Practitioner Enquiry Conference: The Sixth Form College Farnborough.
Current news: Our next Practitioner Enquiry dissemination conference will be held on Thursday 5th June, 2014.
To sign up, visit https://services.farnborough.
Below is a selection of the feedback from last year's dissemination day, on Monday 3rd June, 2013:
The day itself was a great success, with attendees describing sessions as:
‘Very well presented and led’
‘Useful ideas that reinforce the importance of learning and how that should be at the heart of every lesson’
‘The session was delivered in such a productive way which encouraged me to reflect on competition and means I will certainly be using some of the ideas next year’
‘...incredibly engaging and had a lot of depth’
‘Fantastic. Both the theory and the practicalities’
‘It was an exceptional session and I was sorry when it ended as it was so enjoyable’
‘The session was very well planned with very good examples and practical suggestions’
The majority of speakers were tutors from the Sixth Form College, who’d spent the year carrying out research into their own teaching. Sessions ranged from those exploring assessment for learning and encouraging independent learning to advice on encouraging and using competition in the classroom and strategies for helping struggling students through early-intervention strategies.
External speakers were also well received. Nick Buchanan introduced new members of staff to ‘The Principles of Coaching’ and Richard Churches talked to managers about ‘Understanding yourself and others with the Strength Deployment Inventory (SDI)’
College's Research Accolade
Farnborough Sixth Form College is the only sixth-form college in the country to be recognised as a research-engaged institution, and has been involved in the production of videos about practitioner enquiry to encourage other schools and colleges to take part in research. The NFER has also produced a case study about practitioner enquiry at Farnborough, describing it as 'inspiring' and the College as having 'an excellent example of a practitioner-led research culture'.
Action Research initiative at Farnborough given as example of good practice by Ofsted on QIA Excellence Gateway
In recognition of the College's work on encouraging reflective practice as part of teachers' CPD and in disseminating good practice, Ofsted have now included a full report on Farnborough's action research. Other schools and colleges can read about how these are used at the College and consider how they might use this practice as part of their own Teaching and Learning strategy.