in association with


others”. He calls for “a culture of research and refl ection in schools so that teaching and learning can be based on the best available knowledge”. His work shows that while you may mandate compliance, you need to unleash excellence.


So how might it be possible to engage teachers as active agents in innovation and enquiry, unleashing their energy and imaginations to create better learning for children and young people?


There are a number of professional development programmes helping teachers bring innovation into the classroom and inspire learners. An increasing number of schools in the UK are using enquiry-based methods as an important part of their approach to CPD and school improvement. These schools are engaging with action-research, not as an academic exercise, but as a means of developing teachers as refl ective professionals and driving improvement in lessons and learning. Among those supporting this growing trend, is Futurelab at National Foundation for Educational Research where we have developed a practical seven-step toolkit for managing school-based enquiry and evidence- informed practice. And evidence is emerging that schools joining this “Enquiring Schools Network” are beginning to see the benefi ts of using research-based methodologies. Enthusiastic staff at City Academy Norwich have chosen very different areas to research – from enquiry-based drama to the development of Assessment for Learning techniques. All the staff have identifi ed success indicators, and in order to document any change they are looking at where the pupils are now and what differences they want to see. Once their ideas are put into action in the classroom, they will be guided in looking for evidence of improvement and links to current research. Hannah Swain, a teacher at the academy, has found the experience


useful. She explained: “The programme is helping me to focus on teaching and learning in a new way. The format has given me a powerful structure for innovating and tracking the impact of change. I am really valuing the opportunity to take a step back from my routine practice and spend time refl ecting on where we can improve. It has given me the confi dence to move our curriculum forward in new and exciting ways. It is having a hugely positive impact on my practice and on the development of our team.” At Copland Community School, enquiry-based research is being used not only to improve standards and transform teaching and learning within the school, but across its challenging location in inner city London. Headteacher Graeme Plunkett said: “Copland is improving on a number of fronts and the work we have done with the Futurelab programme is central to our mission: to transform learning and teaching by engaging students. There is so much potential here that has, in the past, been untapped, but now the ingredients are in place to create something innovative and unique.” Alongside a robust methodology, it is important to feed research evidence into a school’s development programme in a timely and accessible way. This is why it is important to have a credible research organisation as a partner. Schools can move forward reassured that their innovations, whatever their particular priority, are incorporating strategies “most likely” to have an impact on pupil outcomes. Educational research can often be dense and full of academic jargon so it is important to produce “research insights” that capture the key ideas in an accessible way for busy teachers. The test of true professionalism, in teaching as in medicine, says Professor


Robin Alexander, is that the practitioner “is able to justify his or her actions by reference to evidence, aims and principles”. Similarly, Professor Dylan Wiliam, a member of the National Curriculum Expert Panel, cautions that “too often, education policy, and teachers’ practice, is driven by fads and fashions. Research can never tell teachers what to do, but it can suggest the directions that are most likely to lead to improved student outcomes”. Undoubtedly, the movement for evidence-informed practice is growing. At a time when schools have a real opportunity to innovate it is important that we are guided, not by narrow dogma or the unsubstantiated claims of the “salesmen”, but by research and the evidence of successful professional practice.


Engaging in and with research will increasingly be seen as an important


part of what it means to be a professional educator. Here at Futurelab and across our family of enquiring schools everyone is a learner – and that means teachers as well as students.


• Gareth Mills is head of learning and innovation at Futurelab at the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER).


Further information www.futurelab.org.uk


“So how might it be possible to engage teachers as active agents in innovation and enquiry, unleashing their energy and imaginations to create better learning for children and young people?”


The NFER Research Programme


Research-led practice is one of the types of teaching development featured in the NFER Research Programme’s report, What Leads to Positive Change in Teaching Practice?, published in June 2012. This report is one of a pair of studies that consider creating change in schools through workforce development. It presents the fi ndings of a study in which NFER maps the key research evidence about what leads to positive change in teaching practice in schools. A number of recent reports have emphasised effective teaching as a crucial element in securing positive outcomes for young people. NFER will be trying to evaluate the impact of such practice in schools in a more formal way and is interested in hearing how others have tackled this.


Developing the Education Workforce is one of three themes in the


NFER Research Programme that focuses on important undeveloped research areas within education where it feels its research skills and depth of subject expertise offers a valuable insight. If you would like to read What Leads to Positive Change in Teaching


Practice? or fi nd out more about The NFER Research Programme, visit www.nfer.ac.uk/rcsh


Fun informative learning


Using enjoyable online challenges, NFER’s formative assessment service provides a detailed picture of children’s understanding and progress in reading, maths and science at key stages 1 and 2. Instant results and reports aid teacher’s assessment.


For more information call 01753 637007 email products@nfer.ac.uk visit www.nfer.ac.uk/fasr


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