“Every teacher needs to improve, not because they are not good enough, but because they can be even better.” Dylan Wiliam
ResearchED is a growing movement in education with its roots within the UK education Twitter community. It was established last year by Ben Goldacre (Author of Bad Science @bengoldacre) and Tom Bennett (Teacher/TES @tombennett71) and is for educators, researchers and anyone interested in evidence-based education. From this, groups such as Teacher Development Trust, NTEN and the Headteachers Roundtable have established themselves.
On Saturday, 3rd May I made the trip to Huntington School, York for my first ResearchED conference (cost of ticket £13), joining nearly 300 eager people. The biggest decision which needs to be made when attending a ResearchED conference is who to see. Yes, you get a choice! All speakers had given up their time for free and are regular bloggers so you have an understanding of them and their views before the event.
The keynote speaker was John Tomsett (@johntomsett). John is Headteacher of Huntington School and a member of the Headteacher’s Roundtable. John talked about removing the culture of fear (observations and judgements) and moving towards a model of coaching and using questions such as ‘How best can I observe you to improve your practice?’. He discussed using HQ video and sound to observe yourself. Underpinning everything is creating a learning community throughout the whole school and the pursuit of excellence.
If you haven’t read it, you should:
Mary Myatt (an OFSTED inspector to admire @marymyatt) and David Weston (Chief Exec, NTEN & Teacher Development Trust @informed_edu) spoke about introducing research into schools at a micro level. Mary divulged the characteristics of research schools: energy, openness, enthusiasm, enjoyment and collaboration (more in her blog). David introduced the idea of 'Lesson Study' as a model for research in schools (see more on NTEN website)
‘Too many teachers waste time looking for the magic bullet’, John Hattie
ResearchED doesn’t believe it is the magic bullet but believes through research, study, collaboration and a bit of hard work we can create a superb educational structure within the UK.
Mark McCourt (Chairman, Teacher Development Trust @EmathsUK) discussed building education from the ground up and asked us to consider ‘What is knowledge?’, ‘What is the purpose of education?’ and ‘What is the best model for education?’.
Martin Robinson (author of Trivium 21C @surrealanarchy) smoothly lectured on achieving balance in the curriculum between grammar, dialectic and rhetoric. If you haven’t read his book, it is fantastic - explaining the history of education and what he believes to be its ideal structure. (Recent article by Martin in the TES and blog "Engaging with a Humane Education")
Tom Bennett ranted entertainingly about psuedo-science in education and his particular bug-bears of Braingym, NLP (which I hadn’t heard of) and VAK. Have you rubbed your brain buttons recently? There is an obvious need for schools to work closely with researchers to find the best and most reliable evidence out there. (Read his article in the TES here)
Finally, Alex Quigley (Deputy Head at Huntington School @huntingenglish) spoke eloquently about his own research and his seven steps for a great explanation - gesture, connecting prior knowledge, visual cues, metaphor, making it concrete, storytelling and repetition. (Alex's blog on #NTENRED)
ResearchED was truly inspirational. I left with the feeling I needed to read more but with the satisfaction I was on a learning journey with everyone else. No one at the conference believed they knew everything (which is different from the usual imported ‘experts’ that spout their opinions at school CPD and cost a fortune to do so).
My personal reading list includes, Graham Nuthall’s ‘The Hidden Lives of Learners’, Tim Harford’s ‘Adapt’ and Ben Golacre’s “Bad Science’.
If you missed it, here are some videos
If you missed it, here are some videos
Dafydd Collins (@mrdgcollins)
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