Becoming a Research-Informed School examines the reasons why teachers and leaders use research to improve their schools, and explores how teachers select, understand and use research to enhance learning experiences in fast-moving classroom environments. It analyses what teachers and school leaders actually do, to use research in their schools, and how they build a research-informed culture.
Based firmly in data from real schools and considering the experiences of over 150 education professionals, it shows how research and evidence can be used to:
- Improve decision-making processes
- Develop schools as intellectual communities
- Address priorities for improvement
- Implement research-informed teaching
- Respond to policy imperative for informed practice
- Guide future research
It considers key topics including Teacher Research, Lesson Study, the use of data to effect improvements, navigating social media and blogs, and how to overcome common obstacles to research use in schools.
Becoming a Research-Informed School is full of rich, detailed examples of research and research utilisation. It is an indispensable resource for teachers and leaders who wish to take an informed approach to creating a professional learning community.
Contents
PART ONE: WHY?
Chapter One: Can Research Improve Schools?
Chapter Two: Research Informs Decision-Making
Chapter Three: Research Extends ‘Teaching Mindsets’
Chapter Four: Research Develops Schools as Intelligent Communities
PART TWO: WHAT?
Chapter Five: The Many Forms of Research
Chapter Six: Obtaining Trustworthy Research
with Susan Graves
PART THREE: HOW?
Chapter Seven: Building a Research-Informed Culture
with Susan Graves
Chapter Eight: Teacher Research
Chapter Nine: Research Discussion Groups
Chapter Ten: Lesson Study
David Allan, David Boorman, Ella O’Doherty and Paul Smalley
Chapter Eleven: Using School-Generated Data
Elisha Omoso
Chapter Twelve: Working with Universities
Chapter Thirteen: Overcoming Obstacles to Research Utilisation
Appendix
Biography
Tim Cain is Professor of Education at Edge Hill University. Prior to this appointment he taught at the Chichester, Kingston, Bath Spa and Southampton universities, and was a secondary school classroom teacher for 19 years.
"This book will be extremely timely and relevant in terms of adding to current thinking and practices around schools’ engagement with research" Sue Sing, Researcher-in-Residence, Christ the King School, London
"The book meets a major need, linking research to real life examples of what schools are actually doing" Jamie Galpin, Developmental Psychologist, The Bridge School, London
"This book, drawing as it does on an extensive range of high quality research studies that explore evidence-use, provides a state of the art insight into how to achieve evidence-informed teaching practice in our schools." Chris Brown, Professor of Education, Portsmouth University
"This book is essential reading for school leaders. The Why, What and How of research engagement are covered with impressive detail, combining an academic examination of the issues with practical strategies and an excellent sense of the current political context we're operating in." Tom Sherrington, Education Consultant and Author of The Learning Rainforest
