Intuition - research supplement - Spring 2016

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Research InTuition

Issue 1 | Spring 2016

‘For the sector, by the sector’

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

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Inspirational leadership in a time of change www.elmag.org.uk The leadership portal of the Education and Training Foundation

CPD opportunities | Resources | Network Book high quality and relevant professional development on: IjhWj[]_Y B[WZ[hi^_f =el[hdWdY[

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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.

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

Contents

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

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

Produced in association with The Education and Training Foundation

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 Sheila.kearney@etfoundation.co.uk

Sheila Kearney Head of Research, Education and Training Foundation

Cover: Cameron Law

The Society for Education and Training, 157-197 Buckingham Palace Road, London SW1W 9SP. Editor: Peter Clasby PUBLISHING The InTuition Research supplement is published by the Educational and Training Foundation.

The link between research and the quality of teaching, learning and assessment is vital – a fourpoint plan to getting it right

5 Visible learning: a global synthesis

Judge 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 practice

Margaret Gregson, Patricia Spedding and Lawrence Nixon on enhancing your professional practice through Joint Practice Development 9 A passion for

engagement with research

Lecturers 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 scholarship

The 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 education

InTuition contacts EDITORIAL member.communications@ etfoundation.co.uk

4 Why practitioner research is important

Design and layout: Create Publishing Ltd, Anerley Business Centre, Anerley Road, London SE20 8BD. Advertising: Alan Thomson 020 8676 5608 Printed by: PCP Ltd, Telford CORPORATE The 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.

Diane 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 development Much of the research in Tricia Odell’s PhD has focused on joint-practice development, the model adopted by the Foundation’s practitioner research programme

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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

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 do Identify 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.

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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.

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Visible learning: a global synthesis

By 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

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 metaanalyses can be ranked from very positive to very negative effects on student achievement.

An explanatory story, not a ‘what works’ recipe The 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 taskperformance, sequencing, drill repetition,

Examples of effects associated with teaching methods and working conditions Teaching

d

Working conditions

d

Quality of teaching

0.77

Within-class grouping

0.28

Reciprocal teaching

0.75

Adding more finances

0.23

Teacher-student relationships

0.72

Reducing class sizes

0.21

Providing feedback

0.72

Ability grouping

0.11

Teaching students self-verbalisation

0.67

Multi-grade/age classes

-0.09

Meta-cognitive strategies

0.67

-0.16

Direct instruction

0.59

Open vs. traditional classes/summer vacation classes

Mastery learning

0.57

Average

0.68

Retention

0.08

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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

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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.

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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 sixstage 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.

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)

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 five: Interim evaluation of impact and adaption

Step three: Identifying improvement priorities

Step four: Developing and implementing improvement priorities

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

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Step two: Sharing experience of practice and making room for improvement

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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

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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.

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A passion for engagement with research

By Dominic Thompson and Alec Dyer 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

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.

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 ‘Teachmeet’ 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 dthompson@southdowns. ac.uk or adyer@southdowns.ac.uk to request a copy.

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The Scholarship Project

Enhancing college higher education through scholarship – the Scholarship Project

By John Lea, Gail Hall, Patrick Leonard, Leila Mars, and Chris Dows Introduction and background The 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

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By John Lea

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.

John Lea – Scholarship Project’s research director

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Promoting and supporting a scholarly culture in college higher education

By Gail Hall A 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.

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 secondyear 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.

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

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

By Chris Dows One 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 researchintensive 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

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The Scholarship Project

Hull: student site visit

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, filmmakers, 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

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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 comments

By John Lea In 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-highereducation-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 John_Lea@aoc.co.uk If 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: Barbara_Baidoo@aoc.co.uk

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 website https://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 employerengaged scholarly culture in college higher education. Leila Mars, Scholarship Project development manager, Peterborough Regional College.

Visit https://goo.gl/LIOY5T

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Connection and coherence for mathematics teachers in further education

By Diane Dalby 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-volume10-1september2015.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: diane.dalby@nottingham.ac.uk

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

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Professional development

Joint practice development: an alternative approach to professional development

By Tricia Odell Improvement comes on the ability of schools and FE and skills Tricia Odell is currently providers to take responsibility for improving through the clash of ideas: completing her PhD into the quality of their provision (BIS 2011). right or wrong, good or bad The deregulation of the FE sector resulting The aim of this article is to provide an effective methods by which from the Lingfield review (BIS 2012), has insight into some of the emerging findings teachers can improve their meant providers now have the flexibility to from my education doctoral thesis. It seeks structure professional development in a way to gain a deeper understanding of how practice. Here, she discusses that will meet the particular needs of the teachers improve their practice through her research and her findings. peer-to-peer working in FE settings, in organisation. Reductions in funding have also meant that organisations are seeking contrast to more conventional approaches, Much of her research has more cost-effective ways to continually such as attending continuing professional focused on the use of jointdevelop the skills of their staff. development (CPD) events.

Against this background, revised Much has been written about how this practice development professional standards were launched by approach can be implemented successfully (JPD), which is the model the Foundation in 2014 that were intended in schools and my research builds on the to enable practitioners to take ownership of lessons learned from these studies and adopted by the Education their own professional development. aims to identify the conditions necessary and Training Foundation’s to enable this way of working to flourish in FE and skills settings. practitioner research What is JPD? In particular, I am examining how JPD was first proposed by Fielding et al programme practitioners, as well as leaders and managers, (2005) and later by Hargreaves (2012). 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.

Background Over the past eight years, government policy has placed an increasing emphasis

How JPD works in practice – adapted from Hargreaves, 2012

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

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?

4. Put new ideas into practice Seek feedback from partner/mentor/coach.

What went well/not so well? What was the impact on my learners?

3. Reflect: what did I share? What will I now try?

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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?

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.

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

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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 ‘checkin’ 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

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 practitionercentred 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 practice Fielding 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 conclusions My 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: triciaodell1958@hotmail.co.uk

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, EPPICentre, 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.

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