February Research Round-up

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2 March, 2019 —

February Research Round-up

A guide to the interesting things we’ve seen and done in February

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by Bradford Research School
on the 2nd March 2019

We listened to: The TES English Teaching podcast: How metacognition can help pupils perform better in exams

In this podcast Alex Quigley, Senior Associate at the Education Endowment Foundation, discusses a number of topics – not just metacognition. In fact, much of the podcast is given over to a fascinating discussion on vocabulary. Although this is a podcast intended for English teachers, there are a number of takeaways for teachers of all subjects: https://www.podbean.com/media/…

We read: Impact, Journal of the Chartered College of Teaching: Developing a Learning Culture

This is the fifth edition proper of this journal and it focuses on school ‘culture’. As guest editor, Rachel Lofthouse, Professor of Teacher Education at Leeds Becket University, states in her editorial:

"Developing a learning culture, whether you are focused on students or colleagues, is a complex dynamic, producing as many dilemmas as it does apparent truths."
Rachel Lofthouse, Professor of Teacher Education at Leeds Becket University

It is split into five sections:

Effective Classroom Practices
Creating a productive Classroom Environment
Approaches to Supporting and Developing Learners
Developing a teacher Learning Culture
Collegiality, Mentoring and Research
The journal is available to members of the Chartered College, but many articles are available online here.

(Full disclosure: this dropped through our letterbox on Saturday morning, so it’s not technically from February. Sorry.)

We watched: BBC News – Glasses in Classes

The EEF are funding a trial of ‘Glasses in Classes’ in Bradford schools. The BBC visited Newby Primary School as part of the coverage of the launch: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/…

The rationale for the study is as follows:

"In the UK it is recommended that all children receive an eyesight test in their Reception year. This is provided by health services and results are shared with families, but not schools. Roughly 10–15% of children fail their eyesight test, and of these around a third are not taken to the opticians to obtain glasses."

The trial aims to mitigate for these factors by ensuring that pupils receive another pair of glasses for school, and that teachers are aware of this need.

If you are interested in signing up to the trial, read more here.

We wrote:2 blog posts

1) Preconceptions in Science

Recommendation 1 of the EEF’s Improving Secondary Science guidance report is as follows: Preconceptions: Build on the ideas that pupils bring to lessons. This blog post explores the key ideas and links to some useful sites.

2) Engaging Parents: Tips for Schools

This post explores the ‘best bets’ for working with parents, according to the EEF’s ‘Working With Parents to Support Children’s Learning’ guidance report.