Practitioner Research in Further Education Creating a culture and building networks Nigel Ecclesfield, Emma Procter-Legg and Ellen Lessner

Research by FE practitioners in the UK Publication of research on FE in academic journals is common in the period considered (1985 – 2013) in 2 journals – The Journal of Further and Higher Education – Research in Post-Compulsory Education – Publication by FE practitioners is another matter!

Publishing Statistics - 1 Journal of Further and Higher Education – Volumes 4-9 (1980 – 1985) 169 papers of which 89 FE focused (53%) 208 Authors of whom 48 had FE affiliations (23%) – Volumes (2008 – 2013) 203 papers of which 61 FE focused (30%) 402 authors of whom 20 had FE affiliations (5%)

Publishing Statistics - 2 Research in Post-Compulsory Education – Volumes 1- 6 (1996 – 2001) 182 Papers of which 92 FE focused (51%) 173 Authors of whom 16 had FE affiliations (9%) – Volumes ( ) 136 papers of which 91 were FE focused (67%) 250 Authors of whom 12 had FE affiliations (5%)

What are the issues facing practitioner researchers in FE? ?

Quick case study: How we got involved in research Research in FE National funding opportunities FE college /institution Individual (s)

Here’s how research works in FE Own research Outside research Time and flexibility at work The Individual (s)

FE college /institution Institutional culture Flexibility and spare staff to cover research time Senior management support Research in relation to: No research department or research positions

National funding opportunities (FE) Becta LSIS Jisc FERL EU IfL (Institute for Learning) Niace? ETF? UFI

Key points FE colleges are not uniform – HE in FE? A levels? Vocational? Research has to be useful to the institution Help with writing bid, methodology and evaluation Enough time and people to run project – not tack it onto existing timetables Realistic outputs to encourage more research

Jisc FE and Skills project: Webinar employability skills for students National funding opportunities FE college /institution Individual (s) Abingdon and Witney College

Case study part 2 Learning from Research Prior experience – PGCE, EU Project Awareness of the bid/project/institution Relevant skills

Learning from Research What did we learn? How would we do it again? Timing Structure Marketing Support Dissemination

Conclusions Better funding Ring fenced time Flexibility Support from HE

Activity Participants divide themselves into HE and FE/ACL. 1. Do you work in FE and teach across the curriculum? (Go to the left side of the room) 2. Do you teach in HE in FE and 50% of your teaching in HE? (Right side of the room)

In your groups; Consider the hurdles of doing research relating to FE in FE ? What is interesting about FE that needs researching whether you are in FE or HE? If you are in HE how can you encourage and support your colleagues in FE? Feedback from each group – use Textwall Is there one thing that you would like to be discussed at the ALT research committee and to be taken back to JISC?

Open Scholarship Work by Nigel and Fred Garnett on Open Scholarship (2011) – Builds on Boyer’s model of scholarship to; – Promote collaborative and supportive networks of scholarship, research and mutual support that use the affordances of new technologies – Terry Anderson’s keynote to ALT-C in 2010 was the starting point – Identify “do-it-yourself” research opportunities – Re-consider learning and research across disciplinary and organisational boundaries e.g. Haythornthwaite’s network research and models (2010)

Questions? Q&A chaired by Malcolm Ryan