Education professionals are acutely aware that every child is unique. Continuing reflection on our teaching practice, engaging in pedagogical inquiry into the efficacy of teaching and learning strategies, interventions and differentiation will improve the educational experiences and outcomes for all of the children and young people who we teach.
Research provides an opportunity for teachers to investigate an educational situation, context or challenge and use their findings to improve classroom practice. Action research embeds reflection into teaching practice and provides a framework for professional discussion about development of teaching, learning and broader school issues, and through these processes provides excellent Continuing Professional and Leadership Development.
Evidence-based practice is the mantra within education, but identifying suitable strategies and analyzing which approaches are most suited to your school and likely to be the most effective for your learners is time consuming. To support senior leaders in thinking through how best to apply evidence in practice, the Education Endowment Fund 5 Step School Improvement Cycle can help to ensure that effective programmes and approaches are successfully integrated into day-to-day work in schools. Click here to find out more.
The broader concept of schools as environments for learning promotes the idea that teachers can contribute to the creation of new knowledge through school-based practitioner research. The SSAT focuses on the aspects of research that teachers can best use to improve learning and teaching in the classroom in the article How Action-led Research Improves Teacher Practice.
To see overviews of CTSA projects follow the links to the left.