Making Practice Visible: The Impact of the FdA in Early Years BECERA Conference February 2015 Angela Hodgkins University of Worcester & Samantha Sutton-Tsang Birmingham Metropolitan College (Stourbridge)

The Partnership The Aim External Examiner reports for the FdA Early Years programme indicated areas of good practice, which included the ability of students to link theory to practice. The External Examiners report suggested that partner institutions consider mechanisms for the dissemination of such practice to a wider academic audience. The Aim To work collaboratively as an Early Years Foundation Degree Partnership to develop understanding of how the Foundation Degree impacts on practice.

Data Gathering The evaluation used information gained from views expressed in assignments (content analysis), a response to survey questions and from the views expressed by focus groups of students. Different types of data gathering enabled different responses; Content analysis provided illustration of the impact in and for practice A survey gave concrete articulation of professional areas of practice Focus groups provided narrative and personal and emotive aspects to emerge Relational analysis allowed us to find meaningful relationships between concepts

What was the Expectation?

Impact on Practice The impact on practice was clearly evident and described in wide ranging terms, for example: purposeful collaboration with parents, engaging in policy formation, developing a personal knowledge base and being able to respond with some authority to an Ofsted inspector. What was noticeable was that respondents were able to give clear examples of where they had impacted on practice, rather than speaking in general terms. It was apparent that there was no clear definition of impact but significant elements included collaboration, regulatory impact, knowledge and emotion, all underpinned by reflection.

Reflective Practice Critical reflection was revealed through all aspects of the data. 70% of the survey responses said that impact included reflection on practice. The focus group revealed critically reflective thinking and within content analysis and the focus group, reflection was linked to quality improvement, and appreciation of others’ and children’s perspectives

Personal or Professional Impact? It became apparent that there was a reported connection between personal impact and professional impact. It appeared that practitioners were acquiring knowledge and had confidence in the veracity of that knowledge. This led them to construct knowledge which was articulated as having an impact for practice and in practice. The result was a personal confidence and a professional impact.

Learning & Practice Links While it was evident that students could see the links between their learning and their practice, practice was not seen as leading the way within this, as students clearly highlighted that knowledge was at the forefront of having impact, triangulated with confidence. These two combined formed impact. This is a development from earlier research by Reed & Walker (2012), where practice was seen in terms of leading knowledge and developing impact.

Themes Reflection Consolidation Collaboration Confidence Commitment Analysis of the data into themes not only provided examples of structural and process impact, they are underpinned by themes identified by the content analysis. These are; Reflection Consolidation Collaboration Confidence Commitment Analysis also exposed a relationship between commitment and leadership.

Student Voice The enthusiastic response from partners mirrored the commitment of students. It was evident that there was a culture that allowed students to articulate impact. The process itself enabled a modelling of exploring the process of research; data collection methods showed the capacity for potential within students and the necessity to cross correlate data. The content analysis of assignments allowed us to stand back and be objective, the survey provided empirical findings and the focus groups gave students a voice, which allowed them to reveal emotional impact. This was endorsed and given face validity from peers, who clapped and supported as students gave personal and professional examples. Sam One implication for teaching is to give students a voice as much as possible.

Knowledge as Impact Knowledge is seen as having an impact on both local day to day interactions within practice, but also more structural aspects, such as policy development and response to Ofsted. Students considered regulatory aspects, such as Ofsted grading, as an important facet of impact, which signifies a change in thinking from previous research by Reed & Walker (2012). Therefore, Ofsted regulation and confidence in approaching this implies that impact can be third party evaluated, such as by Ofsted, who identify this as a measure of quality. Sam a desire to be viewed as professionally qualified and competent, serving the needs of children and families

Did we ask the Right Questions? Not always. Although leadership has been clearly identified as an area of impact, particularly between the themes identified in the content analysis, we did not specifically ask about this. In identifying causal relationships between linking themes, it became apparent that knowledge and confidence is a causal link that creates change but can also lead to problems. For example, where a practitioner perceives the student as having more knowledge than them. Angela Leadership - Some students had led staff development sessions within their settings and others had made presentations to colleagues. Many students stated that they had passed their new found knowledge on to other staff within their setting and some had discussed the results of their practice-based inquiries with their colleagues. One student declared “I feel I can now try to change staff attitudes”.   Focus group - “There is some resentment from the setting when we come back with ideas”

Main Findings Significant impact on personal confidence and professional actions. Students’ perceive 'knowledge' as having an underpinning impact on practice. Leadership was evident but requires further research.

Next Steps... We now need to move to a deeper interrogation of ‘what constitutes impact on practice from the course?’ We hope this can be done by asking students to form self-directed focus groups.

Discussion Points Time frame within which a realisation of course impact took place The influence of the tutor/s The influence on regulation The impact of others on the course, sharing and collaboration Whether the course provided a perception of leadership and what this means in terms of developing and improving practice. Is there one factor more than another which promotes ‘impact’ or are they interconnected? If you could pose one or two questions that would help people taking the course to define and illustrate ‘impact of the course’ what would they be?

References Walker, R., & Reed, M. (2012). Early Childhood Practitioners Developing an Academic Voice and Tutors Making Sense of the Research Process. NZ Research in Early Childhood Education Journal, 15 pp. 137 – 149.