Cheap box-ticking or effective CPD? An assessment of in-school teacher-led research as a school-wide professional development plan.
<p>There is a current rise of in-school teacher-led research taking place in English Secondary Schools. This is driven by a need to engage teachers in compelling and relevant continuing professional development at low expense; and it is under-pinned by academic literature identifying research...
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2018
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| Summary: | <p>There is a current rise of in-school teacher-led research taking place in English Secondary Schools. This is driven by a need to engage teachers in compelling and relevant continuing professional development at low expense; and it is under-pinned by academic literature identifying research engagement as a significant influencing factor in school improvement.</p> <p>This paper sets out to assess teachers’ perceptions of in-school teacher-led research as part of the continuing professional development offering at a comprehensive school. The research evaluated the delivery of continuing professional development sessions designed to engage teachers with academic literature and partake in evidence-based practice through the implementation of action research cycles. This research utilises a mixed-methods approach within a small-scale evaluative framework.</p> <p>This paper finds that although teachers have a desire the be engaged with academic literature a key barrier to this was time and space to do so. The continuing professional development innovation was effective in that it facilitated teachers’ exposure to small digestible chunks of academic literature delivered through the INSET sessions. As a consequence of these sessions, teachers were keen to implement evidence-based practice within their classrooms, and effectively reflected on these actions. This engendered a culture of collaboration and reflection within the school. However, teachers failed to effectively implement fully circular action-research cycles with time and other teaching priorities identified as barriers to engagement.</p> |
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