How is knowledge in and about education effectively created, mediated and used? How effective are our systems for making use of it?

Philippa CordingleyThe Centre for the Use of Research and Evidence in Education (CUREE)

How is knowledge in and about education created? Pivotal levers and obstacles

• E- searching, research reviews /meta analysis solve big challenges in distilling evidence for real world issues

• Big data initiatives eg PISA and TALIS accompanied by increasing focus on / expectations about impact

• Emerging clarity re quality, methods and purposes eg need for different types of evidence for mandating approaches and for supporting practice/ensactment –changing research practice – more mixed methods

• Research funding and QA systems – do they address both the quality of knowledge and its use or impact?

• Are contributions of both producers and users valued?

Knowledge creation and useTwo worlds?

How is knowledge created used and mediated?

Research based knowledge

Practice based knowledge

Use of research

How is knowledge mediated?• Changing knowledge-in-action is challenging - few

successes in getting even excellent large scale findings fully embedded – E.G Assessment for Learning

• But some dubious research “sticks” eg learning styles:• It addressed a “wicked” issue for teachers• It was easy to implement• The marketing might of publishers

• Hard to embed new knowledge if findings challenge current practices or are complex

• A learning not (just) a communication challenge• .

How did teachers engage in/with research effectively? Review evidence

• The teachers who used research effectively:• Experimented with new approaches with sustained

support from experts, for example in:• selecting appropriate high leverage approaches• Identifying ways of collecting evidence to link staff and pupil

learning in contextualising new approaches• working out why things did- and didn’t – work

• Identified goals in relation to student outcomes• Reviewed and refined results with support from peers

and in light of evidence from their classrooms• http://bit.ly/1wNBBye

The nature of the support for supporting research into practice

Range of Support was crucial & provided through:- Training – including instruction in key components and

understanding the rationale for new approaches- Modelling – demonstrating strategies & enquiry

throughout the support- Sustained, critical friendship, mentoring or coaching

support for research and evidence and enquiry based learning ( whatever it is labelled)

- Provision of tools and resources such as observation frameworks, questionnaires, analysis grids and a rationale for them

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Barriers to success included• Time e.g. for induction in new strategies &

• Speed - elapsed time needed to interpret/adapt for context

• Diverse foci – teachers struggled to engage in or with others’ research if developing on too many fronts

• Inadequate facilitation and/or external support – eg

– Too little support

– Lack of expertise in content to challenge orthodoxies or engage teachers with theory/ underpinning rationale;

– Poor processes (e.g. poor scaffolding for working with evidence, weak organisation e.g. re: time management or practicalities of enquiry)

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CPDL

Tools and ResourcesResearch

CUREE’s approach to knowledge mediation and use

• Supported move from closet engagement with or in research in 1996 to 40+% in 2010 via

• strategies and partnerships developing and aligning:

This means:• Supply - create access and appetite, multiple points/

levels of entry – for engaging with research• Demand• Teacher champions eg National Teacher Research Panel,

recognising excellence and skills involved in using research• Relevance – analysis of teachers’ own questions to frame

agenda http://bit.ly/1wNjjMC ; development of a teachign and learning research programme

• Depth• Quality – of supply, support and demand• Developing effective professional learning environments for

both pupils and staff in schools• Researching take up!

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The range of functions/ stages

• Ensuring research addresses issues relevant to teachers• Raising awareness re what research can offer• Securing understanding of core facts and issues• Helping teachers relate findings to their experiences• Developing understanding of theory alongside practice• Scaffolding experiments and evidence collection to

inform refinement for context • AND, if possible, contextualising this for the school

context, see http://bit.ly/1q8mPwh or http://bit.ly/107UGyF

http://www.curee.co.uk/block-content/route-maps-sample

An example of a contextualised approach

One way of addressing key questions

• OECD questions centre around how to improve• Embedding knowledge in policy and practice?• systems for producing educational knowledge?

• Some countries create structures E.G knowledge centres (Norway, Denmark, Belgium) agencies to develop and embed research informed practice in standards (AITSL), long term programmes (Ontario)

• In England, after a period of intense central support , government is trying to position schools as leaders of R&D..

Practicalities -The 2 year Test and Learn R&D Project

• Government funded ( £5k per partnership + testing analysis & logistics), designed by CUREE, managed by delivery partners

• 67 interventions identified, filtered to 17 design team for researchability at scale, 7 selected by TS panel after broad consultation with teachers and schools

• Initiated March 2013, Runs September 2013 - December 2015• Teaching Schools (TS), responsible for supporting R&D, sparsely

funded volunteers, work with an Alliance and HE partners• 170+ (TS) act as mini trial managers across the schools they

support, helping them cope with testing, identify sample students, select interventions, motivate control schools

• Approx. 740 schools participating ( within 6 weeks)• http://www.curee.co.uk/ctg/overview

Pluses, surprises, risks and implications• TS and consultation secured high levels of recruitment,

ownership and relevance and high rate of retention, • On line assessments provided powerful diagnostic

evidence and were seen as intrinsically useful - schools really did like the rigour or pre - post testing

• Separating trainers from the trial solved logistical challenges – but made it hard to know about fidelity

• Once there is capacity to lead R&D – modelling it via practices of leading schools and embedding it within major policy initiatives may be more powerful / have more reach than establishing formal structures

Contact Details

philippa.cordingley@curee.co.uk

www.curee.co.uk

Centre for the Use of Research and Evidence in Education8th FloorEaton House1 Eaton RoadCoventry CV1 2FJ

024 7652 4036Twitter@PhilippaCcuree @curee_official