Research Findings
The 2010 ULRI Research Findings Conference took place at Lambeth Academy on May 10th. The audience included classroom practitioners, principals, deputy heads and members of the central office team. The intention of the conference is to share best practice, thereby informing others from around the Group of what interventions are making a positive impact in our classrooms and institutions.
The day started with an interactive activity where delegates had to rank the interventions in schools that had most impact on students’ learning. The activity was based heavily on the work conducted by Professor John Hattie of Auckland University. Professor Hattie’s work took 15 years, involved 80 million students and comprised an analysis of over 50,000 separate learning-related studies. Most importantly, the studies showed that of the 138 factors investigated, the ones that had most impact on learning were those that involved teachers and students working in close proximity. In other words, teachers do not just make ‘a’ difference, they make ‘the’ difference.
Teachers from UCST Schools and ULT Academies then spoke about their research work and the impact it was having on learning. The titles included of the sessions included:
‘Student perceptions in interactive whiteboard uses and techniques – what they value, what works and why.’
‘Can an enquiry based literacy project better engage low-attaining boys in single sex English lessons?’
‘Using ActivExpression with Year 9 students when completing ISA investigations in Science.’
‘Researching outside of your own school.’
Many thanks to Tim Bayliss, Lorraine Brookbanks, John Velasco, James Garnett, Judith Haywood and Steve Bowyer for their presentations, which demonstrate the power of action research based on reflective practice in the classroom and beyond.
Delegates were then given an explanation of the ‘effect size’ and how it can be used, simply and effectively, to gauge the impact of a teaching and learning intervention in school. Such interventions could range from the use of a single activity in a lesson to a whole programme of interventions across several institutions.
Invitations for speakers and attendees for next year’s conference will be made in 2011.
