Research School Network: researchED Durrington 2018

On Saturday, the Durrington Research School welcomed around 200 colleagues to our first researchED event. In the programme, Shaun Allison outlined the aims of the day:

“Effective teaching should not be based on hunches or guesses. It should instead draw from the wisdom of our most successful teachers and the best available research evidence. This is what ​‘ResearchED Durrington’ plans to bring you – effective evidence informed strategies that can be taken straight back to your classroom.”

We hope this article gives you a snapshot of the day.

What did delegates say they had taken away from the day?

“The sense that there was a common thread which joined so much of the day together – cognitive and behavioural science and its applications. It helped me to rationalise why some of the good practice I see works so well, which in turn will help me and teachers to reflect and analyse.”

“No pressure but I wanted to feel re-engaged with education and inspired to bring the benefits of research into the schools I work with. I will take away a new perspective on how important it is to understand the research behind so many aspects of teaching and learning. Sessions with Sarah Donarski, Clare Sealy and Tom Sherrington were particularly interesting with lots of ideas to develop teaching, learning and assessment with a better understanding of cognitive overload.”

“The key message that I took away was from Mark Enser, Rebecca Foster and Claire Hill and it was simple. Plan for learning rather than an activity/​task. Too often we plan tasks that engage, but rarely do we stop to think whether students will remember the content or the activity. This strongly resonated me on the day and ever since.”

“1. Ideas from Harry Fletcher Wood’s talk about why there is no agreed model for CPD which has the most impact – good discussion with colleagues in the room 2. Oliver Caviglioli’s focus on ​“sorting” / organising as a key cognitive process to aid transfer from working memory to long term memory- very relevant to the aspects of primary practice in which I work. 3. The sense that there was a common thread which joined so much of the day together – cognitive and behavioural science and its applications. It helped me to rationalise why some of the good practice I see works so well, which in turn will help me and teachers to reflect and analyse.”

“The idea that intermediaries are essential for the busy teacher, that although we can all access research, it’s quality and usefulness can be questionable and the consideration of this are important. Also that it is crucial to provide opportunities for teachers to utilise the research that shows what works best in the classroom to maintain and build up our sense and ability as professionals That it is ok to strip back to what is important – recap – introduce – do – assess. That the science of teaching is so complex – rewiring the workings of the brain blindfolded- that we may never become expert teachers, but we can become better through deliberate practice.”

“My main ​‘take-away’ was from Tom Sherrington’s talk about feedback. I have already drafted a new design for our feedback sheets, so that they have a stronger focus on student actions for improvement. The Memory Clock session with Caroline Creaby was excellent too, it reinforced our ideas about revision from research and I will be sharing this with my colleagues as we approach the final run-up to exams.”

“Vision of the streamlined classroom (Hendrick and Macpherson) and the quote from Kirschner et al ​“If nothing has changed in long-term memory, nothing has been learned.”

“Mary Myatt: changing staff’s perceptions of using proxies for learning and reinforcing my wish to see the curriculum develop as a story with ​‘conceptual knowledge making rich connections’ from Willingham.”

“Teaching is both simple and also complex Research is a way to ensure our profession is taken seriously”

“‘Whizzy’ lessons aren’t always the most effective.. direct instruction and higher order thinking can be way more efficient use of time.”

“Practical ideas- it felt very much as sessions run by teachers for teachers, rather than hard to implement ideology.”

“The quality of the speakers was exceptionally high & the collegiality of the atmosphere meant no-one sought their own agenda especially with Daniel Muijs – a great keynote speaker”

“Must focus more on closing the ​‘know-do’ gap between pedagogical understanding and classroom practice. I will endeavour to try and implement (whether successful or not) at least one new pedagogical idea per week. Also to focus more on regular coaching as a means to develop teaching abilities. From Peps McCrea’s session.”

“Being stimulated to think (and think rather hard in some sessions) and to have the opportunity for informal networking between sessions and over lunch.”

The Presentations

As more of these become available, they will be added here.

• Professor Daniel Muijs – Creating an evidence informed profession.
• Mark Enser – Lean Lessons
• Matt Pinkett& Mark Roberts – Big boys don’t cry?
• Sarah Donarski – Questioning how you question
• Dr Brian Marsh – Teachers supporting teachers in professional learning and practice development – the use of mediated peer coaching.
• Jo Payne& Mel Scott – Research informed principles in the primary classroom
• Harry Fletcher-Wood – How can we design professional development that works?
• Oliver Caviglioli – Memory and meaning
• Jonathan Haslam – Staying curious
• Mary Myatt – Curriculum as a big story
• Dr Caroline Creaby – The memory clock: a tool to maximise the impact of student revision
• Nick Rose – Memory research for the classroom
• David Weston – Unleashing greatness in teachers
• Claire Hill& Rebecca Foster – Practical approaches to bringing research-informed practice to the classroom, the department and the whole school

The Blogs

Here are the blogs that some of the delegates have written about the day:

• A brief reflection from researchED Durrington – Adam Robbins
• researchED Durrington – Ramblings from the chalk face – Jack Tavassoly-Marsh
• Food for thought – Emma Prince
• ResearchEd Durrington Takeaways – Marcus Cherrill

The Hashtag

To follow the conversation on twitter – #rEDDurrington

The Drawings

The brilliant Oliver Caviglioli captured some of the sessions in his own inimitable style and then very kindly shared them on twitter. Here they are: