Research School Network: Teacher Choices – helping teachers make better decisions in the classroom

Last week the EEF introduced a new initiative called Teacher Choices. It aims to generate the kinds of evidence that teachers can put to practical use in their classrooms with their students. These short teacher-led research studies should be able to help provide teachers with answers to the questions they want to ask, rather than the ones asked on their behalf.

Whilst large-scale research clearly has its place, the focus is not always on the experiences of the classroom teacher and the decisions he or she has to make, often on their own with little or no support and guidance. They tend to answer bigger and more generalizable questions operating at institutional or system-level.

There can also be a lag between the commissioning of big studies and some of the answers teachers want help with right now, such as how exactly should I be using these knowledge organisers I’ve produced? What does it actually mean to quiz frequently? When is dual coding useful in lessons? What is the best wat to model writing?

This approach has the potential to be a helpful and responsive way of drawing upon the knowledge and expertise of the EEF to support practitioners to make more informed choices. Often top-down decisions can overlook the role of the teacher in making change happen. The Teacher Choices initiative addresses this problem by directly comparing different approaches used by teachers.

The first Teacher Choices trial involves a comparison of different ways of starting a lesson. It compares opening a lesson with a retrieval quiz with starting a lesson with a short discussion. This is exactly the kind of choice that many teachers would like to be much more informed about.

Other proposed questions focus on the most effective way to read with a class and whether or not getting students to line up outside a classroom improves behaviour or not. It would be really useful to know if asking questions during reading makes a difference or gets in the way. We often do things out of habit without any evidence that it is effective. Teacher Choices could fill this insight gap.

Perhaps the most exciting aspect of the new EEF approach is that it is driven by teachers themselves. It is classroom practitioners who can frame the direction the EEF takes. With this in mind, it would be great to get as many teachers involved in these trial as possible. Recruiting has begun and closes on 7 October 2019.

If these initial questions are not really relevant for your context, it might be worth starting to formulate ones that are. There are lots of possibilities, not just for generalised aspects of classroom teachers, but also for those with a more subject-specific focus. The scope to get evidence on various aspects of subject pedagogy is considerable.

Here are some suggestions for additional Teacher Choices studies: 

• Does using PPT slides help improve learning?
• Does greeting your students at the door improve conduct?
• What is the most effective way of improving students’ notetaking?
• What is the best way to end a lesson?
• What is the most effective way to give exam feedback?
• What is the best time to give back the results of a test?
• What is the most effective way to model writing?
• What is the best way to introduce a new poem to class?
• When is the best time to start teaching analytical writing?