Innovation and Learning from Research: Turning Schooling on its

Head and Moving into the Future with Learners at the Centre

Professor Geraldine CastletonDean & Head of School of Education

University of South Australia

Change is inevitable, but………

growth is optional.

Change is hard.

The only thing harder is doing nothing.

Research is………

• a social practice• a process• systematic inquiry made

public

Innovation and Learning from Research

Research is inquiry

In discussing teacher as researcher Souto-Manning (2009) draws on a range of sources to say

‘ “A teacher researcher, among other things, is a questioner. Her questions propel her forward” (Hansen, 1997,1). Teacher researchers engage in a “deliberate, solution-oriented investigation that is group or personally owned and conducted” (Johnson, 1993, 2). They study their own practices while seeking to address specific situations’ (Corey, 1953).

Research is systematic

This means there is an organised plan for the inquiry.

A design has been determined for carefully [systematically] collecting and analysing data.

(Hatch, A. (2006) in Souto-Manning. M. (2009),49)

Research is made public

Results are shared, put up to scrutiny, so that improvements in learning and teaching resulting in transformative change in one context may shed light on other classrooms or settings.

Without data all anyone has is an opinion.

Edward Deming