there is an absence of a rigorous quality
assurance approach to underpin it.
To address this, effective practice in the organisation is recognised and monitored
through systematic approaches to
observation of teaching and learning.
In another organisation, a more practitioner-
centred approach has been adopted where
the good practice of teachers is recognised
in a non-competitive way by the teachers
themselves, who develop an awareness of
their own good practice based on feedback
from their learners.
These two contrasting examples illustrate
the tensions in facilitating the approach if both
the practitioner and the wider organisation
are to benefit and improve practice.
A culture of trust and openness so that practitioners are motivated to develop their practiceFielding et al (2005) state the development of
trusting relationships is crucial if JPD is to be
successful. This resonates strongly with the
findings from my research:“For JPD to work, it’s about having
trust. It has to come from the top down,
with managers being prepared to give
away ownership and responsibility to
someone else and trusting that they
need to do this process and whatever
comes out of it has to be valued by
them. Even if you don’t agree with it,
you still value that contribution.”
Middle manager
This desire to move towards a change in
culture may again bring about tensions,
where organisations are tending to focus
their energies on business development and
funding, rather than teaching and learning
(Ball, 2008).
Summary and conclusionsMy research suggests that the JPD
approach represents an opportunity for
practitioners working in FE and skills settings
to be empowered to take ownership of their
professional development through working
together with peers to develop their practice.
There is, however, a need to establish
mechanisms for systematically quality
assuring these processes, to avoid
reproducing and spreading poor practice.
The role of leaders is also important in
fostering an open and outward culture in
which this approach can develop. Equally,
teachers need to be given the space to
reflect on their practice so that they can begin to value what they do and then be
provided with opportunities to share and
experiment with new practice, without the
fear of being judged.
I am aiming to complete the research
study in December 2016 and in the
meantime would be very pleased to hear
from teachers or trainers who would like
to share their experiences of putting into
practice this approach in their institutions.
To contact Tricia, email at:
01_InTuition_Supplement.indd 15 15/02/2016 20:52
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