How can research improve
classroom practice?
Philippa Cordingley
The centre for the use of research and
evidence in Education (CUREE)
How can research improve classroom
practice?
This session
Exploring connections between the two worlds
Understanding the roles of Continuing
Professional Development and knowledge
management/ mobilisation
Practising what we preach – via systematic
reviews- at individual & system level
A case study from England
A final metaphor
Knowledge models
What’s the relationship/ flow between the
two?
Looking closely at users and use –
Research - process - outcome – agent?
Mobilising knowledge and focussing research
will help - but
Teachers improve classroom practice
So research > improvement means looking at
how they improve practice - Continuing
Professional Development and Learning (CPDL)
IE applying research about pedagogy and about
CPDL – practising what we preach
Finding out about teaching - What can and
can’t research do?
Research – the issue,
a tool for thinking, or
for action?
Practising what we preach - modelling
Lack of use of
research by
teachers parallel to
classroom teachers
whose students
struggle
What would we do
then?
“I’ll have what he’s having!”
Systematic reviews about CPDL
4 quality assured reviews into impact of CPDL to
shape CPDL – and CUREE’s work
Explored impact on pupils as well as teachers
Over 2,000 studies via comprehensive searches
Double blind filtering and weighing of evidence
300 relevant studies identified & coded
Data extracted & evidence weighed for 45
Very strong coherence with findings from the
Timperley CPD Best Evidence Synthesis
Benefits
Evidence about from 4 systematic reviews about
CPDL linked to improvements in student:
motivation, responses to specific subjects & curricula
performance e.g. test results and specific skills
organisation e.g. collaboration, selection of strategies
questioning skills, thinking & responses to stimuli
And teachers’
self-confidence e.g. in taking risks and efficacy
willingness to continue professional learning
willingness & ability to make changes to practice
knowledge & understanding of subject & pedagogy
repertoire strategies & ability to choose between them
between
Peer coaching
10-14 pairs of teachers – 24
hrs with researcher/practitioner
Learn about aspect of practice
and peer coaching
Build peer coaching
agreement for 12 weeks (min
4 peer coaching sessions)
Follow up 24 hours – exploring
students’ before and after work
& strategies & looking at
further development
E.g. Assessment for learning,
early years, thinking skills;
behaviour, MFL
Characteristics of CPD with these positive
outcomes from across reviews
The use of specialist external expertise
Peer support to create trust, enable risk
taking, generate commitment and Safety
To Admit Need (STAN)
Observation & deconstruction/feedback
from specialists (what isn’t within reach on
one’s own)
Observation for learning - learning to learn
from looking
Characteristics of CPD with these positive
outcomes from across reviews
Structured dialogue rooted in evidence of
experiments with learners
Scope for participants, via collaboration,
to identify own CPD starting points (within
a given framework)
Processes to encourage, extend &
structure professional dialogue & reflection
Effective use of time to embed practices
in classrooms e.g. on-course planning
What does that mean for how research
improves practice?
For individuals, research outputs need to
prompt:
Collaborative, active learning,
Demonstrating an expectation that findings
will be have to be interpreted for context
Diagnosis – in context of student experiences
Learning from looking
Use of specialist expertise/ smart tools to
explore beliefs, challenge with new ideas etc
Checking this out
We obviously also check that directly too
via:
Primary research eg with the National
Teacher Research Panel
Frequent Focus groups
Monitoring use and take up
At system level it means
Investigating the issues of interest to practitioners
Awareness raising re: range of useful research
Securing understanding of core facts and issues
Enabling practitioners to relate products to own
experiences
Providing access to theory / the underpinning
rationale to enable transfer
Encouraging and/or supporting practitioners in
interpreting, testing & refining strategies from
research in their own context
Stepping stones
Stepping stones from
2.5 minute “bites” – power points
Tasters – micro enquiry tools based on
nuggets of evidence ( 400+)
Web digests
Major summaries of cornerstone academic
studies – hot linked to teachers’ studies
A wide range of CPD tools and resources
eg mystery games, treasure hunts
Coaching based CPD programmes
Using External Resources
www.gtce.org.uk/research/tasters/
Key features:
nuggets of evidence
taken from the RfT
summary
enquiry activities to
find out how learners
experience
phenomena now
Ideas for taking next
steps
where to find out more
A case study from England
Systematic reviews translated into a national
Policy Framework for mentoring and coaching
4 pages – principles, skills, core concepts ( who,
what where why when) and a venn diagram
showing links
Use of research as improvement tool central:
Facilitate access to research and evidence to
support development
Draw on evidence from research and practice
to shape development.
An example of a principle
Research based resources
A library designed to:
communicate interconnected
information
illustrate components in context & via
video
make the evidence base explicit
provide tools & activities for adaptation
by practitioners
Blended Learning resources for Effective
mentoring and coaching...
21
Route Map
Merlin, Arthur and use of research to
improve practice
The book of Merlin, T H White
Merlin” said the King, “tell me the reason for your visit. Talk. Say you have come to
save us from this war.”
“No” replied his former tutor “it is hopeless doing things for other people. The only
thing worth doing for the race is to increase the stock of ideas. Then, if you
make available a larger and deeper stock, the people are at liberty to help
themselves from out of it . By this process the means of improvement is offered,
to be accepted or rejected according to their need. Such is our business, to open
up new ideas (and practices).”
“You did not tell me this before.” Replied Arthur “You have egged me into doing
things all my life, the chivalry, the Round Table. What were these but efforts to
save people and to improve how things are done?
“They were ideas” said Merlin firmly, “rudimentary ideas. All thought in its early
stages begins as action. The actions which you have been wading through have
been ideas, clumsy ones of course, but they had to be established before we
could begin to think in earnest. You have been teaching man to think.”
“So my round table was not a failure Merlin?” - “Certainly not, It was an
experiment”.
Contact Details
philippa.cordingley@curee.co.uk
www.curee.co.uk
Centre for the Use of Research
and Evidence in Education
4 Copthall House
Station Square
Coventry CV1 2FL
England
+44 2476 524036