How can research improve classroom practice?

Philippa Cordingley The Centre for the Use of Research and Evidence in Education (CUREE)

Systematic reviews about CPDL

4 quality assured reviews into impact of Continuing Professional Development and Learning (CPDL) to shape policy, practice – and CUREE’s work Explored impact on pupils as well as teachers Over 2,000 studies via comprehensive searches Double blind filtering and weighing of evidence 300 relevant studies identified & coded Data extracted & evidence weighed for 45 Very strong coherence with findings from the Timperley CPD Best Evidence Synthesis

Benefits of structured CPDL revealed by the reviews Evidence from 4 systematic reviews about CPD/L linked to improvements in student: motivation, responses to specific subjects & curricula performance e.g. test results and specific skills organisation e.g. collaboration, selection of strategies questioning skills, thinking & responses to stimuli And teachers’ self-confidence e.g. in taking risks and efficacy willingness to continue professional learning willingness & ability to make changes to practice knowledge & understanding of subject & pedagogy repertoire strategies & ability to choose between them

Characteristics of CPD with these positive outcomes from across reviews

The use of specialist external expertise Peer support to create trust, enable risk taking, generate commitment and Safety To Admit Need (STAN) Observation & deconstruction/feedback from specialists (what isn’t within reach on one’s own) Observation for learning - learning to learn from looking Structured dialogue rooted in evidence of experiments with learners Scope for participants, via collaboration, to identify own CPD starting points (within a given framework) Processes to encourage, extend & structure professional dialogue & reflection Effective use of time to embed practices in classrooms e.g. on-course planning

What does that means for how research improves practice?

For individuals, research outputs need to prompt: Collaborative, active learning, Demonstrating an expectation that findings will be have to be interpreted for context Diagnosis – in context of student experiences Learning from looking Use of specialist expertise to explore beliefs challenge thinking with new ideas etc

Checking this out

We obviously also check that directly too via: Primary research eg with the National Teacher Research Panel Frequent Focus groups Monitoring use and take up

At system level it means

Encouraging and/or supporting practitioners in interpreting, testing & refining strategies from research in their own context Providing access to theory / the underpinning rationale to enable transfer Enabling practitioners to relate products to own experiences.

Securing understanding of core facts and issues Awareness raising re: range of useful research Investigating the issues of interest to practitioners

Stepping stones from..

2.5 minute “bites” – power points Tasters – micro enquiry tools based on nuggets of evidence ( 400+) ( see next slide) Web digests Major summaries of cornerstone academic studies – hot linked to teachers’ studies A wide range of CPD tools and resources eg mystery games, treasure hunts Coherent development programmes and packages This is a lot of material – so we create navigations tools too… ( see next slide but one)

Research tasters

www.gtce.org.uk/research/tasters/ Key features:

nuggets of evidence taken from the RfT summary enquiry activities to find out how learners experience phenomena now Ideas for taking next steps where to find out more

Route Map

A case study of system level use in England

Systematic reviews translated into a national Policy Framework for mentoring and coaching 4 pages – principles, skills, core concepts ( who, what, where, why ,when) and a venn diagram showing links Use of research as improvement tool central eg: facilitate access to research and evidence to support development draw on evidence from research and practice to shape development.

An example of a principle

Take up of coaching as a research rich strategy … Sits at centre of: Work on National Strategies for improvement General Teaching Council, Teacher Learning Academy National College of School Leadership work on leading coaching Training & Development Agency’s leadership of CPD Specialist Schools and Academies Trust work on 14-19 and lead practitioners New Masters in Teaching and Learning

Contact Details

[email protected]

www.curee.co.uk

Centre for the Use of Research and Evidence in Education 4 Copthall House Station Square Coventry CV1 2FL England +44 2476 524036