Practitioner Enquiry Resources
Planning a Project
To download the 'Research Skills' PowerPoint presentation by David Godfrey, click here.
For some tips on how to plan an action research project, see the Research toolkit put together by Practical Research for Education, also, the following PowerPoint on planning research. For tips on writing up the project, you may find this PowerPoint presentation useful.
Practitioner Enquiry Dissemination Day
Hannah Mantle - Making competition an integral part of your course to raise achievement and ethos in a class
Presentation Handout 1 Handout 2 Handout 3
Lynn Driver - Stretch and Challenge
Amy Heath - How to use student workshops to stretch and challenge, and provide intervention for ‘at risk’ students'
Scott Swain - Closing the Gender Gap
Sian Richards - Do seminars encourage independent learning?
Simon Reigh - Using e-portfolios to demonstrate learner progress
Lauren Geary and Nicola Franklin - Independent Learning
General Educational Research Resources
The National Foundation for Educational Research - Practical Research for Education (published by NFER) – No longer publishes new research but has many accessible practitioner projects and summaries of views of leading researchers. The NFER now publishes Impact, which is a research news journal for schools at http://www.nfer.ac.uk/schools/impact/
The Education Evidence Portal – A one-stop shop - a portal which helps you find educational evidence from a range of reputable UK sources using a single search. You can search their database by educational phases Early Years, Primary, Secondary, LSC, Teacher Training or Higher Education – see the EEP’s map of research organisation by phase: http://www.eep.ac.uk/dnn2/Evidence/ResearchResourcePathfinder/tabid/350/Default.aspx
also by document type (policy, inspection report, research review etc.). See the 3min demonstration video.
The National Teacher Research Panel - http://www.ntrp.org.uk/
The Panel has 15 members who are all teachers and tutors from across educational phases. They support research-informed practice in education and advise on policy, practice and research in education. They are supported by a group of Specialist Advisers who provide additional research and subject expertise. Their site also contains summaries of practitioner research http://www.ntrp.org.uk/node/3
The National College for School Leadership – Supports and publishes research into school leadership and professional development and teacher training. Has a new role in supporting the National Teaching Schools network – these schools have a role in promoting practitioner research (100 created in 2011). http://www.nationalcollege.org.uk/index
The CfBT (Centre for British Teachers) Education Trust – A charitable educational trust, which among other activities, commissions and publishes educational research in the UK and abroad. http://www.cfbt.com/research.aspx
Databases for background research:
Other useful websites:
- What types of data can you use? (http://www.nfer.ac.uk/schools/research-in-schools/choosing-your-method.cfm)
- What research has been done? (www.tlrp.org/pub/research.html)
- Using technology in education (http://www.nfer.ac.uk/schools/research-in-schools/technology-and-innovation.cfm#3)
- General research websites (http://www.nfer.ac.uk/schools/research-in-schools/top-research-websites-for-teachers.cfm)
- Examples of action research projects (http://www.curee-paccts.com/learning-and-skills/evidence-quality-improvement)
- Ethical guidelines (http://www.bera.ac.uk/publications/Ethical%20Guidelines)
- And, less formally (http://www.nfer.ac.uk/schools/research-in-schools/ethics-and-data-security.cfm)