Transcript Enhancing R&D capacity in schools: North of England conference

Enhancing R&D capacity in schools:
North of England conference
January 2013
Toby Greany
Acting Executive Director, Leadership Development, National College
n executive agency of the
A
Department for Education
The big picture
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Key drivers: autonomy, collaboration, freedom,
diversity, self-improvement, accountability
The challenges: building capacity, confidence
and trust
The goal: that elements of a devolved system
are held in balance so that …
1. Autonomy doesn’t become isolation
2. Diversity doesn’t act as a barrier to
collaboration
3. Accountability doesn’t become regulation
How will research and evidence
be created, collated and
communicated in a selfimproving system?
“Education has never had really effective links between
research and practice. Education research is the great
unreformed parts of the system. Too little has an impact
on children's learning, and too few teachers use research
evidence to inform their teaching. Teaching schools could
change that. Initial training should include how to use
research and evidence and teaching schools should hold
a research budget to fund teachers as researchers.”
Estelle Morris, The Guardian, 26th July 2011
Toolkit of strategies to improve learning¹
Approach
Potential gain
Cost
Overall cost benefit
Effective feedback
+9 months
££
Very high impact for low cost
Meta-cognition and selfregulation strategies
+8 months
££
High impact for low cost
Peer tutoring/peer assisted
learning
+ 6 months
££
High impact for low cost
Early intervention
+ 6 months
£££££
High impact for very high cost
One to one tutoring
+ 6 months
£££££
Moderate impact for very high cost
Homework
+ 5 months
£
Moderate impact for very low cost
Learning styles
+ 2 months
£
Low impact, low or no cost
Teaching assistants
+ 0 months
££££
Very low/no impact for high cost
Ability grouping
± 1 month
£
Very low or negative impact for very
low or no cost
School uniforms
± 1 month
£
Very low or negative impact for very
low or no cost
¹ Summary for Schools (selected lines), Professor Steve Higgins et al, Durham University, May 2011
A model for knowledge mobilisation?
Carol Campbell and Ben Levin; Developing Knowledge Mobilisation to Challenge Educational Disadvantage and Inform
Effective Practices in England, EEF; 2012
But how do teachers learn and adapt?
“The significant people for a school teacher are other teachers, and by
comparison with standing in that fraternity the good opinion of students
is a small thing and of little price. A landmark in one’s assimilation to
the profession is that moment when he decides that only teachers are
important”.
Willard Waller, The sociology of teaching (1932)
“There is a ‘discussion culture’ among teachers… interspersed with
timid attempts at the level of actual implementation… To get from a
peer discussion to its enactment in one’s classroom is a phenomenal
leap.”
Michael Huberman, Teachers as artisans and tinkerers
An alternative model for evidence
informed practice¹
The plan for teaching and learning
Improvisation where the plan does not work
Personal tinkering + inflow from researchers?
Systematic tinkering with partners
Systematic innovation with partners
Distributed innovation to partner schools
From common practice to full JPD
Self-improving school system
¹ From David Hargreaves
An attempt to learn the lessons
from thinking on knowledge mobilisation and from
previous attempts at R&D innovation networks
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1000 flowers bloom
- no overall tight theme, planned outcome
Topics too narrow or parochial
- no breakthrough potential
Different projects don’t join up
- no jigsaw, no body of new knowledge
Agenda annexed by academic researchers
Role of teaching schools
As well as offering training and support for their alliance themselves,
teaching schools will identify and co-ordinate expertise from their
alliance, using the best leaders and teachers to:
1. play a greater role in recruiting and training new entrants to the
profession
2. lead peer-to-peer professional and leadership development
3. identify and develop leadership potential
4. provide support for other schools
5. designate and broker Specialist Leaders of
Education (SLEs)
6. engage in research and development
Professional continuum
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Teacher
training
Continuing
professional
development
Leadership
development
National research themes -2012-14
• What makes great pedagogy?
• What makes great professional development
which leads to consistently great pedagogy?
• How can leaders lead successful teaching
school alliances which enable the development
of consistently great pedagogy?
• Closing the gap…
Making a difference in schools and alliances
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link research explicitly with developments in learning and
teaching - teachers as innovators not researchers
keep a sharp focus and make sure it is manageable
find ways align individual, departmental, whole-school and
alliance interests
seek out opportunities to foster pupil/teacher dialogue
share the process, capture the learning and use the
outcomes of research beyond the project – push and pull
plan for the longer term development of research
engagement (link research and CPD)
be ambitious and confident about using research to secure
gains in pupil achievement
adapted from Sharp and Handscomb, 2008
Questions and discussion
What is your experience of developing research
and increasing the use of evidence in schools?
- what are the challenges?
- what works well?