Research School Network: Responding to the new Reflections on the Aspirer Research School Survey – November 2020

As I write this, the country is facing another return to Lock Down and an uncertain and rocky path lays ahead. It is clear that schools will remain holding the reins, providing a safe and secure place for children and students in the challenging times ahead. We face the continued pressures of accountability from Ofsted, new legal responsibilities regarding online and blended learning for our pupils and demands that we wave a magic wand and all impact from the pandemic disappears. I have no doubt in the next weeks, schools will once again be asked to further develop their roles as the focal point of the community, providing services that other sectors are no longer offering.

With these ongoing pressures in mind, in June 2020, before the end of the summer term, the Aspirer Research School conducted a survey of leaders and teachers, asking what would be of most help. We wanted to understand how the Research School could be of most help as we adjust to respond to the new. The results were powerful and helped us consider our plans for this academic year.

On our return to full time statutory education, in September 2020, we decided to run the survey again to see if the priorities of school leaders and teachers had changed in any way. The answer was not really!

Our Results
Our first question asked delegates to share their areas of concern for pupils. The area of most concern according to our survey continues to be the widening gaps in attainment for our students. This is closely followed by concerns about the mental health and anxiety of the pupils. Of course, the mental health of our staff impacts on that of the children, and this was mentioned on multiple occasions including comments such as ​“Staff well-being needs to be higher on the agenda.” and ​“Wellbeing needs to be a focus and not just words used occasionally. It has to be a focus and done
with intent and meaning.”

Next we asked participants to share the areas they would like to focus on in terms of professional learning and ongoing development. Unsurprisingly, the areas of focus highlighted involved the development of online and remote learning and effective approaches to spending the catch-up funding. This places us in a challenging position at the Aspirer Research School, because there is no evidence to draw upon that tells us how to prioritise our funding during a national pandemic! There is however, an illuminating systematic review by Sinead Harmey and colleagues at the Institute of Education, University of London that provides some insight into how different countries have responded to unplanned school closures. This review is part of a wider study led by Professor Gemma Moss entitled A duty of care and a duty to teach: educational priorities in response to the COVID-19 crisis. We will be working with Sinead over the next few months, exploring it further
and seeking to understand how this can be translated into practice.

Our next question asked participants to share their thoughts on how we can be most supportive in structuring the opportunities for training and support over the next year. Three quarters of our respondents (76%) felt that short, regular ​“bitesized” webinars would be most appropriate. Furthermore, participants commented that it would be important to repeat the sessions or record them so they can be accessed by a wide range of staff, at convenient times. Another favoured option was an online course, punctuated with regular opportunities (either online or face to face) for participants to share ideas and discuss their thoughts and reflections.

Our final question asked what topics and subjects teachers and leaders would most be interested in reading about. Excitingly, a wide range of subjects were highlighted, including tutoring and catchup, early years’ practice, social and emotional learning, leadership practices and SEND.

In conclusion…
It is important to us at the Aspirer Research School that we work with teachers and leaders in a way that is flexible and responsive to the needs of the education sector during these challenging times. The demands on us have never been so great and the need for trusted evidence to support us make effective decisions is immense. The Aspirer Research School team are all serving teachers and leaders. We understand the pressures we are all facing and are extremely grateful to all those who participated in our survey helping us to understand how best to respond to support colleagues. Over the next weeks and months, we will be continuing to refine and develop our approaches to working with schools, leaders and teachers. Please do get in touch if there is anything else we can do to help.

Keep safe, take care.
Megan
Megan Dixon and the Aspirer Research School team.