Dr Barbara Spears

Dr Susanne OwenSarah Quinn

Supporting practitioner research through initial training and provision of academic critical friends

Presented at the Innovative schooling and practitioner researcher-academic partnerships: Opportunities, challenges and learnings Symposium, Chair: Susanne Owen: AARE conference, Adelaide: Hilton Hotel, Dec 1-5th

Background & Process of collaboration• The Training

Academic Partnerships• Critical Friends

Development of the Proposals

Feedback about the day and process

Challenges and

Learnings

1: Outline

Background: The Issue

Increasing concern: Traditional schooling

methods are inadequate for

preparing students for

C21st contexts

New Languages of educational innovations

re: physical space; teacher role; &

curriculum approaches

Learning commons

Fertile questions

Inquiry-based learning

Teacher engagers

Campfires

Interdisciplinary curriculum

How do we find out what happens re student learning?

Background: Innovations

DECD is an invited

system in the OECD* Innovative Learning

Environment project

7 sites/programs initially

metThe

International criteria

among 150 schools in 26

countries

25 SA Public schools now recognised

within DECD innovation Community of Practice

OECD innovation framework : Importance of evidence about academic, social and

emotional innovations

*Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development

Background: An Approach

Support initial research training Provide academic critical friends to assist at

significant points

In Partnersh

ip with UNISA

Designed to highlight the nature &impact of current innovative practices

Small Practition

er-Researcher Grants provided during 2012

To support significant

ly innovative schools in the data

gathering processes

Background: Aims of Research Grants

Encourage and

support practitione

r-led research

(PLR) into innovation

aspects currently underway

Build research

knowledge and skills through

collaborative practices

and learning

Foster partnerships for high

quality research

Share outcomes

and outputs of PLR

regarding innovatio

n

To:

Background: Process Over 10 months

ApplicationResearch training

Finalise Proposal

Liaise with UniSA

partner

Progress report

Presentations

Final report

Http://www.innovations.sa.edu.au/default.asp?id=40511&navgrp=1118

Flexible Format

2: Collaboration

90 minute Plenary

by 2 Academics

Focus on problem and the methods

Guidance & Support

The Research Proposal

What is Research?

Research paradigms

& processes

Developing the

research proposal

Working with

academics +

Follow-up support

The Training Day30 participants from 13 schools and preschools

3: Academic Partnerships

Costa, A & Kallick, B, 1993, Through the Lens of a Critical Friend. Educational Leadership

Advocates for the success of that work

“A trusted person who

asks provocative questions;

Provides data to be examined through

another lensAnd offers a critique of a person’s work ‘as a

friend”

Critical Friend

“Takes time to fully understand the context of the

work presented and the outcomes that

the person or group is working toward”

Academic PartnershipsCritical Friends

Strategic role

Important for assisting improvemen

t

Simultaneous roles of support

and challenge

Less formal than

mentoring or

coaching

NCSL, 2005: Meeting the Challenge: Growing Tomorrow’s School Leaders

A professional relationship based on mutual regard and the willingness to question and challenge

4: Training: What is Research?

“ A careful,

systematic,

patient

investigation

undertaken to

discover o

r

establish

facts and

relationships.”

(Mertle

r & Charle

s,

2005, p. 6)

A process or set of steps involving

collecting and analysing information to increase understanding of

a topic or issue.

Involves: Posing a

question

Collecting data

to address the

question

Presenting a

response

(answer) to the

question

If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research…..A. Einstein

Research begins with a problem…

Exploration of Basics

Characteristics of a good

topic

• Interesting • Researchable• Of Practical

Significance• Manageable

What is the problem in my

context

What is my question?

What are my aims?

My Three Keywords:Descriptors

What am I proposing

to do?

Experimental

RandomControl

Variables

Quantitative

Qualitative

Action Researc

h

Focus on Action Research

Applying the scientific method to real life problems in their own environment

Positioning

teachers as

reflective learners

Research Proposal

Study Title

Background

Statement of the Problem

Purpose of the Research

Justification for the Research

Research Question

Ethics/ Permissions

Context of the issue Local, National

The Problem to be Researched

Research Aims

Literature Review

Research Question

Informed consent

Qual/quant

Methodology: design

Method: Who, What, How, When, Where: Why do it

this way?

TranscriptsContent Analysis

Text AnalysisStatisticalInferentialDescriptive

4: Development of the Proposals

Examples of Proposal Topics

the effectiveness of a mentor program in developing

enhanced technology skills and enabling 21st century

pedagogies to be developed among teaching teams

the relationship between

pedagogy, engagement and literacy

learning opportunities arising from the use of digital gaming technologies;

autonomous

learning and

interventions

required with

students and

teachers;

the impact of

personalised learning

on staff wellbeing and

student engagement

learning spaces impact

on learner

engagement and

wellbeing and the

importance of Learning

Advisors’ beliefs

Evaluation Questions & Method

To what extent did practitioner research grants:1. Encourage and support practitioners in their

innovations & research, 2. Build research knowledge3. Foster partnerships, and 4. Share outcomes about innovation.

What are the benefits and challenges of practitioner research?

Method: • Progress & final research reports examination• Surveys following initial training :usefulness and

early support; value of an academic support person

• Research completion surveys• Principal discussions

5: Findings Research Training

AS A NOVICE TO RESEARCH, I AM RETURNING TO

SCHOOL WITH NEW DIRECTIONS AND

POSSIBILITIES, WITH A CLEAR AND POWERFUL

FRAMEWORK WITH WHICH TO WORK’

EXCELLENT START.

FEEL LIKE MY HAND

IS BEING HELD AND

I’M ON MY WAY’.

I REALLY ENJOYED THIS SESSION AND HAVING ..(ACADEMIC LEADER

FOR INITIAL TRAINING SESSION AND DEPARTMENT COORDINATOR)

PROFESSIONAL GUIDANCE TO HELP US ‘NUT OUT’ OUR ACTION

RESEARCH PROJECT.

VERY

INFORMATIVE &

ENJOYABLE—WE

ARE EXCITED,

RATHER THAN

DAUNTED, ABOUT

THIS RESEARCH.

REVIEWED OUR

UNDERSTANDING

OF THE VARIOUS

RESEARCH

PROCESSES. GAVE

US TIME TO WORK

AS A TEAM TO

DETERMINE

WHICH RESEARCH

MODE WOULD

SUIT OUR PROJECT

BEST’

IT GAVE ME A

TOTALLY NEW

PERSPECTIVE ON

RESEARCH

TECHNIQUES’

90-100% indicated satisfaction with

individual support with the proposal

Grant & Critical Friend

This grant provided time to put

aside the busyness of working in a

school to concentrate on something

that we recognised as having

importance to our community. Time

to cycle through a process

of reflect, fo

cus, talk, plan’,

‘Enabled in depth exploration of

the relationship

between wellbeing,

engagement and

the environment’

Credibility to our task

– Mentor support

– keeping us on task

and time due to our

commitment to the

research grant’

Working in collaboration

with an academic researcher.

Published paper and presentation

to staff as an outcome- making

sense of what I do at school on a

daily basis as an innovative

technologies teacher’

Great model to use in future for us as a school, high class research support for our innovation, funding was flexible and enabled us to do important work for our students’

Grant & Critical Friend

A research mentor

was extremely

valuable to guide and

ensure validity of the

project. Being a grant

created a commitment to

the project’

‘This session helped us

to stop, focus, learn

from others and consider

the context of our inquiry.

We did some reshaping of

our inquiry focus after this

session, for example, we

tightened up some of our

data collection processes’.

‘Created confidence that we were on the right track. Ensured that we did not bite off more than we would be able to cope with’

‘ We were able to

get contemporary

data to support

establishment of

future strategies

Relationships; Time

BUT

‘Training and info sessions were not as useful as they could have been- they presumed people did not know things that schools are quite expert in’

Our (assigned) academic did not connect with our thinking or questions in the initial meeting and staff didn’t feel he could contribute to the direction we wanted to pursue’

There was no useful contact made during the research, the only time we had interaction was on the day

of presentation

We did not engage our academic support through no other reason than we just didn’t get to it. Having worked with our designated person before it was a tactical error not to engage her.’

5: General Findings• Initial training support• Those who connected with

critical friend early were successful

• Developing research proposal• Data collection, analysis &

report writing

Various ways of working in academic-

practitioner situations emerged

• Sharing with other colleagues & networks

• Evidence & innovation credibility

• Time• Grant accountability• Funding for teacher

release

Grants had a positive impact on

work in schools

General Findings Contd

Partnership and skill building

important

• Conducting research • Mentor guidance,

published papers, research manageability

Challenges for practitioners & academics

• Time to meet, • Trust, • Varying perspectives &

Acknowledging respective expertise of those involved

6: Overall Learning

Practitioner research grants:• encouraged and supported practitioners in

their innovations & research, • built research knowledge and • fostered partnerships, also • sharing outcomes about innovation

Attendee survey was extremely positive about joint work & increased quality of research proposals

Challenges

‘we were not able to access our academic because we couldn’t make contact, but later because we became immersed in the project’

Consider who is contracted to support school based inquiry.

Academics do not always have an understanding nor appreciation of the context of school-based research and this shows in their expectations as well as guidance’.

TrustTimeCommunication

Constraints

How we evolved for 2013

2013: Critical friends/

research mentors were determined

before the training day and invited to attend to work closely

with the practitioners

2012: Critical friends only met with

practitioners after the research training day

? Unknown at this point:

In Progress

Grants bought time for the teachers but

funds were rarely used to continue

liaison with academic to support data

analysis

Thank Youfrom

BarbaraSusanne

Sarah

Barbara.spears@unisa.edu.au