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Supporting practitioner research through initial training and provision of academic critical friends. Dr Barbara Spears Dr Susanne Owen Sarah Quinn. - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
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Dr Barbara SpearsDr Susanne Owen
Sarah 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
Application Research training
Finalise Proposal
Liaise with UniSA
partnerProgress
reportPresentation
s
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 & Charles,
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 QuestionInformed 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, focus, 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; TimeBUT
‘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 ContdPartnership
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 LearningPractitioner 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’.
TrustTime Communication 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
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