Intuition - research supplement - Spring 2016

https://set.et-foundation.co.uk

The journal for professional teachers and trainers in the further education and training sector

ResearchInTuition

Issue 1 | Spring 2016

‘For the sector, by the sector’

Visible learning:

a global synthesis

John Hattie, p5

The Scholarship

Project in CHE

John Lea, Gail Hall, Patrick Leonard, Leila Mars and Chris Dows, p10

01_InTuition_Supplement.indd 1 15/02/2016 20:47

www.elmag.org.uk is aimed at all leaders in all parts of the sector. Course discounts may be available for small providers. Bursary support is also available for certain individuals.

Book high quality and relevant professional development on:

Inspirational leadership in a time of change

CPD opportunities | Resources | Network

www.elmag.org.uk The leadership portal of the Education and Training Foundation


InTuition Research Issue 1 | Spring 2016 3


Welcome

InTuition contacts

Welcome to the first research supplement to accompany your membership magazine InTuition. We plan to publish this supplement at regular intervals to accompany InTuition.

You will already appreciate that the Society for Education and Training and the Education and Training Foundation are committed to supporting and promoting research for the sector, by the sector. Much of our research work is devoted to providing practitioners with the time, space and resources to undertake their own research to improve an aspect of practice, and to assisting them in relating this to theory and to already published research.

Those commitments underpin how we design this supplement and its content.

So, this first edition includes:• articles written by current practitioners about their own

research; • some key research texts that we have reproduced from the

recently published textbook for the sector (Readings for Reflective Teaching in Further, Adult and Vocational Education); and

• contributions from other authors who are all engaged in supporting and better understanding the use of research in the sector to develop and improve professional practice, and outcomes for learners.Our objective of helping the sector to become more

research active is, of course, shared with a number of our partner organisations. So we are pleased to also be able to share with you an update on the HEFCE-funded Association of Colleges’ Scholarship Project.

I hope that you find this supplement to be a useful addition to the main publication. If you have any comments on this first edition, have suggestions of content for future editions, or indeed would like to see your own research featured, please do contact me at [email protected]

Sheila KearneyHead of Research,Education and Training Foundation

‘For the sector, by the sector’ is our ethos

[email protected]

The Society for Education and Training, 157-197 Buckingham Palace Road, London SW1W 9SP.

Editor: Peter Clasby

PUBLISHINGThe InTuition Research supplement is published by the Educational and Training Foundation.

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CORPORATEThe Society for Education and Training is the membership service of The Education and Training Foundation. The Foundation is a registered charity (charity number 1153859) and a company limited by guarantee (company number 08540597). www.et-foundation.co.uk

The views expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the Education and Training Foundation, the Society for Education and Training or members of the editorial board.

Contents 4 Why practitioner research is importantThe link between research and the quality of teaching, learning and assessment is vital – a four-point plan to getting it right

5 Visible learning: a global synthesisJudge how you feel about your own practice in relation to the ‘six signposts towards excellence’ identified by John Hattie

7 Helping good ideas to become good practiceMargaret Gregson, Patricia Spedding and Lawrence Nixon on enhancing your professional practice through Joint Practice Development

9 A passion for engagement with researchLecturers Dominic Thompson and Alec Dyer, who took part in an ETF Research Development Fellowship programme, tell us about their project and share some key readings

10 Enhancing college higher education through scholarshipThe Scholarship Project is a three-year HEFCE funded catalyst project aimed at enhancing the learning experiences of students in college higher education in England through engagement with forms of scholarship

13 Connection and coherence for mathematics teachers in further educationDiane Dalby’s research looks at the factors that influence learning experiences for vocational students, including the effects of college structures, cultures and internal policies in addition to classroom practices and curricula

14 Joint practice development: an alternative approach to professional developmentMuch of the research in Tricia Odell’s PhD has focused on joint-practice development, the model adopted by the Foundation’s practitioner research programme

For more information, visit set.et-foundation.co.uk Or follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter

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Produced in association with The Education and

Training Foundation

www.elmag.org.uk is aimed at all leaders in all parts of the sector. Course discounts may be available for small providers. Bursary support is also available for certain individuals.

Book high quality and relevant professional development on:

Inspirational leadership in a time of change

CPD opportunities | Resources | Network

www.elmag.org.uk The leadership portal of the Education and Training Foundation


4 Issue 1 | Spring 2016 InTuition Research

Practitioner research

Practitioner research has the potential to help teachers improve outcomes for their learners. Research also keeps your teaching vibrant, engaging and up to date and, by using research and literature to improve teaching, learning and assessment, you can really enhance your work.

Here are four steps to help you get started and see that engaging in practitioner research isn’t as difficult as you might have thought.

1. Get together with other teachers

It’s hard to do practitioner research on your own. Collaborating with colleagues can make all the difference, provided you go about it in the right way. This means talking honestly about what is actually happening and sharing these experiences in an atmosphere of trust, equality and openness. Trying out new things in the classroom is easier when done together.

2. Agree what to doIdentify and agree an aspect of practice that you both think needs to be improved. • Ensure the focus of your research is one

that you are both interested in.• Take good ideas from other people – read

around the topic. Identify ideas where research has already shown evidence of successful practice. Build on these existing ideas and test them out in the context of your practice.

• Keep the focus for your research tight and manageable. It is best to investigate a small aspect of practice carefully.

• Identity key milestones – what you will do and when will you get back together to discuss what is happening.

• Take small steps to start with to ensure you are on the right lines.

• Ask yourselves:• What difference do we think this research

will have on learners’ progress?• How will we know that the research has

had an impact?

3. Test out your research idea• Try out your research idea together

with students. • Collect evidence of the impact of your

research idea on students’ progress. • Get together to see how things are going.

Two heads are better than one. As you go along, think about what is working and what you might need to change.

4. Review overall progress together

Make time to evaluate the overall impact of your practitioner research. Consider the following questions: • What has worked and why? • What has not worked and why?• What has been surprising or troubling in

the data? • Decide together: are you going to continue,

adapt, expand, or abandon the ideas or try something else?

In this supplement we have printed two readings from Readings for Reflective Teaching in Further, Adult and Vocational Education (pages 5-8) and have published two more readings on the SET website.

You can use these readings, and those in the previous edition of InTuition (Issue 22), to help you focus your discussions on key aspects of practice in need of improvement.

Of the readings in this supplement, and on the SET website:• Hattie encourages teachers to use the

work he has conducted in relation to visible learning to identify aspects of practice which might be worthy of further research, (pages 5-6).

• Gregson et al remind us that you can enhance your professional practice through Joint Practice Development, (pages 7-8).

• Biesta asks us to think about the competing purposes of education and the need to strike a good balance between them, (https://goo.gl/LIOY5T)

• Heilbronn explains the deep roots of ‘practical judgement’ in Aristotle’s philosophy, (https://goo.gl/LIOY5T)

The link between research and the quality of teaching, learning and assessment is vital. Don’t just get by, get better and better through practitioner research.

Why practitioner research is important By Maggie Gregson, Lawrence Nixon and Patricia Spedding, University of Sunderland Centre for Excellence in Teacher Training (SUNCETT)

Maggie and her colleagues Lawrence and Patricia introduce us to the articles we have selected to appear in this supplement from Readings for Reflective Teaching in Further, Adult and Vocational Education




As this reading points out, many teaching

strategies do work – but some work

better than others. Hattie used statistical

techniques to compare measurements

of the effects of teaching strategies

and harvested findings from across the world. The result is a synthesis of

more than 800 meta-analyses relating to achievement – and it is possible to

‘read off’ the most effective strategies. But, by offering an explanation,

Hattie tries to do more than this. How do you feel about your own

practice and experience in relation to

the ‘six signposts towards excellence’, which Hattie identifies?

Edited from: Hattie, J. (2009) Visible Learning: A Synthesis of Meta-Analyses Relating to Achievement. Abingdon:

Routledge, 1–3, 236–40 and 244.

In the field of education one of the most enduring messages is that ‘everything seems to work’ to some extent. However, a lot is also known about what makes a major difference in the classroom. A glance at the journals on the shelves of most libraries, and on web pages, would indicate that the state of knowledge in the discipline of education is healthy.

Why does this bounty of research have such little impact? One possible reason is the past difficulties associated with summarising and comparing all the diverse types of evidence about what works in classrooms.

In the 1970s there was a major change in the manner we reviewed the research

literature. This approach offered a way to tame the massive amount of research evidence so that it could offer useful information for teachers.

The predominant method has always been to write a synthesis of many published studies in the form of an integrated literature review. However, in the mid-1970s, Gene Glass (1976) introduced the notion of meta-analysis – whereby the effects in each study, where appropriate, are converted to a common measure (an effect size), such that the overall effects could be quantified, interpreted, and compared, and the various moderators of this overall effect could be uncovered and followed up in more detail. The method soon became popular and by the mid-1980s more than 100 meta-analyses in education were available.

My book is based on a synthesis of more than 800 meta-analyses about information on learning that have now been completed, including many recent ones. It demonstrates how the various innovations in these meta-analyses can be ranked from very positive to very negative effects on student achievement.

An explanatory story, not a ‘what works’ recipeThe table below provides examples of effects associated with teaching methods and working conditions.

There are many teaching strategies that have an important effect on student learning. Such teaching strategies include explanation, elaboration, plans to direct task-performance, sequencing, drill repetition,

Why practitioner research is important By Maggie Gregson, Lawrence Nixon and Patricia Spedding, University of Sunderland Centre for Excellence in Teacher Training (SUNCETT)

Visible learning: a global synthesisBy John Hattie

The readings on the following pages are reproduced exclusively for SET members from Readings for Reflective Teaching in Further, Adult and Vocational Education, published by Bloomsbury.

SET members can get 20 per cent off this, and a range of other Bloomsbury books, until 31 March 2016, as one of their member benefits. See the back cover of this supplement for full details.

As well as the readings published here, two more are available for members on the SET website: (https://goo.gl/LIOY5T)• What is Education For?

And What Does That Mean for Teachers? By Gert Biesta

• Practical Judgement and Evidence-Informed Practice. By Ruth Heilbronn

Examples of effects associated with teaching methods and working conditions

Teaching d Working conditions dQuality of teaching 0.77 Within-class grouping 0.28Reciprocal teaching 0.75 Adding more finances 0.23Teacher-student relationships 0.72 Reducing class sizes 0.21Providing feedback 0.72 Ability grouping 0.11Teaching students self-verbalisation 0.67 Multi-grade/age classes -0.09Meta-cognitive strategies 0.67 Open vs. traditional

classes/summervacation classes

-0.16Direct instruction 0.59Mastery learning 0.57Average 0.68 Retention 0.08

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Reflective teaching

providing strategy cues, domain-specific processing and clear instructional goals.

These can be achieved using methods such

as reciprocal teaching, direct instruction and

problem solving methods.

Effective teaching occurs when the teacher

decides the learning intentions and success

criteria, makes them transparent to the

students, demonstrates them by modelling,

evaluates if they understand what they have

been told by checking for understanding, and

re-telling them what they have been told by

tying it all together with closure.

These effective teaching strategies

involve much cooperative pre-planning and

discussion between teachers, optimising

peer learning, and require explicit learning

intentions and success criteria.

Peers play a powerful role, as is

demonstrated in the strategies involving

reciprocal teaching, learning in pairs on

computers, and both cooperative and

competitive learning (as opposed to

individualistic learning).

Many of the strategies also help reduce

cognitive load and this allows students to

focus on the critical aspects of learning,

which is particularly useful when they are

given multiple opportunities for deliberative

practice.

The use of resources, such as computers,

can add value to learning. They add a

diversity of teaching strategies, provide

alternative opportunities to practise and

learn, and increase the nature and amount of

feedback to the learner and teachers.

They do, however, require learning how to

optimise their uses.

It is also clear, repeatedly, that it is the

difference in the teachers that make the

difference in student learning. Homework

in which there is no active involvement

by the teacher does not contribute to

student learning and, likewise, the use, or not, of technologies does not show major effects

on learning if there is no teacher involvement.

Related to these teacher influences are the lower effects of many of the interventions

when they are part of comprehensive

teaching reforms. Many of these reforms are

‘top-down’ innovations, which can mean

teachers do not evaluate whether the reforms

are working for them or not. Commitment to

the teaching strategy and re-learning how

to use many of these methods (through

professional development) seems important.

Any synthesis of meta-analyses is

fundamentally a literature review and, thus,

it builds on the scholarship and research

of those who have come before. My major

purpose has been to generate a model of

successful teaching and learning based on

the many thousands of studies in 800 and more meta-analyses. The aim is not to merely

average the studies and present screeds

of data. This is not uncommon; so often

meta-analyses have been criticised as mere

number-crunching exercises, and a book based on more than 800 meta-analyses could

certainly have been just that.

That was not my intent. Instead, I aimed

to build a model based on the theme of

‘visible teaching, visible learning’ that not only synthesised existing literature but also permitted a new perspective on that literature.

The conclusions are recast here as six

signposts towards excellence in education:

1. Teachers are among the most powerful

influences in learning.2. Teachers need to be directive, influential,

caring, and actively engaged in the passion

of teaching and learning.

3. Teachers need to be aware of what each

and every student is thinking and knowing,

to construct meaning and meaningful

experiences in light of this knowledge,

and have proficient knowledge and understanding of their content to provide

meaningful and appropriate feedback such

that each student moves progressively

through the curriculum levels.4. Teachers need to know the learning

intentions and success criteria of their

lessons, know how well they are attaining

these criteria for all students, and know

where to go next in light of the gap

between students’ current knowledge and

understanding and the success criteria

of: ‘Where are you going?’, ‘How are you going’, and ‘Where to next?’.

5. Teachers need to move from the single

idea to multiple ideas, and to relate and

then extend these ideas such that learners

construct and reconstruct knowledge and

ideas. It is not the knowledge or ideas, but

the learner’s construction of this knowledge

and these ideas that is critical.

6. School leaders and teachers need to

create schools, staffroom, and classroom

environments where error is welcomed as

a learning opportunity, where discarding

incorrect knowledge and understanding

is welcomed, and where participants

can feel safe to learn, re-learn and explore knowledge and understanding.

In these six signposts, the word ‘teachers’

is deliberate. Indeed, a major theme is the

importance of teachers meeting to discuss,

evaluate and plan their teaching in light of

the feedback evidence about the success

or otherwise of their teaching strategies and

conceptions about progress and appropriate challenge. This is critical reflection in light of evidence about their teaching.

Note what is not said. There are no claims

about additional structural resources, although

to achieve the above it helps not to have

the hindrance of a lack of resources. There

is nothing about class size, about which

particular students are present in the school

or class, or about what subject is being taught

– effective teaching can occur similarly for all

students, all ethnicities and all subjects.

There is nothing about between-school

differences, which are not a major effect in

developed countries. There is little about

working conditions of teachers or students

– although their effects, though small, are

positive, and positive means we should not

make these working conditions worse.

Teachers and principals need to collect the

effect sizes within their schools and ask ‘What

is working best?’, ‘Why is it working best’,

and ‘Who is it not working for?’

This will create a discussion among

teachers about teaching. This would require

a caring, supportive staffroom, a tolerance for

errors, and for learning from other teachers, a

peer culture among teachers of engagement,

trust and shared passion for improvement.

John Hattie – director of the Melbourne Educational Research Institute at the University of Melbourne, Australia, since March 2011. His research interests include performance indicators, models of measurement and evaluation of teaching and learning.




Why should education leaders and teachers use the JPD approach to CPD? It is customary for leaders of education to

use continuing professional development

(CPD) budgets to update the subject and

pedagogical knowledge of their staff. Usually

this involves attending time consuming,

often expensive, courses, conferences

or other events where someone who is

considered (or considers themselves) to be

‘an expert’ tells everyone else in attendance

what to do.

While such CPD events and networks

might be helpful in raising awareness of

new developments, exchanging ideas and

sharing resources – arguably a necessary

first step in improving practice, it is not enough to guarantee it. This is because a

lot more ‘new learning’ (Eraut, 2004) has to

take place before knowledge is ‘transferred’

well enough to bring about real changes

in practice. Eraut uses the metaphor of

an iceberg to explain how practice really

changes. He argues that abstract, theoretical

knowledge and information about a ‘good

practice’ constitutes only one eighth of the

knowledge needed to put a ‘good idea’

into practice and that the remaining seven

eighths represents the amount of new

learning needed to bring about real changes

in practice. In view of this, education

leaders need to think carefully about the

extent to which existing, taken-for granted

approaches to CPD can be justified in terms of value for money.

Central to Joint Practice Development

(JPD) is the recognition that changing and

improving practice involves more than

the simple transfer of information. The

JPD approach to CPD acknowledges that

change takes time. It recognises that the

reality of putting ideas into practice places

greater demands upon the relationships of

those involved in the processes of change

and those responsible for the practices of

improvement (Fielding et al., 2005).

How can JPD be organised and used to

improve teaching, learning and assessment?

This reading deals with the practical

issues of how to go about improving

teaching, learning and assessment (TLA)

in straightforward, cost-effective and

sustainable ways using JPD as an integral

part of an organisation’s CPD strategy.

We describe a sequenced series of six

workshops each with a distinct aim. We

summarise the sequence in the six-step

cycle diagram below. This outline has been

developed to help leaders of education and

teachers get a further sense of what JPD

could look like in practice. It is designed to

stimulate and focus the discussions required

to put JPD into practice. As such it is not

a template or a ‘recipe’ but a stimulus and

focus for discussion which can and should

be adapted to suit particular circumstances.

Figure 1: The six-step cycle for putting JPD into action (Each step should be supported by a workshop)

Workshop one: Creating conditions for JPD This first workshop will enable you to explain the need to take a new approach to CPD

and help you to introduce ideas about JPD

to colleagues in your organisation. This is

why it’s a good idea to think about how you

can use existing collaborative relationships

to lay the foundations for new ones and

decide who might be responsible for the

introduction, development and co-ordination

of the project.

Workshop two: Sharing experience of practice and making room for argument and improvement This workshop can help participants to begin

to talk about aspects of practice they would

Helping good ideas to become good practice: Enhancing your professional practice through Joint Practice Development (JPD) By Maggie Gregson, Patricia Spedding and Lawrence Nixon This reading draws upon five years of empirical research at the University of Sunderland’s Centre for Excellence in Teacher Training (SUNCETT). This work engages practitioners from across the further adult vocational education (FAVE) sector in HE-supported practitioner research, which aims to improve practice.

It offers insights into the practicalities of using a collaborative approach to improving teaching, learning and assessment, described as Joint Practice Development (JPD).

Focusing upon a six-stage cycle, it illustrates different stages in using JPD as an approach to the improvement of teaching and learning. It also points to the importance of measuring the impact of JPD through both hard and soft indicators of change and improvement.

Edited from: Gregson, M., Spedding, P. and Nixon, L. (forthcoming) Helping good ideas become good practice: Enhancing professionalism through Joint Practice Development (JPD). London: Bloomsbury.

Step one: Creating conditions for the collaborative improvement of practice

Step six: Final evaluation of impact and identification of

the next priorities for improvement

Step two: Sharing experience of practice and making room for

improvement

Step five: Interim evaluation of impact

and adaption

Step three: Identifying

improvement priorities

Step four: Developing and implementing improvement priorities



Reflective teaching

like to improve and to identify possible

strategies that might be used to bring

this about.

Workshop three: Identifying improvement priorities This workshop invites participants to

discuss area(s) for improvement from the

previous workshop in order to agree which

priorities are the most important and need

to be addressed first. The workshop then encourages teachers and learners to work

together to identify possible interventions

which could be used to address these.

Workshop four: Developing and implementing improvement priorities This workshop encourages teachers to

work together to plan how the interventions

selected should best be put into practice

and how, their impact should be evaluated. This should include the identification of ‘hard’ and ‘softer’ measures of impact

and how evidence of that impact can be

collected, analysed and used to evaluate

the effectiveness of the intervention(s) at

different stages.

Workshop five: Interim evaluation of impact and adaptation This workshop focuses upon the

collaborative analysis of evidence of the

impact of the interventions selected for

implementation at an interim stage of the

process. Participants are given opportunities to consider if or how well the intervention

is working and if it needs to be developed,

adapted or even abandoned in the light of

emerging evidence.

Workshop six: Final evaluation of impact and identification of next priorities for improvement Workshop six brings together evidence

of the impact and experiences of

implementing the JPD interventions. Reviewing this evidence will help

participants to evaluate the success of the

intervention(s) in improving TLA and enable

them to decide if the intervention is worthy

of further development. This will include consideration of if/how the JPD community could be extended and what the next

priorities should be.

Measuring impact: Hard and soft indicators of JPD When you are setting up your JPD project it is really important that you take some

time to agree upon some indicators of

impact. These indicators need to play two closely related roles. First, to help you

with your interim reflections and a final review of what is happening and what you

need to adapt. Second, to help provide evidence of the positive or negative impact

that the intervention is having upon TLA. It will therefore be well worth agreeing

soft and hard indicators of impact that

you understand and are happy to use. Remember to make time for this at the

beginning of your JPD work and to review this together as you go along.

The questions below could help you to

structure your discussion of which soft and

hard indicators of impact to select:

• What positive outcomes do we expect this intervention to bring about?

• What hard indicators of impact could you use to demonstrate this impact? For example improvements in:

– grade profile of a cohort for a specific assignment

– retention rates

– attendance rates

– achievement rates

– course reviews

– inspection grades

– staff motivation/morale

– student motivation/morale

– staff attitudes and interest in CPD

Other types of hard impacts could include:

– robust research evidence and more

convincing arguments for the use of one

pedagogical intervention over another

– greater cross-curriculum/departmental

working

– beneficial links and collaboration with other providers/agencies

– robust evidence for subsequent funding

applications

– establishment of a community of

research and practice within your

organisation

– FAVE staff active in the education research community

– closer links with HE colleagues – students themselves being more

“research active”

• What soft indicators of impact could you use to demonstrate this impact? For example, – classroom atmosphere has changed;

more settled, more questioning etc. – students are more willing to collaborate

– students are more engaged with

their learning – teachers’ being more creative in

their approaches to TLA and prepared to experiment

– self-reported or observed autonomy

of students – staff willing and able to challenge

taken-for-granted practices

– senior managers and other education

managers more aware of the importance

practitioner research

– senior managers and other education

managers working collaboratively on

joint practitioner research projects – practitioner research projects within

and across different departments/ whole organisation.

Conclusion In this reading we have described a

cycle of six JPD workshops that you can use to develop teaching, learning and

assessment within your organisation and

across organisations. The research we have conducted with

practitioners across the sector over the

last five years demonstrates the potential of the JPD model to ensure the focus of activity remains squarely upon teaching and

learning. This cycle of JPD workshops could therefore be a significant factor in extending an organisation’s repertoire of strategies to

improve TLA through CPD. The key assumption underpinning this

reading is that most people want to do a

good job and want to get better at what they do. We have described how this model of JPD can provide a forum where teachers, education leaders and learners can work

together to improve TLA. Many teachers in the sector are highly skilled artisans, artists,

scientists, engineers, mathematicians,

linguists, poets, dramatists, dancers,

musicians, entrepreneurs etc., with much experience and highly qualified in their vocational or subject specialism.

This model allows teachers and education

leaders to devolve or share power to

improve the experience and achievements

of learners. We want to emphasise the significant role research plays in helping practitioners extend their thinking about

improving TLA both in terms of the

strategies they use and the quality of their

reflections. Our experience also suggests that practitioners benefit greatly from being supported to explore the framing of their

research, identifying its implications for

practice and to use their experiences of

research to effectively reflect upon what has happened. For these reasons, it is well worth considering using specialist support from

HE colleagues at particular stages of the JPD cycle.

Finally, we hope this reading will encourage you to think seriously

about trying out the JPD model with a colleague or colleagues within your team or across your organisation.




Initially focusing on technology as the

driver of change, our project changed

dramatically over its lifetime, with the

final iteration investigating the role that traditional theories of teaching

and learning play in the modern day

classroom. Our aim was to understand

what impact trends in education would

have on lecturers, and therefore on

teaching and learning.

Our focus was on collaboration and

the impact of the more experienced

individual teacher/tutor on student

learning; whether technology was the

answer was a hotly debated question.

It was hoped that a greater discussion

about the facilitators of teaching

and learning would be encouraged

and that, possibly, technology is not always the answer.

The RDF programme has been a major benefit and influencing factor for our research project. The residential experience and constant support offered enabled us to gain invaluable access to some incredibly well-read academics who pushed us to succeed. The networking opportunities and the dialogues we had with other colleagues also on the programme provided a platform to share ideas, and build relationships with fellow education professionals. Without the RDF programme we would not have had the confidence to undertake our research and certainly would not have developed such a strong desire to continue with further research.

Our research was not without challenge. We had been involved in another research project prior to this one and in our application it became apparent that there were some similarities in the projects that impacted on the level of originality of our new work. We learned some valuable lessons here in the necessity for complete originality of research. Shifting the focus of the project took time but through dialogue, not only with each other but our peers and mentors on the programme, we were able to agree on something that we both felt equally passionate about.

There is a strong commitment to engagement with research and continuing professional development (CPD) at South Downs College with many lecturers

completing Masters/Doctorates. In addition, there is a designated Teaching and Learning Group with a purpose-built teaching and learning space. This space was extremely useful throughout the project; it resulted in obtaining lecturer engagement being easier than originally anticipated. BERA ethical guidelines were followed throughout, so all students involved were aware of the research being carried out and, in fact, rather enjoyed the experience. The fact they knew the research was attempting to make teaching and learning more effective seemed motivational for them.

As a result of the research we have disseminated our findings to the college Teaching and Learning Group via ‘Teach-meet’ sessions, and longer sessions to the department.

This has stimulated some interesting debate, particularly within the quality department. We hoped that the research would rekindle teachers’ passion, their understanding of possibly forgotten theories of teaching and learning, and also stimulate discussion around the focus on technology during training and CPD events. This has certainly been the case. In the coming year we hope to present our report during an all-staff development day and, off the back of that, create a working group around the understanding and application of theories of teaching and learning.

Most of our research fell into two categories. First, theories of teaching and learning, looking at collaboration and the role of the more experienced individual tutor. The most useful and relevant in reading this case were Wood and Middleton’s (1975) paper looking at the Region of Sensitivity, and Vygotsky’s (1978) concept of Internalisation. Second, more recent writing that questions the role of technology and asks the truly relevant question: “If technology is the answer, what is the question” (Collin and Higgins, 2013) was equally important. Helsper and Enyon (2010) and Dianna Laurillard (2005) also write interestingly about the true role and value of technology.

Our project report is available on request. Email [email protected] or [email protected] to request a copy.

Dominic Thompson and Alec Dyer are lecturers at South Downs College. In 2014-15, they took part in the Education and Training Foundation’s Research Development Fellowship (RDF) programme.

Here, they tell us about their project, how its focus shifted as it progressed, and they share with us some key readings that they found particularly useful.

You can see them talking about their project at the Foundation’s 2015 research conference on YouTube at http://goo.gl/YMn7KV

A passion for engagement with researchBy Dominic Thompson and Alec Dyer

References• Collin and Higgins (2013) If technology is

the answer, what is the question? Times Educational Supplement, November 15 2013, p24.

• Helsper, E.J. and Enyon, R. (2010) Digital Natives: where is the evidence? British Educational Research Journal, Vol. 36, no. 3, pp. 503-520.

• Laurillard, D. (2005) E-Learning in Higher Education, in P. Ashwin (ed.) Changing Higher Education: The Development of Learning and Teaching. London, Routledge-Falmer.

• Vygotsky, L. (1978) Mind in Society: The Development of Higher Psychological Processes, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press.

• Wood, D. and Middleton, D. (1975) A study of assisted problem-solving, British Journal of Psychology, Vol. 66, No. 2, pp. 181-191.



The Scholarship Project

Introduction and background

By John LeaThe Scholarship Project is a three-year

(May 2015-2018) Higher Education Funding

Council for England (HEFCE) funded

catalyst project aimed at enhancing the

learning experiences of students in college

higher education (CHE) in England through

engagement with forms of scholarship.

The project is conceptually underpinned

by Ernest Boyer’s (1990) model of the

four scholarships – the scholarship of

discovery, the scholarship of integration,

the scholarship of application, and the

scholarship of teaching and learning.

It seeks to utilise these broad notions as the means by which student learning

might be enhanced.

For example, the project will provide an

opportunity for participants to explore ways

in which curricula and pedagogies might

explicitly and effectively integrate life and

work experience with academic studies (the scholarship of integration); encourage staff,

students and local employers to develop

productive knowledge exchange networks (the scholarship of application); and provide

opportunities for students and staff to work collaboratively on enhancing learning and

teaching (the scholarship of teaching).

Integral to the project is the testing and

trialling of the ways in which these wider

notions of scholarship might become

embedded features of CHE, and thereby

help to raise its profile within the wider landscape of higher education.

Key to the success of the project will be

finding ways to evaluate the quality of these wider forms of scholarship, and measuring

their effects on enhanced and more

engaged forms of student learning.

The project is administered by the

Association of Colleges through a small

central project team, but, importantly,

includes representatives from a sample

of around 50 colleges that run higher

education (HE) courses. This includes

colleges that are: geographically spread

throughout England; colleges with small

and large HE numbers; colleges with

established and beginner HE status; and

colleges with general and specialised HE

courses. Although these colleges will be

Enhancing college higher education through scholarship – the Scholarship ProjectBy John Lea, Gail Hall, Patrick Leonard, Leila Mars, and Chris Dows

John Lea – Scholarship Project’s research director

the prime means through which testing and

trialling will take place, all colleges can get involved in the project by responding to

the various calls that will be made on the

project’s website and in regular newsletters

(details at the end).

In the first phase of the project, four pilot colleges have been engaged in a range of

reconnaissance activities relating to local

scholarly activity.

Each of these colleges has appointed a

scholarship project development manager,

and the four short pieces published as part

of this supplement provide an overview of

what each manager has been engaged with

in their respective college contexts to date.

Two of the case studies are in this printed

edition, the remaining two can be accessed

on the SET website by following the links at the end of this article.

ETF




Promoting and supporting a scholarly culture in college higher education

By Gail HallA key challenge to college higher education (CHE) is the creation of a distinct culture of ‘HE-ness’ within settings that are often predominantly further-education focused. While there are some tangible improvements that can be made in terms of the physical and social environments, capturing the essence of what it means to be ‘higher’, and then nurturing that ethos, is significantly more challenging.

Never one to turn down a challenge, I took on this one with the full support of my higher education manager colleagues at Leicester, Derby and Central Nottingham Colleges working as a consortium, alongside whom I work as scholarship development manager. Our first joint task was to establish what we imagined a scholarly culture would look like in CHE. Setting aside the wider debate about the nature of the term ‘scholarship’ and how it might be perceived by students and employers, we agreed a number of features:• Students would not blindly accept

knowledge and information but would have the confidence to question, challenge and explore.

• Students would work on enquiry-based activities.

• Students would work in partnership with each other, with staff and with employers.

• Through scholarship, students would develop a range of valuable academic and employability skills.

It all sounded wonderful; but how to achieve it? Six months into the project and we are making some headway. There was scholarly activity happening at all three of the colleges but, in common with many other CHE settings, it was mostly under the radar. An initial challenge was to uncover examples of scholarship so that it is seen as something of value, to be shared and celebrated. Logically, if we want our students to perceive themselves as scholars then we need teaching staff to see themselves in the same way.

So, we decided to invite staff involved in HE within the colleges to bid for small awards to support scholarly activity. We currently have 12 such scholarship projects underway across the colleges with teachers working with students to develop new learning and assessment methods; explore links between employers and curriculum development; evaluate the effectiveness of study skills support, and consider the pedagogy of higher education within further education settings among other topics.

Gail Hall – Scholarship Project Development Manager, East Midlands Consortium of Colleges

Each of the colleges also supports staff with their applications for Higher Education Academy (HEA) Fellowships – the professional recognition scheme for people involved in teaching and supporting learning in HE. Each of the three colleges subscribes to the HEA and funds its staff applications, and the consortium runs staff development sessions and writing workshops for applicants. Feedback so far has been very positive with teachers emphasising the value of the process for reflecting on, and developing, their scholarship and their practice.

With a view to getting students into scholarship mode from the outset of their courses, one of the colleges held a college-wide induction event for its new HE students. New students could present outcomes from enquiry-based learning projects they’d worked on during the first two weeks on their courses, and second-year students could share aspects of their course relevant to enquiry and scholarship. This was well received by the students, some of whom have since asked whether there could be further opportunities to meet with students from other courses to share and discuss things they have been working on.

Teachers at one of the colleges are also being encouraged to engage in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) through a peer review facilitated action-research process. Two lecturers, supported by a member of the HE team, choose an area of their practice on which to focus, for example, developing higher level skills, assessment and feedback, or academic practice in general. The peers then support each other throughout the process and together reflect on the findings and outcomes of the research, which is subsequently written up as case studies, which can be disseminated.

It’s still early days, but we are confident that we are heading towards our shared vision of a scholarly CHE culture and that our students will continue to be inspired and enthused by teachers who value, and are valued for, their scholarly activity.

We will be sharing and celebrating all of the above, and more, at our staff and student scholarship and research conference in spring 2016.

Promoting and supporting scholarship as a form of entrepreneurship in college higher education

By Chris DowsOne of the primary aims of the Scholarship Project is to help redefine the nature and breadth of scholarly activity, for both staff and students, by employing Ernest Boyer’s (1990) four-part model of scholarship (of discovery, integration, application, and teaching and learning).

Using his definitions provides an approach that captures the significant academic, creative and professional contributions to learning that do not fit comfortably with the more commonly held view of scholarship (particularly in research-intensive universities) as discovery, research and academic-journal publication.

Over the past few months, it has become increasingly clear to me that an opportunity has arisen to widen perspectives and challenge perceptions across a range of definitions – including, significantly, what an employer is and, particularly in the creative industries, the nature of employment itself.

In common with many further education colleges across the country, East Kent College (EKC) has a well-developed creative arts provision that extends from entry level to higher education (HE).

As a curriculum area notorious for its inability to attract and sustain real and meaningful employer participation, the college’s involvement with the Scholarship Project might have proved problematic in assessing employer impact on learning and assessment. However, thanks to the innovative approach taken within the creative arts department at EKC, an intriguing – and potentially replicable – approach has been identified that not only promotes entrepreneurship within learners, but whose effects can be measured by integrating it into curriculum design and observing how it influences the employment potential of creative arts students.

It is difficult to develop relationships with employers in vocational subjects at the best of times, but what can tutors do if the industry in which they are training their students has changed to such an extent that, regardless of geographical location and market conditions, it is virtually impossible to attract meaningful external input for course and assessment design?

The answer lies in the tutor’s own working experience, and teaching within the creative arts. For example, music tends to attract practitioners actively working within their subject area. In addition to using their own creative talents in the structuring and implementation of delivery, their first-person



The Scholarship Project

experience of the industry’s changing

nature can – and does – directly inform all

aspects of curriculum design. Furthermore,

tutors on fractional contracts often

supplement their income with performing

themselves; they are effectively acting as

entrepreneurs, and this experience can

be as valuable to a learner as the tutor’s

performance abilities.

Many of the creative arts industries

comprise single or very small groups of

people working for themselves. Web and

graphic designers, photographers, film-makers, traditional and digital artists,

writers, singers, musicians, dancers – while

many of them would welcome being taken

on by one of the few remaining large

companies or organisations – the dramatic

rise in affordable technology (particularly

for digital artists and musicians) and the

significant change in the distribution of creative texts has left a major and indelible

impact on how artefacts are made,

marketed and sold.

It is perfectly feasible for a musician or

band to produce their own recordings to a

professional level, package and advertise

their music on the internet and financially benefit directly from their efforts.

Recording techniques, the use

of hardware and software, musical

composition and aspects of performance

are standard elements of music teaching

from the earliest levels and, at EKC,

several units and assessments have been

introduced to contextualise these creative

and technical aspects in understanding

what it is to be an entrepreneur, from

the formulation of a business plan to an

appreciation of how cash-flow works.Integrating these elements into the

curriculum, particularly from level 3

and above, is a delicate matter – an

understanding of entrepreneurship might

not be the most immediately attractive area

of learning for a creative student but, again,

the tutor’s commercial experience comes

to the fore. Similar to how other curriculum

areas might bring in employers to reinforce

the importance – and authenticity – of the

learning outcomes built into their curricula,

the creative practitioner-tutor can fulfil the same role.

A significant influence on recruitment

to creative arts courses is the experience

of the tutor – whether they are still

practising or not – and it is a key indicator

of course legitimacy, particularly for HE.

Recognising that staff have experience

and/or are working within the industry

– whatever its structure might be – is

important to students. They need to know

their time and, at higher levels, financial commitment will be rewarded by enhanced

chances of employment; and ensuring the

curriculum delivers aspects relevant to

entrepreneurship is a major component in

realising this.

Concluding commentsBy John LeaIn the next phase of the project, 11 more

lead colleges (each with two partner

colleges) will join the project (which will

complete the 50-college sample), and a more intense period of testing and

trialling of scholarly activities will begin.

The complete list of college participants is

available to view on the website.

If you are not a member of staff or a

student in one of the 50 colleges you can

still get involved in the project in a number

of ways.

For example, if you have a strong view

on any aspect of college higher education

(CHE) you might consider submitting a

1,000-word ‘think piece’ (guidance notes available on the website).

We will be publishing one think piece per

month for the lifetime of the project.

If you are involved in an innovative form of

curriculum practice you might also wish to

showcase this by submitting a 1,000-word case study (guidance notes available on

the website). Case studies will be published

on the project’s website as and when they

come in, with full acknowledgment of the

author and college context.

There will also be a CHE Scholarship

conference on 28 June 2016, in London, and

you might consider submitting a workshop

proposal or poster by responding to the call

on the project website (www.aoc.co.uk/enhancing-scholarship-in-college-higher-education-the-scholarship-project).

Alternatively, if you would like to discuss

any aspect of the project, or would like

advice on how to get involved, please feel

free to contact me at [email protected] you would like to be included on the

project newsletter mailing list or require

help navigating the project website, please

contact Barbara Baidoo, the project

administrator: [email protected]

Reference• Boyer, E.L. (1990) Scholarship Reconsidered:

priorities for the professoriate. Princeton, NJ: The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

Chris Dows – Scholarship Project development manager, East Kent College

You can read the following further parts of this article on the SET websitehttps://set.et-foundation.co.uk• Promoting and supporting scholarship in

large established colleges. Patrick Leonard, Scholarship Project development manager, Hull College Group. Visit https://goo.gl/LIOY5T

• Promoting and supporting an employer-engaged scholarly culture in college higher education. Leila Mars, Scholarship Project development manager, Peterborough Regional College. Visit https://goo.gl/LIOY5T

Hull: student site visit




Diane has more than 20 years’ experience

in various further education management

and teaching roles.

Her research takes a holistic view

of the factors that influence learning experiences for vocational students,

including the effects of college structures,

cultures and internal policies in addition

to the impact of contrasting classroom

practices and curricula. In particular, she

identifies how these affect the attitudes and engagement of students with low

prior attainment in mathematics.

Based on her three-year study of

vocational students learning mathematics

in a group of general FE colleges, she

presents some of the challenges for

teacher development that arise from her

research findings.

Within the patchwork landscape of

FE, with its wide-ranging curriculum,

vocational students often view the subject

of mathematics as standing alone in a

distinct and isolated space. This is not just

another manifestation of the long-standing

division in England between the vocational curriculum and an academic discipline

but often involves fragmented learning

experiences for students that are situated in

two contrasting social spaces.

Mathematics classrooms and vocational

learning environments often have different

cultures, ways of working and assumed

values. These social aspects of learning

have a strong influence on students’ responses to mathematics teaching.

Vocational students quickly adopt the norms

of their vocational department in FE and

this serves to exacerbate perceptions that

mathematics is remote and unconnected.

For students whose previous experiences

of mathematics are often characterised by

disaffection and failure, further disconnection

only adds to existing perceptions that the

mathematics classroom is a place where

they do not ‘belong’ and reduces the chances of re-engagement rather than

providing new opportunities for success.

Some mathematics teachers in my

research study recognised the need to

address these problems of isolation and

disaffection and took steps to develop a

more ‘connected’ mathematics classroom.

This involved a multi-level approach to

create a learning space where the culture,

values and teaching approaches were more

closely aligned to those within the vocational

area, as well as making links between the

two curricula. In these cases there was

evidence of more positive attitudes to

mathematics, increased engagement and

some significant gains in understanding.The positioning of mathematics teachers

within college structures and their own

relationships to the vocational culture did,

however, affect their ability to implement

such a ‘connected’ approach.Some colleges utilised a centralised

staffing structure with a team of specialist mathematics teachers servicing vocational

departments. Others use a dispersed

structure with mathematics teachers placed

into vocational departments.

These positions influenced the professional identities of mathematics

teachers, determined some specific professional development needs and

affected how easy it was to deal with them.

Potentially a ‘connected’ approach was more readily developed with a dispersed

staffing arrangement but the teachers themselves become detached from their

own subject-related professional community

and had practical difficulties accessing cross-college professional development.

In contrast, a centralised structural

arrangement facilitated the construction of a

strong professional learning community but

the separation from vocational areas made

teachers’ attempts to develop a ‘connected’ mathematics classroom more challenging.

An additional complexity arises from

the multiplicity of roles carried out by

mathematics teachers. Many teach across

a wide range of mathematics qualification courses and age groups, each with different

demands. Some teachers focus on GCSE

and A level mathematics, while others may

teach mainly Functional Skills, including

perhaps English as well as mathematics, or

they supplement their mathematics teaching

with other subjects.

This diversity makes it difficult to establish any coherent professional identity

for mathematics teachers in FE or address

the development needs associated with

their roles.

Tensions between students’ experiences of learning mathematics and their vocational

programmes are clearly accompanied by

some frictions in teachers’ professional identities resulting from their roles and

positioning within college structures.

Although this research indicates some

effective strategies to address issues of

isolation for students through creating a

‘connected’ mathematics classroom, it also highlights the need for further exploration of

how to build coherent professional identities

and learning communities for mathematics

teachers in this complex landscape.

Diane is currently working on research projects about: the use of digital technology for formative assessment in mathematics, the mathematics within vocational pathways for STEM technicians, and the promotion of inquiry learning and connections to the world of work in mathematics and science classrooms.

For more on Diane’s research:• Dalby, D., & Noyes, A. (2015) The isolation

of mathematics teaching from vocational learning. Adults Learning Mathematics.10(1), 40-49. www.alm-online.net/images/ALM/journals/alm-ij-volume10-1-september2015.pdf

• Dalby, D. M. (2015). A study of the experiences of vocational students learning functional mathematics in FE colleges (Doctoral thesis, University of Nottingham). http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/28308/

And in these two journal articles:• Dalby, D. (2014) The connections and

contradictions in student responses to contextualised tasks. Research in Mathematics Education, 16(1), 75-76.

• Dalby, D., & Noyes, A. (2015) Locating mathematics within post-16 vocational education in England. Journal of Vocational Education & Training, 1-17.

To contact Diane about her research, email: [email protected]

Connection and coherence for mathematics teachers in further educationBy Diane Dalby

Diane Dalby – a senior research fellow at the Centre for Research in Mathematics Education, University of Nottingham.



Professional development

Improvement comes through the clash of ideas: right or wrong, good or badThe aim of this article is to provide an

insight into some of the emerging findings from my education doctoral thesis. It seeks

to gain a deeper understanding of how

teachers improve their practice through

peer-to-peer working in FE settings, in

contrast to more conventional approaches,

such as attending continuing professional

development (CPD) events.

Much has been written about how this

approach can be implemented successfully

in schools and my research builds on the

lessons learned from these studies and

aims to identify the conditions necessary

to enable this way of working to flourish in FE and skills settings.

In particular, I am examining how

practitioners, as well as leaders and managers,

benefit from this approach and, consequently, how self-development can be integrated

into organisational learning. Through a

series of 16 semi-structured interviews

conducted with practitioners and managers

involved in five JPD projects supported by the Education and Training Foundation, my

research aims to develop a model of joint working that can be generalised to other

individuals, groups and FE and skills settings.

BackgroundOver the past eight years, government

policy has placed an increasing emphasis

Joint practice development: an alternative approach to professional developmentBy Tricia Odell

Tricia Odell is currently completing her PhD into effective methods by which teachers can improve their practice. Here, she discusses her research and her findings. Much of her research has focused on the use of joint-practice development (JPD), which is the model adopted by the Education and Training Foundation’s practitioner research programme

1. Self-evaluation: As a teacher, what can I offer someone else?

What do I want to learn from someone else?

What aspect do I want to improve?

2. Pairs/small groups are set up, made up of teachers who have similar interests/

expertise to share. Teachers carry out observations of

each other’s practice.

3. Reflect: what did I share? What

will I now try?

4. Put new ideas into practiceSeek feedback from partner/mentor/coach.What went well/not so well? What was the

impact on my learners?

5. Reflect: what will I take forward to the next cycle?

How JPD works in practice – adapted from Hargreaves, 2012

on the ability of schools and FE and skills

providers to take responsibility for improving

the quality of their provision (BIS 2011). The deregulation of the FE sector resulting

from the Lingfield review (BIS 2012), has meant providers now have the flexibility to structure professional development in a way

that will meet the particular needs of the

organisation. Reductions in funding have

also meant that organisations are seeking

more cost-effective ways to continually

develop the skills of their staff.

Against this background, revised

professional standards were launched by

the Foundation in 2014 that were intended to enable practitioners to take ownership of

their own professional development.

What is JPD?JPD was first proposed by Fielding et al (2005) and later by Hargreaves (2012). Promoted by the National College for

School Leadership, these authors sought to investigate and propose how practice could

be transferred between individuals and

small teams, predominantly in schools and

local authorities.

The approach grew out of a rejection of the ‘Beacon’ model, where high-performing institutions are funded by the government

to disseminate best practice so that others

could benefit from their expertise. It was also informed by research into collaborative

models of CPD, which suggested that

classroom-based CPD resulted in better

student and teacher outcomes than externally

run CPD events, (Cordingly et al 2003).

What does it look like in practice?In setting up groups for JPD, teachers with common interests or skills are brought together and asked to reflect on questions such as: ‘What could I offer a colleague?’ and ‘What do I want to learn from another colleague?’

To initiate discussions, teachers may

also be asked to talk about their values,

answering questions such as: ‘What brought you into teaching?’

Partnerships are then set up, with teachers

working closely together, observing one

another’s practice over a period of up to six months, followed by opportunities to reflect and experiment with new ideas they have




observed, as in the illustration (below, left).

The approach enables teachers to

recognise and discuss what it is they already

do in their practice that is effective, but that

they have not told anyone about because

they do not value it or they feel it will be

valued. This is a way for teachers to ‘check-

in’ with their own teacher identity and, as

a result, they feel more confident about themselves as practitioners.

“Here we have a professional

development approach where teachers

genuinely do feel valued, rather than

making them sit on the naughty step next

to an expert in maths and English saying:

‘Right, this is what you must do.’ It’s a

bit like students really… getting teachers

to realise for themselves what they need

and have to do.” Middle manager

There is a recognition, however, that there

is still a place for more conventional CPD

events, where a degree of compliance

is required, for example updating on the

latest government policies in relation to

safeguarding or the Prevent agenda.

What are the challenges?A key focus of my study has been to look in

depth at how practice is transferred from one

person to another, since research suggests

that it is unlikely that a practitioner can simply

lift an idea that works for one teacher and

apply it to their own practice; even though the

idea may be good, it may not be replicable

and will require translation.

A further problem is that some types of

information do not easily pass from one

person to another; it may ‘stick’ on its journey

and so impede transfer (Von Hippel, 2003).

So how are participants in JPD

overcoming this? In one of the projects

(referred to as research pods), trained

coaches or mentors are appointed to

facilitate or guide projects to: help them

engage with relevant educational research,

provide feedback, keep on track, and foster

a systematic approach:“We have tried pods without facilitators,

but they don’t seem to move forward

well. They get muddy and lose track of

what they’re doing. So it’s better to have

a facilitator who is facilitative, rather than

directive.” Middle manager

There is an emphasis on active

experimentation, rather than passive

copying, backed up by educational research.

There is also a growing awareness that this

model of working needs time if it is to have

an impact on practice and subsequently on

learners’ outcomes. JPD is a ‘slow burn’,

rather than a ‘quick fix’. Crucially, it is important to build

partnerships of equals. A focus of the role of

References• Ball, S, (2008) The Education Policy Debate,

Bristol, Policy Press.• Cordingley, P, Bell, M, Rundell, B & Evans, D,

(2003) The impact of collaborative CPD on classroom teaching and learning. In: Research Evidence in Education Library, London, EPPI-Centre, Social Science Research Unit, Institute of Education, University of London.

• Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, (2011) New Challenges, New Chances: Next steps in implementing the further education reform programme, London, BIS.

• Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, (2012) Professionalism in Further Education: Final report of the Independent Review Panel, London, BIS.

• Fielding, M, Bragg, S, Craig, J, Cunningham, I, Eraut, M, Gillinson, S, Horne, M, Robinson, C and Thorp, J, (2005) Factors influencing the transfer of good practice. Research Brief No RB615, Nottingham, DfES Publications.

• Hargreaves, D H, (2010) Creating a self-improving school system, Nottingham, National College for School Leadership.

• Hargreaves, D H, (2012) Powerful professional learning: a school leader’s guide to joint practice development, Nottingham, National College for School Leadership.

• Von Hippel, E, (1994) Sticky information and the locus of problem solving: implications for innovation, Management Science, 40(4), 429–39.

Tricia Odell – an experienced teacher and teacher trainer, who recently led for the Foundation on the development and embedding of the new Professional Standards and now heads up work to develop and improve QTLS.

power relations in this way of working has

been central to the study.

How do we identify what good practice is?The research suggests that managers tend

to agree that everyone has something to

share, regardless of any external judgement

that may have been made about an

organisation’s practice.

For one interviewee, there is a belief that:

“Improvement comes through the clash

of ideas: right or wrong – good or bad.”

Senior manager

However, another senior manager

expressed a strong concern that the

approach could reinforce poor practice if

there is an absence of a rigorous quality

assurance approach to underpin it.

To address this, effective practice in the organisation is recognised and monitored

through systematic approaches to

observation of teaching and learning.

In another organisation, a more practitioner-

centred approach has been adopted where

the good practice of teachers is recognised

in a non-competitive way by the teachers

themselves, who develop an awareness of

their own good practice based on feedback

from their learners.

These two contrasting examples illustrate

the tensions in facilitating the approach if both

the practitioner and the wider organisation

are to benefit and improve practice.

A culture of trust and openness so that practitioners are motivated to develop their practiceFielding et al (2005) state the development of

trusting relationships is crucial if JPD is to be

successful. This resonates strongly with the

findings from my research:“For JPD to work, it’s about having

trust. It has to come from the top down,

with managers being prepared to give

away ownership and responsibility to

someone else and trusting that they

need to do this process and whatever

comes out of it has to be valued by

them. Even if you don’t agree with it,

you still value that contribution.”

Middle manager

This desire to move towards a change in

culture may again bring about tensions,

where organisations are tending to focus

their energies on business development and

funding, rather than teaching and learning

(Ball, 2008).

Summary and conclusionsMy research suggests that the JPD

approach represents an opportunity for

practitioners working in FE and skills settings

to be empowered to take ownership of their

professional development through working

together with peers to develop their practice.

There is, however, a need to establish

mechanisms for systematically quality

assuring these processes, to avoid

reproducing and spreading poor practice.

The role of leaders is also important in

fostering an open and outward culture in

which this approach can develop. Equally,

teachers need to be given the space to

reflect on their practice so that they can begin to value what they do and then be

provided with opportunities to share and

experiment with new practice, without the

fear of being judged.

I am aiming to complete the research

study in December 2016 and in the

meantime would be very pleased to hear

from teachers or trainers who would like

to share their experiences of putting into

practice this approach in their institutions.

To contact Tricia, email at:

[email protected]


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Reflective Teaching in Higher Education9781441197559 paperback | £24.99 432 pages | 2015

Short introductions to a range of research methods that are at the forefront of developments in social sciences. Each book sets out the key elements and examples of the application of each method in a consistent series structure.

For the full range of titles available, see www.bloomsbury.com

The ‘What Is?’ Research Methods Series Edited by Graham Crow

What is Diary Method?9781472572530 paperback £16.99 136 pages 2015

What is Narrative Research?9781849669733 paperback £16.99 168 pages 2014

What is Qualitative Research?9781849666060 paperback £16.99 144 pages 2012

What are Qualitative Research Ethics?9781849666527 paperback £16.99 128 pages 2012

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Intuition - research supplement - Spring 2016