Research School Network: Teacher describes ​‘real privilege’ after speaking at national conference

A Haverhill teacher has described the huge honour at being asked to give a lecture at a prestigious education conference.

Chris Dale was a guest speaker at the researchED conference in Stratford, London, earlier this month.

And the Director of Teaching and Learning at the new Samuel Ward Academy Trust Research School believes it was a real coup for the entire county after around 1,200 teachers, researchers and other educationalists attended the national event.

Chris said: ​“I was approached by one of the main supporters of researchED to see if I wanted to lead a session as they knew we were doing some interesting things around evidence-based practice. Obviously, I jumped at the chance.

“There has never been anyone from our locality talk at researchED and virtually no one from the Eastern Region.

“It was a real privilege to have the chance to put our own multi-academy trust on the map. researchED is a wonderful movement and to have 1,200 people attending is amazing.

“Seeing so many teachers and people working in the education sector gave me a feeling of immense pride about the profession.”

Chris was also asked to sit on a discussion panel about making research a reality in the classroom.

The Samuel Ward Academy Trust, which has 18 schools in the Haverhill, Newmarket, Sudbury and Bury St Edmunds areas, was awarded £200,000 funding to become a focal point for educational research.

As well as supporting teaching and learning across the Trust, the Research School will be instrumental in sharing good classroom practice across schools in Suffolk, working in partnership with the Teaching Schools and the county’s School-to-School Support Partnership.

After seeing the success of the researchED event first-hand, Chris admitted he would love to see something similar hosted in the Eastern Region.

He added: ​“It was a wonderful opportunity and a great chance to raise awareness of our own Research School.

“Our aim is to create a climate for every teacher to make sure they can make a real difference.”