Abstract
ABSTRACTTeachers’ professionalism includes using educational research to support their work in the modern diverse classroom. Student teachers’ views as they enter the profession are therefore important. Within a Higher Education Academy social science priority research strand, ‘Supporting research-informed teacher education in a changing policy environment’, this study developed workshops to ascertain student teachers’ views on educational research, preparing materials suitable for primary and secondary sectors. These could be updated, and used by other higher education courses. Face-to-face or email workshops asked participants about their current uses of educational research, and to read and comment upon one policy research extract and one ‘what works’ research review. Small-scale piloting suggested the workshops readily elicited views, and students identified some personal changes following participation. Participants were generally unfamiliar with the principles of ‘what works’ research. Thematic analysis suggested students considered educational research was often inaccessible, but wanted accessible research to inform their practice.
Highlights
School teaching takes place in a rapidly changing world of globally available information, where international requirements for high educational attainment impact on the knowledge and skills required of teachers, and on teacher education
One conclusion of the British Educational Research Association (BERA)/ RSA enquiry was that teachers should be discerning consumers of, and engage with, research (BERA, 2014b, p. 5), being able to interpret research evidence and apply it to their working context
We developed workshops inviting student teachers to read summaries of practicefocussed educational research reporting attempts to ameliorate factors inimical to learning; to give their views on whether reading these had developed their understandings and could influence their practice; and to comment on the workshop experience
Summary
School teaching takes place in a rapidly changing world of globally available information, where international requirements for high educational attainment impact on the knowledge and skills required of teachers, and on teacher education. A summit on the teaching profession representing education systems deemed to be ‘high-performing and rapidly improving’ using outcomes from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)’s Programme for International Student Performance (PISA) Teacher professionalism includes personal characteristics leading to ethical and responsible action, but the review identified the need to strengthen the ‘technical core’ of teachers’ professional practice by the creation, accumulation and diffusion of professional knowledge ‘which draws inter alia on research findings’ A detailed rationale for this is given by Winch, Oancea, & Orchard (2015, p. 211):
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