RESEARCH RESEARCH-INFORMED CPD RESEARCH IN PRACTICE


How the TRIPs can make the journey to teach T Levels more manageable


Gordon Duffy-McGhie discusses how one of the Teacher Regional Improvement Projects (TRIPs) has helped technical teachers and trainers prepare for the new technical qualification.


With the first-wave of T Levels starting in September, there has been considerable national focus on finding new ways to help technical teachers and trainers develop appropriate and alternative pedagogical approaches in order to ensure they are able to successfully deliver, as yet unseen, new curricula. In 2019, the Education and Training


Foundation (ETF) launched the Teacher Regional Improvement Projects (TRIPs), a nationwide research and development activity aimed at improving teaching practice and outcomes for T Level learners. As a project lead for one of the North East TRIPs, based at Middlesbrough College, my colleagues and I have spent the past months working closely with three partner colleges (Burnley; Darlington; and New College Durham) exploring the ways in which research-informed and peer-supported continuing professional development (CPD) can help large further education providers prepare for the opportunities and challenges of T Level delivery. As the first round of TRIPs comes to a close, we are, like many others, busy analysing the outcomes and impact of our many experiments and starting to draw some conclusions that we hope will be of use to colleagues across the technical education and training sector. Our project’s design was shaped by Sandra Nutley’s work on putting research into practice in a way that supported progress towards organisational


REFERENCES


• Ball, S. (2018). The tragedy of state education in England: Reluctance, compromise and muddle – a system in disarray. Journal of the British Academy. 6. pp. 207-238.


• Gardner, J., Holmes, B. and Leitch, R. (2008). Where there is smoke, there is (the potential for) fire: soft indicators of research and policy impact. Cambridge Journal of Education, 38: 1, pp. 89-104.


• Mills, G.E. (2017). Action research: a guide for the teacher researcher. 18 ISSUE 39 • SPRING 2020 inTUITION London. Pearson Education.


• Nutley, M., Walter, I. & Davies, H.T.O. (2007) Using Evidence: How Research can Inform Public Services. Bristol: Policy Press.


• Sarason, S. (1990) The Predictable Failure of Education Reform. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers.


•Wiliam, D. (2016) Leadership for Teacher Learning. Florida: Learning Sciences International.


Figure 1: Tensions in practitioner-based research


Pros:


• Ability to easily access situations, resources, participants and information;


• Familiarity with participants can help remove barriers;


• Familiarity with environment and context;


• Ability to ask the right questions at the right time;


• Deeper knowledge of historical practices and current practical pressures.


Cons:


• Loss of ‘objectivity’ and of the ‘increased risk of making assumptions based on prior knowledge and/or experience’;


• Bias – the teacher/researcher is too closely connected to the research topic and participants;


• Looking for the outcomes we want to see.


excellence (Nutley et al, 2013). So we sought to design the project so that the development of T Level teaching and learning also made a wider contribution to how organisations developed as a whole. Nutley suggests that FE providers can


move closer to organisational excellence if we can get the mix right between, on the one hand, evidence-informed practitioner action research and, on the other, embedding research evidence in organisational systems and processes. Nutley says this involves practitioners and managers sharing responsibility for initiating and sustaining evidence- informed practice and professional


development. That involves striking a balance between supporting high levels of professional autonomy for practitioners, and using funding, performance management and regulation to encourage the use of research. For Nutley organisational excellence


shares the following characteristics: • Successful research use is the responsibility of organisational leaders and managers


• Research is used to develop and shape organisational culture


• There is significant ‘local adoption’ of research findings, which are ongoing within specific teams


• Partnerships are used to facilitate and disseminate the research. Our project has helped teachers from each partner college consolidate and develop their understanding of alternative pedagogical practices within and across a range of local contexts, particularly those focused on the three subject areas at the heart of the first wave of T Levels: digital, construction, and education and childcare. One of the main successes has been


the way we have been able to meld Nutley’s accounts of using research evidence into a single, workable model, which has had a significant positive impact on individuals, leaders, managers and organisations.


The inclusion of managers and teachers in the initial design and delivery of the project has enabled all four colleges in the partnership to maximise the wide range of CPD on offer from the ETF. The


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