researched cambridge slides: e4f

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Evidence Informed Practice: Connecting teachers with researchers

Jonathan SharplesCaroline Creaby

The EEF Approach

Summarise the existing evidence

Make grants

Evaluate projects

Share and promote the

use of evidence

What are the challenges in accessing and using reliable research evidence?

Sifting reliable research conclusions from the rest

Not skilled to judge the validity of claims

Can be a conflict with existing school practices

Knowing where to look for useful information

Too much information is available

Senior Leadership Teams

Time, time, time!

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• Millions of pounds are spend each year on educational research, but important results can take decades to make an impact in the classroom.

• Key questions:

1. How can research organisations and others effectively communicate their findings and engage with schools? (‘Push’)

2. How can schools overcome the barriers to using research well? (‘Pull’)

3. How can brokers and mediators help schools find and use evidence-based approaches? (‘Linkage’)

The research use challenge

• £2m funding round - 130 applications in 6 weeks

Different types of ‘knowledge mobilisation’ activity

• Dissemination: simple circulation or presentation of research findings to potential users

• Interaction: developing stronger links and collaborations between the research and policy or practice communities;

• Social influence: relying on influential others, such as experts and peers, to inform individuals about research and to persuade them of its value;

• Facilitation: enabling the use of research, through technical, financial, organisational and emotional support;

• Reinforcement: using rewards and other forms of control to reinforce appropriate behaviour. Walter, Nutley and Davis, Evidence and Policy 1(3)335

Social nature of research use

Uptake of research is based on trust and personality as much as practical usefulness - informal networks, direct contacts and brokerage are important

‘Passive’ dissemination vs ‘active’ engagement

‘Research use in Schools’ round projects

The RISE project:Evidence-informed School Improvement

External evidence summarised in the Toolkit can be used to inform choices.

Step 2: Identifying possible solutions

Evaluate the impact of your decisions and identify potential improvements for the future.

Step 4: Did it work?

Mobilise the knowledge and use the findings to inform the work of the school to grow or stop

the intervention.

Step 5: Securing and spreading change

Applying the ingredients of effective implementation.

Step 3: Giving the idea the best chance of success

Identify school priorities using internal data and professional judgement.

Step 1: Decide what you want to achieve

York-informed Practice Initiative (YIPI) pilot

Establish school

objectives

Identify areas to improve

Identify a range of evidence-

based strategies

Support schools to implement approaches

Evaluate the impact of changes

• Five schools in N. Yorks (four primary, one secondary) as development partners

• Worked with SLT predominantly across an academic year

• Five 1.5hr meetings, each with a defined goal

• Example: ‘Independent learning’ – metacognition, ‘thinking skills’ interventions, cooperative learning, formative assessment. Introduced peer tutoring in KS2 maths

Lessons learnt

• Providing complementarity to existing provision..• … People sometimes don’t know what they don’t know• The importance of dialogue• Different information for different purposes• Signposting/matchmaking is key – researchers,

programme developers, other schools etc• Gaps on support for implementation (actionable

guidance, high-quality training)• Research-engagement needs fertile ground prosper

Sharples & Sheard (2015) Evidence and Policy, available online

Making connections with researchers

Researcher Profile 1

Teacher(s): Me!

Interested in: strategies to support teachers to develop teaching and learning

Researcher: Dr David Frost, Fellow and Senior Lecturer in Education, Cambridge University

Interaction: Colleagues in the HertsCam network, university supervisor, ongoing advice and support about leading change and teacher development


Teacher(s): Abbie Winters. Advanced Lead Teacher in Chemistry

Interested in: the role of interleaving assessment to support learning

Researcher: Dr Henry Roedigger, Professor or Psychology, Washington University in St. Louis

Interaction: Email, feedback on classroom strategies, UK teacher contacts, feedback on article written about the project


Teacher(s): Mel Breakell, Advanced Lead Teacher in Sociology

Interested in: strategies to reduce the gender attainment gap

Researcher: Professor Becky Francis, Professor of Education and Social Justice, Kings College London

Interaction: Face to face advice, literature recommendations, video support, feedback on article


Teacher(s): Authors of our school’s Learning Journal

Interested in: feedback on our articles

Researcher: Dr Daniel Willingham, Professor of Psychology, University of Virginia

Interaction: Email feedback about our journal


Teacher(s): Teachers engaged in action research projects

Interested in: feedback on the focus of our projects and the ways in which we could assess impact

Researcher: Dr Gillian Hampden-Thompson, Professor of Education, University of Sussex

Interaction: Email feedback on each project, ongoing support including ‘effect size’ calculations


Teacher(s): Group of teachers who attend our school’s ‘Think Tank’

Interested in: strategies to enhance the way we feedback to students

Researcher: Dr Steve Higgins, Professor of Education, Durham University

Interaction: Skype attendance at our ‘Think Tank’ discussion meeting, feedback on subsequent blog post, literature recommendation.

Reflections

• Significant gains in knowledge and specific literature

• Nuanced advice about approaches in the classroom

• Significant impact on teacher identity and connectedness to the wider education community

• Supported us to reflect on how to develop an approach to support evidence informed practice across the school

Evidence for the Frontline (E4F)

Evidence for the Frontline (E4F) aims to enhance educational practice by linking practitioners with researchers, high quality evidence, evidence-based programmes and colleagues in other schools.

A collaboration between Sandringham School in St Albans and the Institute for Effective Education, University of York, working with 11 schools to develop the process and a further 20 to pilot it.

Developed by the Coalition for Evidence-Based Education (CEBE). The ultimate intention is to provide a sustainable service open to schools, colleges and other frontline organisations.

Evidence for the Frontline (E4F)

Signposting schools to researchers, programme developers, other schools, in order to develop evidence-informed practice

Questions

1. What are your experiences of linking research and practice?

2. How do you ensure Research Leads are working on the ‘right’ issues?

3. How do you ensure that the work of Research Leads gains traction across the whole school?

4. What would you like to see to help Research Leads in this role?