Closing Remarks & Ways Forward Malcolm Hunt: Assistant Director, Evidence & Evaluation Becta Research Conference, 2005

Presentation Outline  Some Emerging Research Themes - Partnerships & Co-operation - Dissemination & Communication - Clarifying the ‘added value’ that ICT can bring to learning  Becta’s Research Activities & Priorities, for

Partnership & Co-operation  For Educational Research to inform policy & practice, joint activities will be required between: - Policy makers - Practitioners - Researchers- Industry  Becta can usefully facilitate such partnerships (ImpaCT2, Test Beds)  Multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary research teams (In teams & methodology) Learners & Parents - Learners & Parents

Becta’s Priority Activity  Development & Research Programme - Partnerships with Industry - Industry Consultation Event 20 June  Consultation with the research community over an ICT Research Agenda  Developing partnerships with industry researchers & practitioners through the Awards work & ICTRN Industry funded pilot projects around an education issue Becta funded evaluation Creating ‘communities of knowledge’ through the ICTRN Theoretically informed & grounded in real practice Developing a Library of Effective Practice- practitioner & institutional profiles

Effective dissemination & communication  Becta’s remit is about providing timely, evidence informed advice about the use and impact of ICT to inform policy & practice  We need a range of outputs capable of informing policy, improving practice and contributing to theory  Dissemination needs to make a difference - Awareness of audience - Use of appropriate communications channels/media - Awareness of how people use research

How do practitioners use research evidence? Research from the Social Care Sector  Research for the Social Care Institute for Excellence  Investigated how the use of research could be improved in social care practice  Could it inform our thinking in education? Walter, I and Nutley, S 2004: Improving the use of research in social care practice. Knowledge Review 7, SCIE asp

Models of research in Social Care  The research-based practitioner model - Practitioners have a personal commitment to using research, - Personal belief in the need to keep up to date with research & apply it to practice, - Belief that professional education is important in enabling the use of research & it’s application to practice  The embedded research model - Responsibility for informing practice lies with policy makers - Research is embedded through systems & processes: eg Standards & policies - Funding restrictions, inspection & appraisal are the vehicle for encouraging the use of research in practice  The organisational excellence model - Institutions are the vehicles by which to develop a research-minded culture, - Institutions create partnerships with local universities & adapt research findings to local settings & encourage ongoing learning What leads to a research informed practitioner? Practitioners engaged in post graduate studies Practitioner CPD Work of the Strategies, other NDPBs, evidence informed policy Role of professional links: SLICT programme & work with NCSL

Becta’s Priority Activity  Strengthen our evidence & knowledge base especially for post 16 - PeLE database & analysis work for DfES post 16 e learning programme board  Extend and review our publications to make them more problem focussed  Through the Awards work to provide - Exemplars & case studies of innovative practice - Develop a framework for pedagogical quality that can inform practitioners in making decisions about ICT resources

Clarifying the value that ICT can bring to learning  Despite significant investment ICT is a limited resource  There has been considerable improvements on infrastructure provision, yet impact is variable In understanding how ICT supports learning, there is a continuing challenge to ‘get underneath’ statistics to understand better the processes, factors and specific uses of ICT which consistently relate to positive impacts on pupils’ learning & institutional standards, and to understand which of these add most value.Becta Review 2005 Helping the education system be ‘smarter’ in the way it uses ICT

Becta’s Priority Activity  Ongoing & new large scale managed research projects  Review the progress of ICT in education through an update of the Becta Review.  ICT in Practice Awards - Institution Award Test Beds Evaluation Curriculum Online Evaluation E Learning survey in FE ICT and the productive time of teachers Provide ‘hindsight, insight & foresight’ against the e-Strategy priorities To identify ICT activities of the whole institution rather than just looking at individuals Help inform the development of the ICT Mark

Conclusions  Introduced Becta’s Research Strategy  Heard from some expert speakers in the field of ICT research  Started a process of consultation about the ICT Research Agenda  Raised some important issues & added to the debate about ICT research, theory and practice

Thank You