Dr Jonathan Sharples How do you choose a washing machine? – Creating meaningful research tools for schools

“We must give educators and politicians the information they need to make wise decisions for children” Baroness Estelle Morris

Empower channels to school improvement Teaching and Learning Peer Research Evidence Increased freedom/choice… and responsibility for schools National Strategies scaling back High-quality information to inform decision- making and support interactions Peer-to-peer path to school improvement – teaching schools, federations etc What works…. and what doesn’t… and why? (eg Struggling Readers)

Effective classroom strategies for closing the gap in educational achievement for children and young people from poor backgrounds, including white working class boys 4

What do schools need in order to access, and apply, this knowledge? How do we create meaningful materials for teachers, based on academic research? What’s an effective process of engagement through which schools can engage with this information?

Small pilot in local primary/secondary schools – ‘YIPI’ project Aim: Develop a ‘proof-of-concept’ for evidence-informed practice Senior leadership teams in a local secondary and three feeder primaries. All at least ‘Good’ - OfSTED Two new headteachers – All committed to trialing YIPI as a management tool for school improvement Test and develop an ‘evidence-informed school support service’, plus appropriate resources

What are challenges in accessing and using reliable research evidence? Sifting reliable research conclusions from the rest Not skilled to judge the validity of claims Can be a conflict with existing school practices Knowing where to look for useful information Too much information is available Senior Leadership Teams Time, time, time!

High-quality reviews/meta analyses are necessary but not sufficient. Need converting them into meaningful materials for schools. Apply a strategy with confidence Accessible overviews of effective strategies – What is it? How does it work? Trustworthy assessments of evidence – What are the proven outcomes? Practical information on training, costs, school links – How do we get it to work in practice ? Creating useful and relevant research resources

Summary information on specific programmes/practices What is it? How does it work? What are the proven benefits? How do I apply it in practice? How much does it cost? Who can I speak to? etc

Link information on programmes, practices and school organisation Adapted from Higgins. S & Coe, R. (2011) ‘The Pupil Premium: How Do We Make It Work?’

Research-use is a social process

… Also provide schools with practical support to apply this information with confidence Establish school targets/objectives Look at children’s outcome data Identify areas to improve Identify a range of evidence-based strategies Support schools to implement approaches Help schools identify and implement evidence-based strategies in line with their own data, targets and practices Act as an intermediary broker - ‘eyes and ears’ into research.

What type of thing did we look at? Class size Homework Boys writing Formative assessment Independent learning

What changes, if any, have resulted from your involvement in the project? Revising approaches to homework across the school We will be implementing peer learning in maths Space and time to think as a leadership team about how research could have an impact in the classroom Encouraged us to think more critically about the school’s practice Senior Leadership Teams All schools reported that they would use (and pay for!) such a service in the future

What lessons did we learn? It’s critical to build trusted, non-hierarchical relationships. “Research knows best” won’t work. Provide complementarity to existing provision. Don’t destabilise unnecessarily. Dialogue provides real added value and supports change. …..Overall, it seems as though we are along the right lines Different information provides different functions.

Where are we heading? The YIPI pilot suggests we have a promising model Next step: expand, evaluate and refine the process, working with a greater number of schools Partnering with Oldham LA – ‘Accelerate Alliance’ – closing attainment gaps Also opportunities to support: I.Individual schools II.School networks (LAs, Teaching schools, Academy trusts etc) III.Advisory organisations, as a research-knowledge provider Our big job is creating a catalogue of research-proven school programmes across a wide range of areas… as well as other supporting resources

‘Better’ magazine Free to schools for first year –

Questions What would you like to see as part of such an evidence- informed support service? How should we be presenting material? Do you know anyone who might be interested in collaborating with us?