Researching teaching; teaching research.

Teaching and Research: strawberries and cream?Jamie Davies

Head of Quality and Teacher of A Level Psychology, Wyke Sixth Form College (10 years).

Senior Lecturer MSc in the Teaching of Psychology, Glyndwr University (2 years).

Is evidence based practice the way forward? How can we measure learning?What does success look like? Is there any hope for educational research?

RESEARCH TEACHING

How much pedagogical research actually makes its way to frontline teachers and what impact is it actually having?

Barends, E., Rousseau, D. M., & Briner, R. B. (2014). Evidence-Based Management, The Basic Principles. In Search of Evidence, Center for Evidence-Based ManagementEvidence-based practice is about making decisions through the conscientious, explicit and judicious use of the best available evidence from multiple sources by: Asking: translating a practical issue or problem into an answerable questionAcquiring: systematically searching for an retrieving the evidence Apprising: critically judging the trustworthiness and relevance of the evidenceAggregating: weighting and pulling together the evidenceApplying: incorporating the evidence into the decision-making processAssessing: evaluating the outcome of the decision taken.

To create a positive impact on your learners.

practice ready scholarship - academic writing being for other academics and researchers rather than teachers.teachers are antagonistic to new ideas

8

Perceived significance Philosophical compatibility Occupational realism Transportability

Schneider argues that the possession of these four attributes is a necessary but not sufficient condition for research or an idea to move from the ivory tower to the classroom and illustrates this with reference to a a number of other innovations, for - the taxonomy for the affective domain, Sternberg's triarchic theory, Wittrock's generative learning model; and finally, the behaviour analysis model - which have not made the jump from the academy to the classroom. Furthermore, just because an educational idea/research has these four attributes does not in itself guarantee that it has merit or worth, examples of this being the popularity of Brain Gym and Learning Styles.

http://evidencebasededucationalleadership.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/new-why-do-certain-practices-reach.html?m=1 9

Total hours worked by type of school and role. (N=1,004)DFE: Teachers workload diary survey 2013 (February 2014), Pg. 14

What would improve the quality of teaching and pupil learning? (N=1,004) DFE: Teachers workload diary survey 2013 (February 2014), Pg. 21

education is not a science it is a moral projectEvidence-based education is no panacea, and could undermine the moral authority of teachers. TES. Kevin Rooney, 18/10/15.

scientific research has little if any thing to tell us about how we educate our young. In a context where many educators are filled with uncertainty and anxiety about the purpose of education EBE has filled a vacuum at a time when many within education are looking for a sense of certainty, authority and moral purposeEvidence-based education is no panacea, and could undermine the moral authority of teachers. TES. Kevin Rooney, 18/10/15.

13

Learning stylesDekker S, Lee NC, Howard-Jones P and Jolles J (2012) Neuromyths in education: Prevalence and predictors of misconceptions among teachers. Front. Psychology 3:429. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2012.00429contacted 242 teachers in the UK and Holland, asking them to complete an online survey containing 32 statements about the brain

learning styles was the most prevalent misconception: 82% of the teachers in their sample believed that it is true

belief in neuromyths was correlated positively with general knowledge about the brain

Access to research Time to reflect and experiment in classFinancial constraintsFearLack of awareness of new research

Opportunities!

What does an effective teacher look like?

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/research-and-development-network-school-based-research-on-pedagogy

18

80 per cent of what happens in the classroom remains unseen and unheard by teachers only the pupils are aware of it. So why would I give a damn about reflective teaching? he said. I dont want to think about the 20 per cent we see. I want to think about the 80 per cent that goes on that we dont see. Hattie, 2016

www.metproject.org/reports.php

What does an effective teacher look like?

If you do A, it will improve BWe did A and it improved B

24

Would B have improved anyway? Was it really A? Did B really improve? Will it work again? counterfactual

attributiongeneralisationinterpretationCoe, R. (2015) How do we know what works? researchED.

25

learning is invisible

Students are busy: lots of work is done Students are engaged, interested and motivatedStudents are getting attention: feedback, explanationsClassroom is ordered, calm and under controlCurriculum has been covered (i.e. presented to students in some form)Students have supplied correct answers (whether or not they really understood them, could reproduce them independently or knew them already)Improving Education: A triumph of hope over experience Professor Robert Coe (2013)

How do we measure the impact of our interventions?

How to make it look as if your intervention has worked Wait for a bad year or choose underperforming class to start with. Most things self-correct or revert to expectations (you can claim the credit for this). Take on any initiative, and ask everyone who put effort into it if they feel it worked. No-one wants to feel their effort was wasted. Define improvement in terms of perceptions and ratings of teachers. DO NOT conduct any proper assessments they may disappoint. Conduct some kind of evaluation, but dont let the design be too good poor quality evaluations are much more likely to show positive results. If any improvement occurs in any aspect of performance, focus attention on that rather than on any areas or schools that have not improved or got worse (dont mention them!).

What does success look like?

So how can we measure the impact of our interventions when we design educational research?

Value Added?Observed Student Engagement? Headline Outcomes?Observations?Progression?Self-reports?

Dont ignore the evidence just because it is imperfect: understand the limitations and help to improve itSimple, superficial knowledge of research evidence may not improve decision making: deep, integrated understanding is requiredRoutinely monitor the effectiveness of your practiceEvaluate the impact of any changes you make

Coe, R. (2015) How do we know what works? researchED.

35

different interventions work for different students atdifferent times

What impact does the research have on the student?

Show us your personality (but not too much)Remember that we do appreciate youTell us when weve done wellShow us that you careDont shout at us

'Show us that you care': a student's view on what makes a perfect teacher.

337 meta-analyses 200,000 effect-sizes180,000 studies ~50 million students Hattie: Influences On Student Learning (1999)

Hattie, J. (1999). Influences on student learning. Inaugural lecture given on August, 2, 1999.

Influences On Student Learning. Hattie (1999) https://cdn.auckland.ac.nz/assets/education/hattie/docs/influences-on-student-learning.pdf

An effect size of 0.5 is equivalent to a one grade leap at GCSEAn effect size of 1.0 is equivalent to a two grade leap at GCSENumber of effects is the number effect sizes from well designed studies that have been averaged to produce the average effect size. An effect size above 0.4 is above average for educational research

Influences On Student Learning. Hattie (1999) https://cdn.auckland.ac.nz/assets/education/hattie/docs/influences-on-student-learning.pdf

Be clear about the difference you want to makeInvolve others and distribute leadershipTalk about learning to build trusting relationshipsEmbrace and persist with challengeCollaborate with peers

Be flexible and adaptableEmphasise development over judgementTake the time you needDraw on external expertise dont go it aloneWork towards cultural changeNational College for Teaching and Leadershiphttps://nctl.blog.gov.uk/2015/02/16/10-tips-for-successful-school-led-research-projects/

http://staffrm.io

evidenceforthefrontline.com@evidenceftf

RESEARCH TEACHING

Instead of taking tests, students will show learning through creative projects. The role of teachers will be to guide students in the areas where they need guidance as innovators. How do you get students to be innovative? You let them. You get out of their way.

56

[We need to] teach students to be savvy consumers and producers of research

Sternberg, 2012

57

[We need to] teach students to be savvy consumers and producers of research

Sternberg, 2012 StudentsTeachers ResearchersPolicy Makerseducational^

58

[We need to] teach students to be savvy consumers and producers of research

Sternberg, 2012 StudentsTeachers ResearchersPolicy Makerseducational^http://jamiedavies.co@jamiedavies

Thank You

59