Research School Network: So we’re engaged- what next?

After 3 months as a Research School, we have worked hard to ​‘do’ Research. We have tweeted, facebooked, instagrammed, sent newsletters blogged and launched, all with the aim of creating knowledge of what works in Education.

The next step in our journey is to ensure that this research reaches teachers and is acted upon. We need to move towards more than just ​‘doing research’ from simply highlighting a growing evidence base to improve pupil outcomes.

Last week saw the publication of the latest findings on ​‘Research learning communities’ interventions from EEF.

https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/projects-and-evaluation/projects/research-learning-communities/

The evaluation did not find any overall improvement in pupils reading results but the study suggests that there may be a relationship between how engaged teachers are with research and the attainment of their pupils. This is extremely positive news but the findings threw up some challenges such as

• Constancy of research roles
• Research focussed culture within school
• Seniority of teacher and their effect on wider dispositions to research

To move on from simply ​‘doing’ research, we have also had to address some of these issues. We are ultimately aiming to develop a research focussed culture, developing staff and even saving schools money. We are working to develop and cultivate relationships within Blackpool and have been overwhelmed by the supportive culture that already exists. We have been able to get into schools by using existing positive relationships, we have spoken directly to SLT’s, Headteachers, Alliances and ITT providers and are on the way to building a research community. The importance of this work was highlighted by Sir Kevan Collins.

Sir-Kevan-Collins

“Teachers and school leaders now have access to a significant and growing body of academic research with enormous potential to improve pupil attainment and save schools money. But to do this, we need to make sure that research findings get into the hands of teachers in ways that are most likely to have an impact.”

Practically we are developing a targeted and structured approach to disseminating evidence through a link with TDT, the national charity for professional learning who have developed a CPD hub in Blackpool. We have:

• Met Headteachers with CPD leads of schools in scope 
• Asked them to formally commit to work with Research School/​TDT
• Undertaken a CPD audit highlighting best practice and identify areas for development
• Ensured CPD and SLT attend Research Leads training to grow capacity
• Assisted Research lead/​CPD lead with design of CPD programme. Best practice taken from IEE/EEF backed up with Research School involvement to address areas identified.
• Provided opportunities to share best practice at Evidence Fayres and present at our ResearchEd event.

As we move to the next stage of our plan, it is important to pay heed to Sir Kevan’s words:

“We know how challenging this can be. Today’s reports tell us that light-touch interventions are unlikely to have an impact on pupil attainment and getting teachers to engage with research is far from straightforward. We need to focus our efforts on more targeted and structured approaches to disseminate evidence and support teachers.”

Now we are engaged, we look forward to a long, happy and fruitful marriage between schools and research….we will keep you posted