FOREWORD
Research can help us change how we teach Professor Ed Sallis OBE
As a practitioner with a long career in further education I have always enjoyed undertaking research to improve my practice. I like solving problems and discovering what works and what doesn’t, and which pedagogical approaches enable students to learn most effectively. I realised a long time ago that understanding learning and student
motivation isn’t an exact science, and developing good approaches to teaching and learning can be problematic. Despite all that has been written about effective learning, all too few of us
can say, hand on heart, that we use approaches based on the evidence of best practice. If we reflect on our practice we come to realise that on many occasions we may have worked more in ignorance than in light. It is for this reason that I welcome the second, annual inTuition Research
Supplement from the Society for Education and Training. As a profession we still have inadequate models of pedagogy, so there is still much work to do in researching improved models of practice. Practitioners have a large role to play in making this happen. I hope this supplement will encourage more people in the profession to become researchers and to share their work with colleagues. Historically, colleges and training providers
haven’t seen themselves as research active. The Professional Standards for Teachers and Trainers in Education and Training are changing this view, and many more practitioners are feeling empowered to embark on research and make improvements to the way learning takes place. Nevertheless, the word research may be daunting to some teachers and
trainers who may be more comfortable with a term like evidence-based practice. Whatever you call it, challenging existing ideas and trying new things does not come naturally to many teachers. Academic research may be at fault here. It can often be seen to be overly theoretical and only tangential to what goes on in the classroom and workshop. What is needed is to encourage more practitioner research where individuals, or groups of individuals, design projects to make improvements in their practice. Its stimulus may be a piece of academic research, a perceived need among a group of students or from the outcome of an inspection. Even if the project doesn’t achieve the desired result, the research will still
have been valuable and will help develop a mindset focused on how to build improvement. It can be the first step to becoming research active. The research findings presented here (and in every issue of inTuition magazine) will, I hope, make us think, reflect on our practice, and perhaps change the way we teach. Who knows, you may eventually publish the results of your research in a future edition of inTuition or the inTuition Research Supplement.
Ed Sallis is visiting professor at the University of Plymouth. He is a Fellow of SET and chaired the steering group that produced the 2015 report, Making Maths and English Work for All. Ed was formerly principal and chief executive of Highlands College, Jersey.
2 SPRING 2017 • INTUITION RESEARCH
inTUITIONRESEARCH inTUITIONRESEARCH Issue 2 Spring 2017
set.et-foundation.co.uk
Your window on a world of research
Behaviour guru Tom Bennett on classroom
management P8-9
Blogging as public pedagogy P3
The five keys to starting research P4-5
Scientific strategies for learning P6-7
Maths and English assessment P13
Social Media 3 The importance of blogging
Analysis 4 What is research?
Learning 6 Strategies for getting the best out of students
Making use of lesson observations
Behaviour 8 Why classroom management is key Research into online learning
Knowledge 10 Supporting practitioner research What does a research-based CPD model look like?
“As a profession we still have inadequate models of pedagogy, so there is still much work to do in researching improved models of practice.”
Governance 12 The role of governors in supporting professional identity Towards a new paradigm for maths and English assessment
Pedagogy 14 Putting theory into practice to help trainee vocational teachers Blogs and resources
inTUITION EDITORIAL
membership.communications@
etfoundation.co.uk The Society for Education and Training,
157-197 Buckingham Palace Road, London SW1W 9SP. Editor: Alan Thomson
alan@createpublishing.uk.com Research curators: Gail Lydon, a Fellow of SET, Dr Colin Forrest, a Fellow of SET, and Joss Kang
PUBLISHING The inTuition Research Supplement is produced and published on behalf of The Society for Education and Training by: Create Publishing Ltd, Anerley Business Centre, Anerley Road, London SE20 8BD Advertising: 020 8676 5608 Printed by: PCP Ltd, Telford Cover illustration: Cameron Law
The views expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the Education and Training Foundation or the Society for Education and Training.
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