BPS DARTP London 2015

1. Researching Teaching
Teaching Research.
Jamie Davies

2. Head of Quality and Teacher of A Level Psychology,
Wyke Sixth Form College (10 years).
Senior Lecturer MSc in the Teaching of Psychology,
Glyndwr University (2 years).

4. How much pedagogical research
actually makes its way to
frontline teachers and what
impact is it actually having?

6. Total hours worked by type of school and role. (N=1,004)
DFE: Teachers’ workload diary survey 2013 (February 2014), Pg. 14

7. What would improve the quality of teaching and pupil learning? (N=1,004)
DFE: Teachers’ workload diary survey 2013 (February 2014), Pg. 21

8. “education
is not a
science it is
a moral
project”
Evidence-based education is no panacea, and could undermine the
moral authority of teachers. TES. Kevin Rooney, 18/10/15.

9. “… scientific research has
little if any thing to tell us
about how we educate
our young. In a context
where many educators are
filled with uncertainty and
anxiety about the purpose
of education EBE has filled
a vacuum at a time when
many within education are
looking for a sense of
certainty, authority and
moral purpose”
Evidence-based education is no panacea, and could undermine the
moral authority of teachers. TES. Kevin Rooney, 18/10/15.

11. http://staffrm.io

12. evidenceforthefrontline.com @evidenceftf

13. http://www.metproject.org/reports.php

15. Access to research
Time to reflect and experiment in class
Financial constraints
Fear
Opportunities!

18. learning is invisible

19. Students are busy: lots of work is done
Students are engaged, interested and motivated
Students are getting attention: feedback,
explanations
Classroom is ordered, calm and under control
Curriculum has been ‘covered’ (ie presented to
students in some form)
Students have supplied correct answers (whether or
not they really understood them, could reproduce
them independently or knew them already).
Improving Education: A triumph of hope over experience
Professor Robert Coe (2013)

20. How to make it look as if your intervention has worked
1. Wait for a bad year or choose underperforming schools to start with.
Most things self-correct or revert to expectations (you can claim the
credit for this).
2. Take on any initiative, and ask everyone who put effort into it
whether they feel it worked. No-one wants to feel their effort was
wasted.
3. Define ‘improvement’ in terms of perceptions and ratings of
teachers. DO NOT conduct any proper assessments – they may
disappoint.
4. Conduct some kind of evaluation, but don’t let the design be too
good – poor quality evaluations are much more likely to show
positive results.
5. If any improvement occurs in any aspect of performance, focus
attention on that rather than on any areas or schools that have not
improved or got worse (don’t mention them!).

21. So … how do we measure
the impact of our
interventions?

23. Value Added?
Observed Student Engagement?
Headline Outcomes?
Observations?
Progression?
Self-reports?

25. What impact does the research
have on the student?

26. Show us your personality (but not too much)
Remember that we do appreciate you
Tell us when we’ve done well
Show us that you care
Don’t shout at us
'Show us that you care': a student's view on what makes a perfect teacher.

27. Meaningful
Research
Matters

31. 337 meta-analyses,
200,000 effect-sizes,
180,000 studies,
~50 million students
Hattie: Influences On Student Learning (1999)

32. Influences On Student Learning. Hattie (1999)
https://cdn.auckland.ac.nz/assets/education/hattie/docs/influences-on-
student-learning.pdf
 An effect size of 0.5 is equivalent to a one
grade leap at GCSE
 An effect size of 1.0 is equivalent to a two
grade leap at GCSE
 ‘Number of effects’ is the number effect sizes
from well designed studies that have been
averaged to produce the average effect size.
 An effect size above 0.4 is above average for
educational research

34. http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2015/11/19/standing-on-the-shoulders-of-the-google-giant/

35. Class Research (time now linear?)
HE support to Engage Teachers - EBE?
Extended Project Qualification
Access to research (CPD)

36. 0
5000
10000
15000
20000
25000
30000
35000
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
Extended Project Entries 2009 – 2015
Data from JCQ

37. [We need to] teach
psychology students to be
savvy consumers and
producers of research.
Sternberg, 2012

38. [We need to] teach
psychology students to be
savvy consumers and
producers of research.
Sternberg, 2012
Thank You
http://jamiedavies.co
@jamiedavies