Additional Information
Book Details
Abstract
Trainees and school-based practitioners are being encouraged to engage more with evidence-based teaching methods. Teachers are now more responsible for the outcomes of their own practice and are charged with sourcing ‘best practice’ solutions in their pedagogical approaches. And schools are moving more towards in-house professional development approaches that have a clear focus on raising standards in the classroom.
This book focuses on how universities and primary schools can work together to lead, manage and sustain a culture of teacher inquiry. It examines the role of the university in providing a critical perspective on teaching and learning and how academics can support schools by working as ‘knowledgeable others’ and advocates of classroom-based research. As a case study, it explores the journey taken by one particular primary school, in partnership with a university, over a two-year period, detailing how this work has impacted on the professional lives of staff, the children they teach, the overall culture of the school and the impact on school improvement. Chapters are contributed by professional school leaders, university academics and primary teachers and there is a focus on the rigorous examination of models of evidenced-based teaching, practical examples demonstrating some of the best and most sustainable approaches, and positive outcomes.
Ian Menter (AcSS) is Emeritus Professor of Teacher Education and was formerly the Director of Professional Programmes in the Department of Education at the University of Oxford. He previously worked at the Universities of Glasgow, the West of Scotland, London Metropolitan, the West of England and Gloucestershire. Before that he was a primary school teacher in Bristol, England. His most recent publications include A Literature Review on Teacher Education for the 21st Century (Scottish Government) and A Guide to Practitioner Research in Education (Sage). His work has also been published in many academic journals.
Val Poultney is a senior lecturer at the University of Derby. She teaches on initial teacher education and postgraduate programmes. Her research interests include school leadership and school governance with a particular focus on how to develop leadership to support teachers as researchers.
Table of Contents
| Section Title | Page | Action | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cover | Cover 1 | ||
| Half-title | i | ||
| Series information | ii | ||
| Title page | iii | ||
| Copyright information | iv | ||
| Dedication | v | ||
| Table of Contents | vii | ||
| Acknowledgements | viii | ||
| Foreword | ix | ||
| About the series editor and book editor | xi | ||
| About the contributors | xii | ||
| Chapter 1 The self-improving school and evidence-based teaching: the value of researching practitioners | 1 | ||
| Introduction | 1 | ||
| Context for EBT | 2 | ||
| School-based research | 2 | ||
| Generating capacity where everyone is a learner | 3 | ||
| Third spaces (crossing boundaries) to undertake research | 5 | ||
| Role-modelling research | 6 | ||
| What evidence constitutes effective research in school contexts? | 8 | ||
| Opportunities and challenges to EBT approaches | 9 | ||
| Opportunities and challenges to undertaking teacher inquiry | 10 | ||
| Chapter 2 Leading primary school inquiry: what do we need to know about school–university partnerships and ways of ... | 13 | ||
| Introduction | 13 | ||
| Historical context of the school: taking a leap of faith | 14 | ||
| Working beyond the professional boundaries | 15 | ||
| Role-modelling practitioner research | 16 | ||
| Reflections on our approach to teacher research | 16 | ||
| Reciprocal leadership: mutual approaches to leading and supporting EBT | 16 | ||
| Sustaining the school–university relationship over time | 17 | ||
| Researching with SLT | 19 | ||
| Findings of the pilot research | 19 | ||
| Dissemination of EBT | 21 | ||
| Chapter 3 Case study 1: peer critique | 24 | ||
| Introduction | 24 | ||
| Reflections on introducing EBT | 24 | ||
| What does peer critique look like? | 25 | ||
| Teacher reflections | 25 | ||
| Implementation and impact of peer critique | 26 | ||
| What was the impact of the initiative? | 29 | ||
| Action research | 31 | ||
| Ten things to consider when implementing peer critique as an approach to school improvement | 33 | ||
| Chapter 4 Case study 2: active learning | 35 | ||
| Introduction | 35 | ||
| Rationale for active learning | 35 | ||
| How the initiative was implemented | 36 | ||
| Classroom organisation helps to support active learning | 36 | ||
| What does active learning look like? | 37 | ||
| A change of mindset to improve learning behaviours | 38 | ||
| Learning behaviours and independence | 38 | ||
| Active learning promoting the ‘working classroom’ | 39 | ||
| Consolidating and assessing learning | 39 | ||
| Lesson examples | 39 | ||
| Developing and planning active sessions | 42 | ||
| What was the impact? | 44 | ||
| Evidence gathering | 45 | ||
| Dissemination | 45 | ||
| Teaching- and learning-focussed culture | 46 | ||
| Chapter 5 Case study 3: colour-coding for development of writing in Year 3 | 48 | ||
| Introduction | 48 | ||
| Changing curriculum and school issues: how did this affect us in the classroom? | 49 | ||
| The identified issue and ideas to combat it | 49 | ||
| Final idea and implementation | 51 | ||
| Outcomes: informal | 53 | ||
| Children’s perspective on inquiry | 54 | ||
| Outcomes: formal | 55 | ||
| Dissemination | 56 | ||
| School-wide evolutions | 56 | ||
| Personal reflections and building on our inquiry | 56 | ||
| Thoughts on EBT | 57 | ||
| Chapter 6 Inquiry as a vehicle to change school culture | 60 | ||
| Introduction: grassroots – setting the goals | 60 | ||
| The Allenton model | 62 | ||
| Developing EBT across the school: gaining teachers to ‘buy in’ to inquiry | 64 | ||
| Embedding and maintaining the culture change | 68 | ||
| The future and where do we go now as a school? | 70 | ||
| Chapter 7 What have we learnt from engaging with evidence-based teaching? | 73 | ||
| Introduction | 73 | ||
| Practitioners: what did they learn? | 73 | ||
| Dissemination of practitioner research | 77 | ||
| School–university partnerships: what have we learnt? | 78 | ||
| How do you know if your school is moving towards an inquiry culture? | 79 | ||
| References | 83 | ||
| Index | 87 |