Accounting for discrepancies in teachers’ attitudes towards evidence use and actual instances of evidence use in schools

While beneficial, the consistent and regular use of evidence to improve teaching and learning is proving difficult to achieve in practice. This paper attempts to shed new light on this issue by examining the question: ‘If using evidence to inform teaching practice is rational behaviour, why aren’t all teachers engaged in it?’ It first explores whether the evidence-informed practice (EIP) beliefs and perspectives of teachers align with their evidence-use behaviours; second it assesses what factors prevent teachers/schools that wish to engage in EIP from doing so. Using a Gradient Boosted Tree predictive model to analyse data from a survey of 696 practitioners in 79 schools, the findings suggest that, to increase EIP, school leaders need to: (1) promote the vision for evidence use; (2) illustrate how research enhances aspects of teaching and learning; and (3) establish effective learning environments. School leaders’ broader commitment to EIP, and the interplay between EIP and accountability are also explored.     

Combining the best of two worlds: a conceptual proposal for evidence-informed school improvement

Abstract

Background: Data-based decision-making (DBDM) and research-informed teaching practice (RITP) are key to teacher and school improvement. Currently, however, DBDM and RITP represent two distinct approaches to developing evidence-informed practice (EIP) and do not correspond to the all-encompassing notion of EIP envisaged by many academics and commentators.

Purpose: DBDM and RITP are usually employed independently of each other. Each is associated with its own theoretical perspectives and research base, and each has its own pitfalls and strengths. Yet the approaches employed appear to be complementary, suggesting that there might be value in combining DBDM and RITP into one overarching process for achieving EIP. This paper presents the conceptual analysis and arguments for this proposal.

Sources of evidence: Drawing from literature and previous research in the fields of DBDM, RITP and EIP, we describe both DBDM and RITP, before comparing and contrasting the integral aspects of each.

Main argument: Our analysis leads us to suggest that not only is there overlap between these two approaches, but the strengths of each appear to mirror and compensate for the weaknesses of the other. As such, we argue that it is important that decisions in education are based on a combination of personal judgement, research evidence and local school data. This is because such a combination is likely to lead to equitable, effective and efficient decisions that are informed by values and preferences, grounded in context and steeped in practices that have been shown to be effective elsewhere.

Conclusions: We suggest that an effective strategy for EIP might be to achieve ‘the best of two worlds’ by integrating DBDM and RITP. In line with evidence-informed practices in medicine and management, this means EIP in education can finally be engaged in as a holistic approach to educational decision-making that critically appraises different forms of evidence before key improvement decisions are made. Our proposed approach, Evidence informed School and Teacher Improvement, is thus designed with the aim of enhancing the quality of educational provision by employing these evidence types as part of a systematic cycle of inquiry, focused on continuously improving the quality of learning in schools.     

Multi‐sensory storytelling: a tool for teaching or an intervention technique?

This article reports on research undertaken to investigate how multi‐sensory storytelling (MSST) was being used within schools for students with profound and multiple learning difficulties and other special educational needs. Semi‐structured interviews (n = 27) and observations (n = 18) were undertaken in five schools in the East Midlands and south‐east of England. The study identified that MSST was considered to contribute to the curriculum access, assessment, learning and socialisation of students across a wide range of special educational needs. Key opportunities, applications and barriers to use were identified. Findings from this study indicated that the way these teachers used MSST differed from extant research in this area with regard to both design and delivery. It is suggested that the desire to develop a quantitative evidence base may present unnecessary restrictions which inhibit the recognition of pedagogic issues; and that a more fluid conceptualisation of MSST would be reflective of real‐world practice.     

Making sense of the development of inclusive practices

Schools in England are currently being asked to pay greater attention to the issue of educational inclusion. This paper reports some of the findings of a collaborative action research Network that was set up to address the implications of this trend. The Network involves teams of university researchers in working with practitioners in order to encourage the development of inclusive practices. As a result of this work, it is argued that the development of such practices is not about adopting ‘recipes’ of the sort described in much of the existing literature. Rather, it involves social learning processes that occur within a given workplace. The paper attempts to provide deeper understandings of what these processes involve. To assist in this analysis use is made of the idea of ‘communities of practice’, as developed by Etienne Wenger, focusing specifically on the way he sees learning as a characteristic of practice. It is argued that the development of inclusive practices involves collaborative working arrangements; that they can be encouraged by engagement with various forms of evidence that interrupt ways of thinking; and that the space that is created through such interruptions can enable those involved to recognize overlooked or, indeed, new possibilities for moving practice forward.     

Making a difference: using action research to explore our educational practice

This paper describes and discusses an action research collaboration between a multi-disciplinary team of practice educators, a practice development nurse and a university lecturer in order to explore, evaluate and improve a dementia care training package developed for a range of staff providing care for people with dementia. Whilst it is recognised that the findings of this small evaluation study are only of local interest, we believe the approach we took to be of general use for other teams of practice educators as a way of exploring and evaluating their own practice. This paper will therefore focus mostly on the philosophy, methodology and conduct of the study, including our own reflections and learning as novice action researchers.     

Rethinking e-learning support strategies

This paper discusses an e-learning support team model developed as part of a new e-learning strategy within a tertiary education polytechnic. Based upon a community of practice model, the e-Team supports the establishment of e-learning and m-learning (mobile learning) throughout the institution as a catalyst for the adoption of social constructivist pedagogy. The paper reviews and reflects upon the impact of strategies for creating and supporting communities of practice across the institution along with the ways this model is achieving the breaking down of the barriers to ‘e’ and ‘m’ learning adoption among lecturers. This model helped to move lecturers from non-engagement to legitimate peripheral participation and onto full participation within the institution’s e-learning community, and ultimately enabling social constructivist learning environments for students. This model based on a community of practice framework for e-learning support is potentially transferable to other educational contexts.     

Experiences from employees with team learning in a vocational learning or work setting: A systematic review of qualitative evidence

This qualitative evidence synthesis aimed to integrate findings on the experiences of employees with team learning in the context of their work or vocational learning setting. The meta-aggregative approach to qualitative evidence synthesis was used to summarize the findings from original research papers in which the experiential level of employees was investigated. The findings suggest that employees learn for different reasons and in different ways. Three major lines of actions for practice and policy were developed from the synthesis. A first advice is to stimulate communication, boundary crossing and knowledge sharing and establish an enabling learning environment that triggers positive factors for team learning. Secondly, it is important to analyse the authority structures that influence the relationships within a team, minimise the power inequalities that flow from hierarchical differences, and support and enable team leaders to influence the power differences inside their team. Finally, it is recommended to try to recognise the authenticity, the commitment and devotion of employees toward team learning, to stimulate but not to intervene in the natural process of team learning, and to consider the place of reflection and action in this process.     

Teacher researchers creating communities of research practice by the use of a professional development approach

The aim of this article is to elucidate how teacher researchers use a theoretical framework as mediated tool to create boundaries in communities of research practices (CoRPs) and how this effects student learning. If, and in what way, knowledge developed in one practice can be used to inform the next is also examined. Two teacher researchers implemented two CoRPs each, one as internal participant and one as external participant. In total, 202 students, 22 teachers, 2 teacher researchers, and 1 researcher participated. The qualitative analysis is framed by Wenger’s three boundary dimensions: engagement, imagination, and alignment. The results show that teachers’ actions in the second practice, no matter if they were internal or external participants, are characterized by a higher degree of security and knowledge and the lessons implemented are more effective regarding the students’ learning outcomes than in the first. The results show that knowledge develops in an interaction order regardless of the internal or external community order. The result from the first team informs the starting point for the second team, and knowledge boundaries are transferred by the teacher researcher from one CoRP to the other.     

Deriving an affinity for collective leadership: below the surface of action learning

Is there a viable pedagogical method to prepare people, as they engage together in their practice, for the assumption of collective leadership? In this article the author makes the case that such a method is already available via action learning but for its adoption as a collective leadership development approach. The author’s agenda is twofold: he initially seeks to explain how action learning transforms participants towards an affinity for collective leadership, and not only at the individual level of experience, but at the team and organizational levels as well. Secondly, to understand the reasoning behind the properties of action learning, he interrogates why action learning can be a propitious method to acclimate to the world of collective leadership, especially due to its practice orientation. The article closes with some applications to collective leadership along with some final cautionary remarks.     

Innovation in postgraduate teaching: mixed methods to enhance learning and learning about learning

Growing pressure to restructure and reform tertiary education is encouraging university academics to use innovative practices that assist students to develop ‘employable’ skills. The hybrid approach described in this paper stimulated students to be self‐directed adult learners who maximized their learning of content and skills by means of problem‐based learning and action research strategies. The lecturer also operated as a reflective practitioner and role model by using an action research approach. This paper demonstrates the value of student empowerment, communication and leadership in autonomous learning groups. It outlines methods by which academic teaching staff can build continuous improvement into a university unit’s curriculum design and processes. These can be powerful additions to lecturers’ teaching strategies and to students’ learning experiences.     

Practice architectures and sustainable curriculum renewal

While there are numerous pedagogical innovations and varying forms of professional learning to support change, teachers rarely move beyond the initial implementation of new ideas and policies and few innovations reach the institutionalized stage. Building on both site ontologies and situated learning in communities of practice perspectives, this paper explores the theory of practice architectures to offer a different and legitimate perspective on sustainable curriculum renewal. Specifically, a practice architecture either enables or constrains particular practice and constitutes the construction of practice from semantic (e.g. language), social (e.g. power relations) and physical (e.g. materials) spaces. Through the juxtaposition of practice architectures with an empirical illustration of longer term pedagogical change, the paper argues that for pedagogical change to be sustained a practice architecture that relates to an innovation’s intended learning outcomes and the contexts in which an innovation can be used needs to be created. Consequently, the theory of practice architectures can guide reform programmes. Curricularists can begin programmes with a pre-planned approach to assist, (a) teachers’ understanding of how to use an innovation, and (b) the deconstruction and reconstruction of practice architectures to support an innovation’s survival.     

Becoming a tertiary teacher: learning in communities of practice

This paper discusses issues arising from three case studies of the ways people have become tertiary teachers in a polytechnic, a wananga (Maori tertiary institution) and a university in New Zealand. Despite institutional differences, the teachers gained most of their teaching knowledge and skills on the job, learning informally and experientially, and much less through engaging with formal courses or centrally organized educational development activities. Tertiary teachers belong to groupings such as their institution, discipline, department or teaching team that can be seen as communities of practice, and it is in those contexts that their working knowledge and identities as teachers develop. A communities of practice framework in three parts is proposed for supporting and strengthening tertiary teachers’ workplace learning and educational development.     

加强实践教育培养学生的综合创新设计能力

根据新世纪人才培养的目标,加强实践教育,以培养学生的综合创新设计能力。转变教育理念,课程设计与创新设计相结合,实现课内外结合、基础理论与动手制作结合、相关课程结合;实验教育与工程实际相结合,提高综合运用知识的能力;师生互动和团队学习相结合,体现以学生为主体,以教师为主导的教育思想;知识教育和素质教育相结合,培养开放性人才、复合型人才、创新型人才。     

专业实践教学与指导大学生创新课题结合的探索

大学生创新实验项目是国家对在校生开展研究性学习和创新性实验的一项有力措施。教学团队在实施过程中将专业实践教学与指导大创课题结合起来,为学生的科研训练搭建和铺垫一个适合的平台,把大创项目内容落到实处。这不但丰富了专业实践教学内容,提升了大创课题完成质量,而且,全面激发和提高了学生的创新能力与综合能力,同时对专业实验平台建设做出较大的贡献。     

Using an Evidence‐Based Program Planning Model In a Macro Practice Course

A graduate macro practice foundation course was modified to incorporate curriculum content on the paradigm of evidence‐based (informed) practice. The author developed an Evidence‐Based Program Planning Model that was used as the framework for teaching this paradigm. Students learned to search and appraise the evidence to answer a practice question, use evidence to select a “best” practice, assess the transportability and fidelity issues in implementing the practice in a community or organizational setting, and design a program based on the best practice. Desired outcome from this course is that students will be motivated to engage in a lifetime of learning‐by‐inquiry.     

UK parents’ beliefs about applied behaviour analysis as an approach to autism education

Research into factors underlying the dissemination of evidence-based practice is limited within the field of Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA). This is pertinent, particularly in the UK where national policies and guidelines do not reflect the emerging ABA evidence base, or policies and practices elsewhere. Theories of evidence-based practice in education and policy suggest that decision makers’ ‘perceptions’ of evidence are significant factors in dissemination. For professionals, scientific evidence is often critical. For others, including parents, experiential and anecdotal evidence can be as important. Within autism education, parents are often, and not necessarily by choice, key decision makers. This study is the first to try to identify and quantify UK parents’ beliefs about ABA in the education and support of children with autism. We developed and tested, using an internet survey method, the Parental Beliefs about ABA and Autism scale (P-BAA). Current and/or past use by parents of any behaviorally based approach including ABA was a significant predictor of P-BAA scores as were parent education, household income and child diagnosis: experience of a behaviorally based approach, higher levels of education and income and children at the more ‘severe’ end of the autism spectrum were associated with more positive beliefs about ABA.     

基于实践应用能力培养的数字电子技术课程创新教学模式研究与实践

以学生实践应用能力培养为核心,对数字电子技术课程教学内容进行整体优化,精炼理论教学内容,突出实践应用性特色,多方位提高学生兴趣,改进教学方法,创新实验实践教学,突出实践应用,结合虚拟仿真软件,设立创新实验室,力争做到软硬结合、传统与现代结合、基础与前沿结合,通过实践激发了学生的学习兴趣,增强了学生的实践能力、应用能力和创新能力,取得了良好的教学效果。     

Using the communities of practice framework to examine an after‐school environmental education program for Hispanic youth

Environmental education researchers have called for a greater analysis of ‘learning’ in environmental education in relation to contemporary theories and explanatory frameworks of learning. Situated learning, as a prominent example, is a sociocultural theory that contends that learning is a social process that occurs as individuals participate in ‘communities of practice’. This study aims to enhance our understanding of the usefulness and applicability of the communities of practice framework to the analysis of learning in environmental education, focusing on the learning in after‐school environmental education programs for Hispanic youth. Results suggest that the framework can be applied to identify some environmental education programs as communities of practice, characterized by the development of joint enterprise, mutual engagement, and shared repertoire. The framework was also found to be useful in identifying and describing learning as bringing about changes in identity formation as a result of participation in the programs. Finally, we suggest that such programs, due to their free‐choice nature and multiple opportunities for participation, also offer suitable contexts for further research regarding the relevance of sociocultural theories of learning to environmental education practice.     

But does it work? Reflective activities,learning outcomes and instrumental learning in continuing professional development

This paper examines the relationship between reflective practice and instrumental learning within the context of continuing professional development (CPD). It is argued that instrumental learning is a unique process of adult learning, and reflective practice’s impact on learning outcomes in instrumental learning contexts remains unclear. A new conceptualisation of instrumental learning in CPD is provided to illustrate the issue’s relevance and potential implications. Three justifications for further investigation are suggested: (a) to clarify the function of reflective practice activities in the immediate context of instrumental learning; (b) to protect the welfare of clients and professionals; and (c) to sustain the continuing success of the field of CPD. It is argued that an empirical investigation using scientific methodology is the most effective approach to address this issue.