We have all been in that meeting, it seems. The one where the same colleague constantly argues, “Actually the research says X, so we should Y,” or “There is no research evidence to back that up”.
But what if they haven’t read or understood the research and it jars? And what if, in an all-too-human fashion, they are cherry-picking from the evidence to suit their own agenda?
Being a research-informed institution means welcoming that challenge and having the tools and confidence to challenge it right back. It’s a net positive that so many colleagues want to be a part of discussions about the ‘latest research’. If they are not given a voice or if those discussions are only held by the privileged few in SLT, they will simply become resistant to the very idea of ‘research’.
So first and foremost, research-informed practice must be inclusive of everyone in the staffroom. But achieving that means rethinking other practices too.
Embrace small-scale and grassroots change
I first began to explore research in 2013 as part of an EEF trial to train school leaders to become ‘research leads’. The training sessions for this project led by Professor Rob Coe and colleagues focused on how to engage with research and put it into practice in your setting. I grappled with the tricky topic of feedback and managed to make some small positive changes in my department.
My next step was to use this experience in my new school a few years later to develop a research-based culture. As assistant headteacher with responsibility for the quality of teaching and learning across the school, I had an ideal platform to communicate and put into practice my belief in the positive value of evidence-informed decision-making. Remembering my own modest start, I focused on ensuring every teacher could feel part of the conversation and explore small steps that might positively affect their classrooms and departments.
Set realistic aims
Seeing the effect on practice and morale, my senior team colleagues grew more interested and supportive. So we began to look at EEF guidance reports that were relevant to our school improvement plan. We did so accepting that in the busy day-to-day running of a school, you can’t base everything on relevant research, but you can draw useful principles from broader research engagement.
Rome was not built in a day either. Creating a school-wide culture of research engagement only works if change is introduced in manageable chunks. You have to build familiarity gradually before it can become part of day-to-day practice.
So we chose initially to make metacognition and self-regulation as our whole-school CPD focus and gave ourselves three years to develop and embed best practice. Alongside, I ran a pilot to engage more staff with the process of making use of research in the classroom with a small group of mainly middle leaders and less-experienced staff looking to develop their careers. Crucially, this project replaced their performance management targets and became their CPD focus for the year, keeping their attention undivided and their workload manageable.
Think of it as a journey
Initially encouraging staff to engage with research of their choice to help them get them on board worked. But the whole-school focus on metacognition and self-regulation was only successful in pockets, particularly in our science department. So we’ve adapted the policy. We now expect each department to collaborate on one project linked to the school improvement plan.
Our evaluation has taught us that we could have achieved better outcomes across the whole school if we had been initially a little less ambitious. Giving departments more time to consider how they could make best use of the evidence base would have increased the chances of embedding our priorities as part of their teaching and learning strategies.
In the end, it’s about creating a culture of research-informed practice. That starts with embracing and encouraging buy-in at all levels, and support and enthusiasm will do a lot of the hard work to ensure changes become routines. But not too much of it! Working with research evidence is more about carefully orchestrated marginal gains than an overnight fix.
Quality engagement with research provides teachers and leaders with thinking and tools that can make a huge difference for their pupils. But everyone needs to be included in the conversation for change to be sustained.
Even – especially – the really challenging colleague who’s holding up the meeting.
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