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Why do you think it’s important for schools to engage with research evidence?

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Why do you think it’s important for schools to engage with research evidence?

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As teachers and school leaders, it is our professional responsibility to strive to secure positive outcomes for our pupils and this means continuing to adapt and improve our practice. In my early career, I witnessed teachers spending (and being encouraged to spend) valuable time on the latest fads in education - many of which we now know to have been of little benefit for pupil outcomes. Engagement with research evidence at a whole school level means we can reflect on existing practices and direct our focus where it is most likely to have impact. It can provide opportunities for collaboration and give teachers an insight beyond their own setting as well as more confidence to implement new ideas in their classroom.

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Why it is essential for schools to become evidence informed

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Why it is essential for schools to become evidence informed

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I feel that over the course of my career I've seen many cyclical returns of 'old ideas' and seen 'new fads' appear and I think much of this is to do with the lack of evidence informed ideas in education. I don't feel that teachers are given many opportunities to engage in, and reflect on, research in education and as a result, we are a profession who are susceptible to 'fads'

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As we develop in our role as educators, we not only have aspirations but also questions. Sometimes they can be explored in our current roles and sometimes it is easier in a future role. I have found that creative freedom and trust are key enablers here. In some establishments it can be difficult due to the nature of the school and how it operates, is (or has been) ‘judged’ and how judgements are perceived and interpreted by the community. Many schools can almost feel chained into achieving a single end goal of results and this in turn creates a regimented approach on a daily basis. When working in a positive environment where you feel trusted to do what you were employed for, it can motivate the teacher to be more creative and to better the experiences for pupils and staff.

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Why do you think it’s important for schools to engage with research evidence?

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Why do you think it’s important for schools to engage with research evidence?

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Having taught for a number of years now, in a wide range of schools, it has become apparent that no two paths or roles will ever be the same. So many factors play a part in how every aspect or experience in a school plays out, whether from the point of view of a child, teacher or parent. It is essential to be best equipped with knowledge and skills to teach your subject but also in the larger role within the school community. Being ‘best equipped’ can often mean ‘accepting’ that we will all be ‘learning’ within our current environment until the day that we walk out of the doors for the last time. Situations will change due to the ever changing personalities and approaches by leadership, management and especially the pupils. We as educators need to immerse ourselves into our passion, whether it is education on the whole or subject specific in order to always give the best opportunities for each stakeholder. We often say that ‘we are preparing children for careers that don’t exist yet’, however, we need to respect and understand the fact that education will continue to evolve during our careers too. Drawing upon research and evidence will help to keep us informed but will also enable us to question.

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The importance of evidence informed practice

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Why do you think it's important for schools to engage with research evidence? What are the barriers to engagement in your context and how might they be overcome?

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Why do you think it's important for schools to engage with research evidence? What are the barriers to engagement in your context and how might they be overcome?

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It is important for schools to engage with research evidence as it enriches our skillset, knowledge and understanding of teaching and learning, teachers can 'experiment' and grow in confidence when doing so to find new or deepen their existing practices, teachers can find answers to questions if they are 'stuck' (theoretically or practically), however if we don't have a school approach then when do we find time to do this? How is one teachers engagement in research evidence enough (in one school for example)? I think schools engagement in research evidence needs to drive education today if we want it to be successful and have a meaningful purpose. Schools (as as community) not just teachers need to be evidence-informed, there needs to be frequent time (CPD) given to staff for reading, discussions, reflections for this to have a high impact on the teaching and learning of our pupils.

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Why do you think it's important for schools to engage with research evidence?

Engaging with research evidence can support teachers and leaders to do the very best job for our pupils. It is important because it enables schools and the staff within it to challenge their existing beliefs as practitioners in the everchanging context of our young people. Education needs to be ever-adapting to accommodate this and being aware of current research can support teachers with changes that occur. By engaging with research schools can offer different perspectives on educational approaches that have had widespread impact as well as challenge current institutional thinking.

What are the barriers to engagement in your context and how might they be overcome?

Perceived time restraints is a barrier to engagement within my context, however this is also impacted by a lack of modelling and support from senior leaders. A fundamental barrier that our senior leaders face is their own perception of our staff body's willingness and eagerness to engage in research informed practice (led by their own reluctance to impinge on teacher workload). They therefore do not create a systemic culture that supports and encourages teachers to take risks in their own practice as a result. This is a barrier in itself in that the majority of teachers lack the confidence to openly have their own practice and the school ethos does not effectively challenge and support this. Interest in and commitment to evidence-informed practice by senior leaders is critical in overcoming this barrier. As a school we have indicated that research must contribute to a teacher's professional learning profile linked to appraisal but this is somewhat superficial and left down to the individual. To move beyond this we need to have clearly defined research questions linked to our school development priorities and should perhaps move to a model where a dedicated team of research advocates is established.

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Research-enriched teaching and leadership 

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Research-enriched teaching and leadership 

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As classroom practitioners and school leaders, we are in large part driven by a desire to secure strong outcomes for students and, in an ideal world, to foster genuine engagement with and a love of learning. Engaging with research allows schools to reflect on existing initiatives that work well in the delivery of quality-first teaching and supporting our students, whilst also prompting us to consider ways in which we can further enrich our teaching and learning provision. As teachers, we should all be motivated by the belief that - as with our students - we can all be better, and thus should continue to engage with research evidence with this in mind.

There are, however, challenges to engaging with research evidence. In my school, the greatest barrier is a lack of engagement and buy-in from staff, in particular those who are either stretched for time or have reached a stage in their careers where they are 'coasting'. Of course, teachers are time poor and thus many can be reluctant to engage with research, should this in turn create more work.

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Why do you think it's important for schools to engage with research evidence?

I think it is important for schools to engage in research evidence as teaching and learning is constantly changing. Being aware of the research out there can really enrich learning, whether that be through motivating pupils or aiding them in their revision of topics. It also gives teachers so structure to their teaching and can help them overcome barriers or difficulties they may have in their classroom or with a particular class.

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Why do you think it's important for schools to engage with research evidence?

It is beneficial for schools to engage with research evidence as it helps to foster reflective practitioners, promotes collaboration not only within the schools but further afield. Ensure that the school is reflective on what they consider as 'best practice.'

What are the barriers to engagement in your context and how might they be overcome?

For us the largest barrier is time- using staff meetings to enage with reseach and team meetings to reflect rather than it being an extra add on.

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I truly believe that it is critical for schools to engage with research consistently and effectively on a regular basis. The face of education and the intricacies of the profession are truly ever changing, and it is important that schools and in particular their leadership team are in tune with the current pedagogy. Furthermore, as time has proven recently, various educational hallmarks that were previously considered as untouchable and true guiding lights have now been proven to be myths. Hence, for schools to truly ensure that they are doing the best by their students and teachers, it is vital that they are up to date with current educational research and ensure that their schools become research driven.

At the current moment, as expected, time is the one critical barrier to engagement withing most contexts. Whether it is due to lesson planning, marking or the numerous other day-to-day activities that ensure that time is consumed within the profession, it is very difficult to engage within CPD as a ‘lone-wolf practitioner’. Hence, I believe that one way to overcome this barrier, is to ensure that the school itself is steeped in and focusses on evidence informed practice as a hallmark of the school progression and ethos. Therefore, this will ensure that staff are engaging in valuable CPD, and any observations will be evidence driven.

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I think it is important because students' and teachers' time is precious and stretched; we simply don't have time to invest in things that aren't going to help our students to progress. The barriers to this are teachers feeling as though their teaching practice isn't 'good enough' and being resistant to change. I think there is also some perceived ideas that this is less engaging for students who enjoy activity driven tasks despite them being less useful in terms of progress. Ultimately students must be prepared for the challenges of the real world and we need that at the forefront of our minds when we approach the classroom.

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I think it is important because students' and teachers' time is precious and stretched; we simply don't have time to invest in things that aren't going to help our students to progress. The barriers to this are teachers feeling as though their teaching practice isn't 'good enough' and being resistant to change. I think there is also some perceived ideas that this is less engaging for students who enjoy activity driven tasks despite them being less useful in terms of progress. Ultimately students must be prepared for the challenges of the real world and we need that at the forefront of our minds when we approach the classroom.

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What are the barriers to engagement in your context and how might they be overcome?

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What are the barriers to engagement in your context and how might they be overcome?

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The key issues I believe in my context are;  lack of time (or perceived lack of time) to engage with a breadth of evidence and scepticism about being “told” what to do and preferring to stay aligned to what they “know” works because “it always has”.

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Why do you think it’s important for schools to engage with research evidence?

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Why do you think it’s important for schools to engage with research evidence?

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I believe schools should engage with research evidence because we don’t have time to mess with approaches which may or may not be successful - those where we stick a finger in the air and hope that the wind direction will carry us to success.  Whilst it may, there is a high chance it won’t.  Research evidence tells us what we should bother with and what we shouldn’t.

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The importance of research and potential barriers

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The importance of research and potential barriers

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It is of the utmost importance for schools to get engaged in research evidence. Research will demonstrate the pertinence of teaching methods, assessment tools and learning strategies for a specific subject, class and educational context. Research is also useful to stay in the loop regarding the latest trends in education and to evaluate whether they will be successful or effective for the group of students a practitioner is responsible for. In addition, research is necessary to discover which areas the school needs to improve on the most, both regarding a specific subject area (the teaching approach of a team or a single teacher) or a student-related aspect (achievement, engagement or behaviour, for example), and potentially, will show which are the best actions to be taken.

Research can be undertaken in many different ways: applying a new teaching methodology (e.g. a flipped classroom approach) and assessing its impact (through tracking of progress, results and overall student satisfaction), trialling new assessment methods (and observing their effectiveness in providing useful and meaningful information to both learners and teachers) and resorting to relevant literature to better understand how the learners’ cognitive processes function and how they can be supported more effectively.

As far as barriers are concerned, educators often complain about the lack of time to devote to reading materials or conducting studies when having to complete other CPD tasks and other school duties (such as the incredibly high amount of marking required of teachers, especially at higher levels). Furthermore, there is often little correspondence between the training received and the actions taken: it does take time for the new ideas and concepts to sink in and be put into practice, as becoming a mindful practitioner will not occur after attending a course or reading an article. It happens after a lot of reading, designing of activities and dynamics, and observing and evaluating their results and consequences. Finally, sometimes there is some reluctance coming from leadership teams to develop new initiatives that do not fall into what was “canonically established” by the system, which will result in some practices to remain ossified and a difficulty to find collaborators to engage in newer methods.

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It’s important for schools to engage with evidence-based research because, like any other ever-evolving, modern day industry, education is compelled to keep up with the times, stay relevant and maintain credibility. Whether it is to our clientele (parents and students who are beginning to not only question the what and how we teach but also the why) or a governing body, schools are required to not only generate results but we are now having to prove what makes us effective and how we achieve this. With a plethora of theories, methodologies and initiatives, both new and old, being research evidence-driven would allow better clarity on what is truly effective. If you think about it, educators have always been using data to inform our practice; the only difference was this: it was often qualitative, small-scale and not recorded. The reason why we have been preserving our age-old practice of self reflection and lesson evaluations (i.e. to improve our teaching methods) is fundamentally why we must engage in research evidence.

Hence, it is inevitable for us to engage with research evidence - we might as well get a running start.

So, to get everyone involved, this can be built into the performance management cycle because when the push comes to a shove, we will get on board at the end of the day. To overcome barriers like funding, resources, support and consent for research to happen, this would essentially need to be a whole school initiative. However, we must also take continuity and turnover of staff into consideration. A full scale change would require 1-2 years to fully plan, implement and evaluate, by which some of the staff, including the SLT themselves, may have moved on, given the current circumstances, whether due to the covid situation, burnout or simply greener pastures. Perhaps to mitigate this, we can consider engaging in shorter, qualitative-driven projects.

But herein lies the ultimate dichotomy; challenging highly experienced teachers with years of ‘tried and tested’ methods to be intrinsically motivated to invest their time (the most valuable commodity in their 10-hour-a-day profession) into a research project that may or may not resonate with their beliefs. As mentioned by many individuals here, this is indeed a tough one. I think a possible way forward, is for us dig deep and ask ourselves - what is it that drives you as a teacher? If there is a chance that we could make a greater impact for our students, would you not seize it? Change is never convenient. It wasn’t too long ago that we would have never imagined being able to do everything we do in a school day through a screen - look where we are now.

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Why do you think it important for schools to engage with research evidence?

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Why do you think it important for schools to engage with research evidence?

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Research evidence for me is the foundation of improving teaching and learning practice and the development of our students' character.  To keep an open mind and to explore these facets is extremely important - if we do not, then we risk being left behind.  I am reminded of the lessons learnt in business - BlackBerry for example - where not being willing to change, not keeping up with the latest developments and not encouraging everyone to stay attuned to issues, debates and innovations in the field led to the decline of a very successful company.  We may be in education, but there is no excuse for not engaging.  However, I appreciate there are significant barriers - and my research has suggested that these barriers are overcome primarily by identifying the gap for individual teachers and then having dedicated time to address these gaps between cause and effect with research.  The culture of the school is absolutely paramount in assuring this.

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Importance of engaging with research, and barriers to engagement

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Importance of engaging with research, and barriers to engagement

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It is important for schools to engage with research evidence to ensure that their pupils are being given the highest quality education possible. Schools are obligated to do their best for all of their pupils, and if research uncovers (potentially) more effective methods of learning and teaching then schools should be willing to apply this in their contexts to the potential benefit of their pupils. As teachers, we should all want to do the best for the pupils we teach, and should be willing to engage with research evidence to help achieve this.

The main barriers to engaging with research in secondary teaching are time constraints, exam/course pressures, and the general culture of/opinions towards research evidence within the staff. With a set course to work through within a set (and often too-short) space of time, we can be reluctant to devote the time to trailing new/alternative methods of learning and teaching suggested by research evidence in our classrooms where they may potentially prove ineffective. If there is a general distrust of research evidence within the staff group, (i.e. it’s not applicable in a ‘real’ school situation) or if a school has adopted a set way of doing things, it can be difficult to justify new strategies with research evidence alone. These barriers can be overcome by encouraging teachers to try new strategies suggested by research, giving them support and reassurance if they are unsuccessful. There has to be an acceptance amongst teachers that researchers often have the time and space to trial new learning/teaching strategies extensively, (where classroom teachers may not), and have to be trusted to provide robust evidence for their conclusions and resulting suggestions for learning/teachers.

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What are the barriers to engagement in your context and how might they be overcome?

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What are the barriers to engagement in your context and how might they be overcome?

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In my context, teachers valuing evidence-involved teaching and learning is a very much needed trope.  Whereas previously continuing professional development (CPD) had been down to individual teachers and the sporadic CPD (in the guise of re-reading policies verbatim during whole school INSET days) on offer, structural investment in CPD has only lately become the norm and this is now being embedded in the classroom.  Teachers are beginning to blossom confident in the knowledge that their practice is informed and supported.

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Why do you think it's important for schools to engage with research evidence?  

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Why do you think it's important for schools to engage with research evidence?  

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It’s not about ‘keeping up’ or even being – on the flip side – part of the vanguard.  It’s about being proactive on behalf of our students.  Responsible teaching and learning comes from knowing that a ubiquitous approach isn’t useful or necessary.  Being part of the conversation about what is happening is important.

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What are the barriers to engagement in your context and how might they be overcome?

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What are the barriers to engagement in your context and how might they be overcome?

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When we started out on our journey to become more 'research' focused, it became clear that some staff saw it as something that came with leadership and that it would filter down in a 'do this' way.
On reflection, I am not sure that staff blocked the research evidence , but instead they found it an uncomfortable experience when faced with some evidence that may have been at odd with their own practice. This lack of confidence came across as blocking. In fact, some saw the change as a criticism, instead of it being a chance to review, reflect and grow.
We decided to use Kotter's 8 step model, and implemented standalone pedagogy sessions that allowed for professional conversations about research. It took time, however I think we are in a stronger position now because of it.

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Why do you think it's important for schools to engage with research evidence?

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Why do you think it's important for schools to engage with research evidence?

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Research evidence can help mitigate against practice being hijacked by ideologies. Teachers understandably have very strong opinions about the purpose of education and I think that we can sometimes let the what dictate the how. For example, if we ultimately want students to be able to think critically within a subject this might first involve modeling, explaining and having students practise a range of fundamentals before letting them loose to think critically about unique problems.

Research provides us with 'good bets' in terms of strategies. We owe it to students to use these strategies to help them maximise their learning.

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What are the barriers to engagement in your context and how might they be overcome?

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What are the barriers to engagement in your context and how might they be overcome?

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As many have highlighted, time is a key limiting factor in terms of staff engagement. The job is full on and adding extra (as engaging with evidence enriched practice might be perceived) is unlikely to be viewed positively. Time limitations mean inevitable opportunity costs - if time is given over to research informed practice what gives - time for marking, planning, admin, pastoral care?

If time can be carved out for engagement then a further barrier might be the threat that evidence enriched practice can present to a teachers beliefs and ideology about what makes good teaching.

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Why do you think it's important for schools to engage with research evidence? What are the barriers to engagement in your context and how might they be overcome?

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Why do you think it's important for schools to engage with research evidence? What are the barriers to engagement in your context and how might they be overcome?

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For me it's about remaining relevant. Some schools need to ensure that they are providing the very best for their children and are able to adapt to meet the needs of ever changing demographics and wider world situations. By becoming informed, staff are able to make informed choices around their practice and to identify approaches suited to individual classes, cohorts and settings.

Barriers to engagement are similar to those shared by others. For me time is the largest factor in limiting engagement, especially in the context of the world we currently find oursleves. Whilst I have no doubt that all practioners and leaders want the best for the children in the settings, time for collaboration and development must be planned for to ensure it is meaningful and purposeful.

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What are the barriers to engagement in your context and how might they be overcome?

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What are the barriers to engagement in your context and how might they be overcome?

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There are a number barriers that can prevent engagement in our context.

As many other practitioners have indicated, time is a barrier. Our school offers extensive opportunities for our students, which can add to the workload of all our practitioners. Finding the time to even have professional dialogue with colleagues about current research can be a challenge. Further to this, conversations needs to be heard amongst a wider staff audience to gain a shared understanding and acceptance. Finding the time for this with the school year is difficult.

Further to this, gaining a shared 'buy in' to research can be a barrier. Historically change has been received with caution, and therefore gaining that shared understanding of what best practice may 'look like' can be harder. Without collaboration implementing new practice or pedagogy may not have the longevity or impact that is required.

I believe to overcome these barriers all practitioners need built in time to research, learn and reflect. Through this a shared understanding (and momentum) can be built. Professional dialogue about evidence-informed practice needs to be the norm.

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Why do you think it's important for schools to engage with research evidence?

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Why do you think it's important for schools to engage with research evidence?

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As a practitioner it is our responsibility to keep current and flexible with our teaching practice. In order to ensure student outcomes are optimised, this may require embedding new pedagogy to support learning. This needs to happen in cohesive and collective manner, otherwise the impact will not be as great.

With this is mind, there needs to be thorough and clear direction, which ensures longevity. Similarly, it is important to be constructively critical and thoughtful when considering the context and credibility of the research.

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As a school we are very ambitious in a highly competitive market. We have a clear commitment to our stakeholders and our aim is to become the best school in the region. In order to achieve that, we have to use the best and most effective methods. Becoming evidence based is clearly the way forward, because that gives us a tool to evaluate different approaches and methods and to basically see what works best and why. It makes us more aware of what we're doing and why we're doing it.

Our biggest challenges are that, we're really in the beginning with it. We are a new school and we don't have much experience with evidence so far. Consequently, it is now key for us to open up to using evidence as a tool for self-improvement.

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Barriers to Engagement; Overcoming Barriers to Engagement

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Barriers to Engagement; Overcoming Barriers to Engagement

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The biggest barriers to engagement in relation to evidence informed practice seem to be time, follow through teacher burn-out and the availability of limitless options.

Teachers have little time to actually engage the science of education. Most times, the entire lesson is spent managing behaviour. If a teacher were to dare implement some type of action research in her classroom to ascertain whether the data she found would work for her setting, it becomes nullified by the inability to carry out a full lesson because a student or students behave in a manner that inhibits meaningful teaching and learning. And here, I only speak for my context. It is difficult, if not impossible most days, to have a lesson that is not interrupted by untoward behaviour from students.
So the teacher runs out of time, and there end up being too many variables outside the parameters of the research to account for. So she feels as if her effort will be a waste of time, and endeavors not to try.

The other aspect of time being a barrier is time itself. Teachers have so much to do that there is little or no time to read and research what is curent and may be applicable in her environment. Time that can be used to read and research are spent attending many meetings or having to be at duty posts. Above that, there is always the many emails that need to be actioned and the many phone calls that have to be made to parents for misbehaving students, that many teachers are just happy to get a day when they can teach half a lesson without a student 'kicking off' for reasons you are unaware of.

Coupled with the time variable, teachers, for the above reasons become burnt out and, instead of staying the course at a given school for a few years, move on to another school that seems to hold the promise of a better behaved class and a more tolerable working environment.

Because of these, we find that there is no institutional memory in many schools that have now become academies. Most teachers never get to follow through with their action research based on the evidence they might have gathered from their reading or their own CPDs. In effect, schools are too volatile, and teachers have so many options (see CVibrary), they just opt to move on to 'greener pastures'.

Sometimes it seems as the system itself is its own greatest barrier to engaging a research evidence based approach to teaching and learning.

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Importance of Engaging with Research Evidence

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Importance of Engaging with Research Evidence

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Engaging with research evidence is important because it creates a theretical gauge for teachers and students regarding whether they are on the right path in the teaching and learning process.

The decision to look to evidence to inform what occurs and how it occurs in the classroom enables the teacher to assess what is working- or not working for that matter- in a scientific way. In this way, teachers can be viewed as true practitioners and professionals in the field of education.

Many times teachers practice the 'art' and the 'hard work' that is involved with teaching and learning, but there is no scientific or evidence-informed base for that practice. Therefore, a lot of what is done is done as 'trial'; and sometimes most of it becomes an 'error'. Albeit, that trial and error, if deliberately and carefully documented can become evidence-informed data if the teacher systematically engages action research methods.

Notwithstanding the above, it is important for teachers to respect the body of work that already exists in the profession and look to it for guidance on how to implement, develop and sustain rich and meaningful processes and procedures that drive teaching and learning- for themselves and the students they teach.

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Why do you think it's important for schools to engage with research evidence? What are the barriers to engagement in your context and how might they be overcome?

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Why do you think it's important for schools to engage with research evidence? What are the barriers to engagement in your context and how might they be overcome?

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Research allows us to understand contexts and solutions to problems we are yet to experience; thus further preparing us professionally and personally for educational developments and constraints. Research is valuable when used insightfully to respond to a 'need' and can improve our professional judgement.

There are various factors that prevent teaching. professionals from accessing research; time, faith, knowledge, understanding and arrogance in some cases. However I believe as education continues to advance, as will the need for evidence-based practice. It is apparent from holding conversations with fellow colleagues, that a common barrier is ease of access and knowing where to begin. There have been developments in ITT that are now requiring trainees to engage with current research. Whilst this is a positive step forward, perhaps more could be required of schools to engage deeper with current research.

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A barrier to engaging in research is time. Often, staff will engage in research in their own time, as staff meetings often focus on curriculum or other CPD. Personally, I feel engaging with research should be part of regular CPD for staff in schools. There should be time to try out new approaches and to reflect, together.

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Why do you think it's important for schools to engage with research evidence? What are the barriers to engagement in your context and how might they be overcome?

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Why do you think it's important for schools to engage with research evidence? What are the barriers to engagement in your context and how might they be overcome?

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I think the most important reason to engage with research is because we need to do what is most effective for the students. We are ultimately concerned with outcomes for our students. We have a limited amount of time with them. I want to use that time wisely so that it is not wasted. I would like to think that we have done everything we were able to for the students.

The barriers in my context are motivation, some teachers are overworked, some have had too much ‘imposed’ PD, which is often meaningless – teachers have not been convinced by it – they see it as a tick box exercise. I believe my context is quite unusual, but there are teachers who are very hopeful and dedicated to making a difference for the students and who believe that we can all do better.

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Education is an ever-changing platform responding to changes in our environment. Professional development is crucial to this adaptation process. Many of us will have read an article, attended training courses and have been filled with enthusiasm to implement changes as are numerous other colleagues. Whilst exposure to a range of ideas is important, the need to evaluate the evidence that we have to inform decisions that will have a big impact on a schools approach is important as this often leads to a situation where there are too many new initiatives being implemented and not necessarily embedded as well as staff being left feeling overwhelmed.

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Why do you think it's important for schools to engage with research evidence?                 What are the barriers to engagement in your context and how might they be overcome? 

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Why do you think it's important for schools to engage with research evidence?                 What are the barriers to engagement in your context and how might they be overcome? 

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Education is an ever changing platform, responding to the needs of society. Whilst it is important to be responsive to the need for change and continue to improve and develop it is essential that the changes made are based on evidence and research as well as any contextual data. By engaging in evidence based research school can have greater confidence in the changes made and how things are implemented. Decision are supported by examples of where and how policies and procedures have had the desired impact and equally importantly when and why they have not been successful. Engaging in evidence based research helps to remove 'knee jerk' reactions and the implementation of changes based on perceived success in 'the school own the road' approach. Barriers to engaging with research range from staff mindset to time restrictions and lack of buy in - however most barriers can be mitigated with the correct leadership.

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Engaging with research helps to keep us on our professional toes. The discussion (whether heated or otherwise!) can help us to see other viewpoints and consider our own pedagogy in a deeper perspective.

Barriers
The obvious one is time but engaging with research can actually save us time in the long run as it can provide us with solutions that could prevent current problems from continuing.
Another barrier can also be the way in which research is often written. The rise of teacher-written, classroom evidence makes research more engaging to read and therefore more accessible for those of us that find academia a little daunting

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Its good to continuously improve our own CPD and teaching practice, and evidence based research can act as a good springboard for this. Some barriers may include opposition of staff participation, and time, which is obviously one of the most precious things for staff. Ultimately, pupils outcomes is the most important thing and will/ should be at the forefront of everyone's minds. If the research can be proven and convinced to support this then it is a very worth while exercise to engage in.

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Though potentially counter-intuitive, having an evidence informed approach I think can reduce workload or duplication of work. It is surely more likely to provide permanence of a project or T and L decisions if the exploration and shared understanding is done and referred to/reviewed throughout.

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A barrier is time to carry out sustained research and CPD. There is so much other admin that needs to be completed.
There is an additional barrier that there is so much out there and so it is sometimes difficult to focus only on one thing at a particular time. It becomes overwhelming to try and focus only on one area.

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Engaging with research has huge benefits for staff and pupils alike. Teachers will develop their practice and become better practitioners, which will have a clear impact on the students they teach.

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Engaging with research has huge benefits for staff and pupils alike. Teachers will develop their practice and become better practitioners, which will have a clear impact on the students they teach.

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A barrier to engagement is time constraints. With the best will in the world teaching is a very time consuming profession, I feel that I am lucky enough to be at a school which devotes CPD time to allow teachers to engage with research. Another barrier may be lack of experience in terms of teachers knowing where to find quality research and how to effectively use it to inform their practice. I hope that by completing this programme I will be well equipped to support my colleagues with this.

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I believe that one of the main barriers a school can face is fostering a research-based culture in the school where time, research material and discussions are actively encouraged.

A further barrier would be what areas of research are to be explored. Commonly, this conversation would be taken with direct reference to the school development plan and moved into a whole school context, but it should be defined and implemented within the needs of the subject and cannot be looked upon as a blanket approach. This can often be overlooked. Fortunately, I currently work in a school where discussions regarding research are encouraged and this has resulted in confidence to dig deeper into the research as well as well as creating a culture of collaborative enquiry and delivery.

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Why do you think it's important for schools to engage with research evidence?What are the barriers to engagement in your context and how might they be overcome?

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Why do you think it's important for schools to engage with research evidence?What are the barriers to engagement in your context and how might they be overcome?

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I think that it's important for staff to continue to develop professionally at whatever stage of their teaching career. In my early career, I have spent significant time implementing policies that were not research informed, did little for the students and quikly fell by the wayside. I hope to work with my colleagues to engage in educational research and invest time wisely, using research to address classroom practice and ultimaltely, improve outcomes for students.

2) Barriers to achieving this may include common concerns such as time. I am fortunate to be in a school that values educational research and we have weekly scheduled time for subject specific development and also a team of research leads who are meeting with MLs regularly to discuss applying educational research to our lessons. I therefore hope with a supportive SLT that we can overcome this barrier. I think that some staff don't see the benefit of educational research and I need to make sure that I am making the research as accessible as possible, whilst also guiding staff on how to make it applicable to the classroom. I believe trialling initiatives first and showing staff the results will help increase the take up and we will also reinforce any policies through our instuctional coaching programme.

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Why do you think it's important for schools to engage with research evidence?What are the barriers to engagement in your context and how might they be overcome?

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Why do you think it's important for schools to engage with research evidence?What are the barriers to engagement in your context and how might they be overcome?

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1) Schools are to be encouraged to engage with research evidence as it will provide teachers with the tools to be even better professionals, providing them with the necessary skills to move forward in the profession, and it can only benefit the pupils.

2) Barriers to engagement would be a lack of time, although this would come down to how an individual uses his/her own time. A slot to carry out research/CPD could be incorporated into a person's timetable so there is a specific amount of time already set aside to carry out this important evidence-informed research.

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I think the biggest barrier is the way in which it is 'sold' to staff - many experienced staff members comment on how training is cyclical or how this is like training in *insert year* but is just being called something different now. It's vital that we remove the cynicism that we may encounter, but in a meaningful way, that shows staff why we are engaging in research. We also need to ensure that those delivering training in school/college, are engaging critically with the research, and not just succumbing to the latest fad or Ofsted comment.

Overcoming these barriers
This means we need to engage in proper change management - give purpose to the research, not simply a 'this is the next big thing' or 'this will solve all of our problems'. We need subtly in the discussion, and to admit that not all research is totally applicable to a setting. But this discussion, the reflection generated, is all useful in moving a whole school/college culture forward.

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What are the barriers to engagement in your context and how might they be overcome?

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What are the barriers to engagement in your context and how might they be overcome?

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1.Time
2. Experienced staff who have been teaching a long time and are happy 'churning out' the same teaching with an unwillingness/lack of motivation to change.
3. Previous practices/ideas being implemented by SLT with little research offered and therefore the 'buy in' being low.
4. A shift in belief that teaching should be impact driven not activity driven.
5.Identification of priorities (again, this links back to time).

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Why do you think it's important for schools to engage with research evidence?

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Why do you think it's important for schools to engage with research evidence?

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I think it's important not only for the continued development of qualified teachers but also to improve the quality of ITT. I think EIP lends itself to teacher training programmes and should be an integral part.

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What are the barriers to engagement in your context and how might they be overcome?

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What are the barriers to engagement in your context and how might they be overcome?

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Being seen as a gimmick. Previous SLT have used the latest fad and staff are jaded by it. It will be a challenge to reengage them.
We have a team to deliver on research so hopefully by leading by example and not just from the top down, we can bring more staff back on board.

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Why do you think it's important for schools to engage with research evidence?

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Why do you think it's important for schools to engage with research evidence?

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It's important to engage with research evidence to ensure you are doing the best for the students, and indeed staff, in a school. There is always more to learn in teaching and always ways to improve. Research evidence can be used to drive progress forward - both student progress and progress of T&L. It's important to read research critically to ensure the right ideas and processes are used in the right setting.
What are the barriers to engagement in your context and how might they be overcome?
It has been said many times already, but one of the biggest barriers is that of time. To fully engage in research evidence whilst teaching a full timetable alongside TLRs/leadership roles is very difficult. I think confidence with research is also a barrier - confidence in terms of knowing where to find relevant research and confidence in terms of implementing suggestions either in an individual classroom or across a whole school. One way to combat this could be to have time built in to either individual timetables (which could be difficult) or into a T&L programme or meeting cycle. To help with the volume of research and using relevant pieces, having an individual or team who look at research and bring it to the attention of staff rather than the onus being on the staff themselves.

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What are the barriers to engagement in your context and how might they be overcome?

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What are the barriers to engagement in your context and how might they be overcome?

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1. Time
2. Availability to resources
3. School culture and acceptability/ embracing of change
4. Being comfortable with changing our own practice/ beliefs
5. Where do we draw the line? When do we choose intuition/ we know what's best for our students?

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Why do you think it's important for schools to engage with research evidence?

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Why do you think it's important for schools to engage with research evidence?

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Credible data + identifiable impact gives us a road map to improve our practice. If there is research that shows we can be more effective, whether it's improving student wellbeing, or raising learning, we should explore it. It''s our moral duty as a teacher to be doing the best we can for our students. Research won't jump out at us, we as teachers and leaders need to search and seek it!

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Research is important to enable schools to make decisions that will best support student learning. Being research informed can help SLT to derive the schools goals and feed into action plans. This then enables all stakeholders to share the same goals.

Barriers.
There is so much research out there. Where does on start? How does one identify the priority focus. This is why I feel being research informed needs to be narrowed down a little so that it enhances and mirrors the schools goals.
Time is a also an issue, especially in these Covid times where school leaders and teachers are having to work at a much more operational level rather than strategically.

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Why is it important for schools to engage with research evidence? What are the barriers to this?

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Why is it important for schools to engage with research evidence? What are the barriers to this?

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Research evidence provides purpose and confidence for schools to make decisions which impact positively on pupils. Being driven by evidence also helps to ensure focus. The majority of teachers at my school are passionate about developing T&L and are very open to change. New teaching approaches or tools (e.g. apps for quizzes) are shared frequently on a 'take it or leave it' basis but without any research evidence on why B is better than A.
In terms of barriers, I agree with others here that time is one of the largest. However, I also feel it's not valued by many teachers. Would a focus on the matter during teacher training lead to a shift in this thought?

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Context of school is important and therefore what has worked in other school. Is this research therefore a best fit for the current school. Ensuring that new ideas are critically assessed to enable it to work well and be sustainable.

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Why is it important to engage in research evidence and what are the barriers?

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Why is it important to engage in research evidence and what are the barriers?

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I think it is important to engage with reserach to make you a better practitioner. We all engage with CPD, so we should all engage with research which supports the CPD. This is especially important so that fads don't take over in schools. Engaging with research makes you more critical of what you see/read/hear. I think the biggest barriers are time and fear. Many teachers are fearful to engage with research in case it effects exam grades or observations. I'd also say that some teachers wouldn't know where to find robust research or how to engage with it critically.

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Why is it important to engage in research evidence and what are the barriers?

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Why is it important to engage in research evidence and what are the barriers?

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As an RQT, I've found that my school and to some extent my department can be quite reluctant to change the way we teach because everyone is comfortable and used to the way they have been practicing. It can be a barrier to changing practice for the better when some staff are reticent to take things on board despite being supported by evidence because it can be quite different to how they have taught in the past. I think that have time for engaging with research and thinking about how to implement this within our practice is vitally important for being able to make positive changes that are suitable within our own contexts.

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Why is it important to engage with research? 

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Why is it important to engage with research? 

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I believe it is important to engage with education research because it gives us the opportunity to reflect upon and improve our practice. I use Twitter a lot to discuss new teaching ideas with other teachers and it's great to be able to learn from such a wide variety of teachers from across the globe. Evidence - informed research gives you the confidence to implement change in the classroom.

What are the barriers?
Time - not having dedicated time to research. School CPD tends to be focused on a school priority or designated to departments so you don't have the autonomy to direct your own CPD.

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I think it’s important to engage with research because it helps to revitalise you and motivate you. It can be great for your well-being and development to engage with evidence and feel like you are growing. It can give you a more grounded outlook on teaching. When you see some people’s social media posts showing how beautiful their classroom looks, it can be easy to feel inadequate by comparison. I now look at these posts through a lens of “but what impact does that have on the children’s learning?” Do children learn more if the classroom displays have beautiful wallpaper backing and cricut  lettering? I think you need to question the time it takes to prepare something vs the learning gains at the end. If you want to do all of those things, that’s great, and I’m sure the children love it, but I have two young children and just don’t have the time.
The main reason is of course to improve your practice. I feel that my practice has already improved by engaging with research, thinking more about the learning taking place, and understanding more about long-term retention.

Barriers
I think a main barrier is that, because there have been so many fads over the years, people can get a little cynical. Once you have tried hard to introduce something and then seen it be debunked several times, you tend to look on new ideas (however well evidenced) with a huge dollop of cynicism.
As others have said, time is a huge barrier. I only managed to read so much in the past year because the demands placed on me in the first lockdown were fairly minimal. I am finding it harder now that we are back in full swing. Even if you have the time, having the energy to read a complicated article or pull out a teaching related book is a tall order after a full-on day. Sometimes you just want to switch off.

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Why do you think it's important to engage with research evidence?

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Why do you think it's important to engage with research evidence?

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I think the most basic reasn that we should all be using evidence to inform and enrich our practice is that it brings the experience of other teachers into our classrooms. We all know what it's like to sit around a table at break with our friends in the staffroom and share what's gone well that day. For me, classroom research expands that table, and brings in voices and experiences to which I wouldn't otherwise have access.

I think it improves the quality of teaching too because it reinforces a healthy self-criticism that drives improvement. I'm doing a mini-research project with an NQT I'm mentoring at the moment, and it deepens the quality of the conversations we're able to have. He expresses his ideas about his teaching with greater clarity when there is something concrete to talk about and research gives him a structure in which to do so. I think building a compulsory research project in as a required part of the new two year NQT would benefit not only the NQT, but because of its impact on their mentor, have an impact on whole school teaching and learning.

Barriers -
As many others have said, the biggest barrier is time, but that time is an investment. I find planning lessons quicker when I think of it in terms of the research I've been looking at. The research project I've been doing with the NQT focusses on feedback, and it's saved us both time by taking on the outcomes of our project.

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Why do you think it's important for schools to engage in research?

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Why do you think it's important for schools to engage in research?

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I've spent most of my teaching career ignoring educational research.  CPD opportunities have been limited and I have always been intimidated by the world of academia. Reading posts from colleagues on Twitter has been revolutionary for me.  Sharing snippits of pedagogy and reading book/journal reviews via social media has made educational research a lot more accessible for me and ignited a passion for it.  It's really important that we do keep up to date with this research as it helps the profession to stay current and relevant and in a time when the curriculum  is neither of those things, it's even more paramount that we do this.

Barriers -
As I said, I was one of those people who ignored educational research for so long. The reasons for this were not enough time, poor quality CPD and a negative school culture. Schools need to create a culture where access to research is everywhere and used on a day to day basis, but also educational research needs to be more accessible for time poor teachers.

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Importance of engagement / Barriers to engagement

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Importance of engagement / Barriers to engagement

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Importance of engagement

I loved the comment from Dame Alison Peacock about research informed practice making her brave enough to implement new strategies in a school, and that because they were evidence informed, they were then supported more widely by the likes of OFSTED.

Barriers

I agree that as a classroom teacher it is very easy to get caught up with the day to day job. A major barrier is therefore time and a culture of research and collaboration in schools. There are often many informal classroom reaserch projects occuring, but as Louise Stoll stated in the Five challenges in moving towards evidence informed practice article "I wouldn’t want to prevent any individual who is keen from carrying out a piece of enquiry with their own pupils – that’s great – but I just think more broadly about what it could be like if a whole system was evidence-informed."

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What are the barriers to engagement and how might they be overcome?

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What are the barriers to engagement and how might they be overcome?

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I agree with the posts written on here that teachers have a phenomenal amount of information coming at them and it is easy to get caught up in the day-to-day of planning lessons, teaching completing admin tasks etc.  However, if we are to improve the teaching and learning which takes place in classrooms then we have to change our priorities.  I believe that SLT have to provide the space for teachers to do this through their use of the directed time calendar and planning of professional development throughout the year.  This year, we launched coaching across the school on a purely opt-in basis.  One of the unexpected benefits of this has been how it has shifted my priorities.  If I know I have a meeting with my coach then suddenly that research that was on the 'when I get a minute pile' suddenly gets shunted up my priorities list!  I have really found this a beneficial approach.  We also have forums which are part of our directed time where groups of teachers meet to discuss a particular research strategy.  Staff might read an article together, discuss how they might implement it and then go away, trial it and be prepared to feedback.  The fact that time is allocated to reading, discussing and the shared planning means staff are more able to engage with the research.

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What are barriers to engagement and how might they be overcome

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What are barriers to engagement and how might they be overcome

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What are barriers to engagement?
People are so bombarded with demands day to day that it’s really hard to find the time and motivation to sit down and ‘engage with research’. I also think many teachers don’t really know where to start, to find things to read, to implement, to understand what’s valuable. Even when there is someone to offer suggestions, I think some staff find the jump from a piece of theory to action in the classroom the next day a big one.
How might this be overcome?
I won if a good starting point would be to ask staff what their biggest issue in the classroom or even in their work-life balance is and start thinking about how to solve that. Not only will this engage people, but it will also allow opportunities for people to take more ownership of their professional life. Often ‘evidence’ comes in to disguise another scheme from leadership to implement something already decided upon, which naturally dampens engagement. Couching it in terms of improving people’s own experience day to day would help them to see that done in the right way, integrating more research into practice should make lives easier.

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Why do you think it's important to engage with research evidence?

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Why do you think it's important to engage with research evidence?

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If I'm honest, I've spent most of my teaching career ignoring educational research. CPD oppportunities have been limited and I've always felt a little intimidated by the world of academia.  I only started thinkng more seriously about edcational research as a result of following collegues on Twitter.  Snippits of pedagogy and book/journal reviews being shared online
has broken down that barrier and ignited a new interest in research for me.  I think it's really important to engage with this, because it keeps your teaching modern and relevant.  In a time, when the curriculum is neither of those things, this is even more paramount.

Barriers -
As I said in my previous comment, I was one of those professionals who ignored research for so long. The reasons for that were; not enough time, lack of good quality CPD and a negative school culture surrounding research.

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With regards to my own practice, I think that having the opportunity to discuss research and ideas with colleagues is lacking. There aren't many others in my school who engage with reading/research. This flows into the second barrier in that not enough staff see the benefits of engaging with research, nor do they have the time. I think dedicated time off timetable to engage would be a good way to boost

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I’ve found two main barriers to both my using evidence in classrooms and getting it across to colleagues to engage. There is resistance from both some students and some staff. With students, I’ve worked hard this year to get them to use bombed effective revision strategies, after having read about them in Dunlosky’s article Strengthening the student toolkit. A small group of students cling on to the habit of writing extensive notes, when this isn’t as effective as using practice testing. I’ve had to defend my teaching methods to some students and parents because of this. Wit staff, all of us have time constraints, but some resist even reading a very short ‘T&L tip’ that i share once per week on our staff bulletin. One s just said simply, ‘I don’t have time to read that’. Some staff seem satisfied to not engage, miss out on better practice and job satisfaction, and perhaps a better deal for their students, and this leaves me perplexed and frustrated!

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I think it is important that schools and teachers engage with research evidence as we should always be striving to move forward and look at new ways in which to improve teaching & learning in an ever changing environment.  Similar to that age old quote, "insanity is doing the same thing over and again, and expecting different results", if we do not try new things, we cannot expect to improve teaching & learning for our students.

As a relatively new senior leader, I am surprised that not much is spoken about with regards to lack of time as a barrier.  When I think of the many things that both teachers and leaders have to do at all levels, but the lack of time that is given for staff to read and research, to me I feel this will be the biggest barrier... keeping a good work life balance!

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Importance of engaging with research evidence

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Importance of engaging with research evidence

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Educational research can provide an important avenue through which to evaluate the benefits of various classroom practices prior to implementing in school - with tools such as the EEF Toolkit being particularly useful for broader overviews. However, context is incredibly important when utilising any edu-research which is something that can sometimes be overlooked, leading to a misunderstanding of potential impact. I still believe though that teachers (both new and experienced) have so much to gain from engaging with research evidence, both for improving their practice and improving the outcomes of the children they teach.

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Many experienced teachers can see new ideas as another 'fad'. Many ideas have been and gone and in implementing them it has become tme consuming for what seems like no benfit. Evidence informed practice needs to be sold properly in a way that is least going to impact time but most impact pupil outcomes

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Importance of engaging with research evidence

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Importance of engaging with research evidence

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It is often easy to find something that "works" and stick with it. As professionals we should always be evaluating and looking to improve our practice. It can become easy for outdated ideas to become embedded within our teaching if it is not constantly questioned and reviewed. It is also important to engage on a school wide level so that a range of evidence can be used rather than implementing the ideas of an idividual.

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Why it is important for schools to engage with research evidence?

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Why it is important for schools to engage with research evidence?

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Schools should engage in the research evidence to give pupils the best outcome but also so teachers have a clear goal for what it is they are teaching and why. Teachers should know what the outcomes are for their pupils and research evidence can help them plan to achieve this. It's also good to know what works even if this means finding out something you thought worked maybe is not the best approach. It is really important to share strategies and ideas but to also understand it is not a one size fits all for all subjects. This is where research evidence can be really beneficial.

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What are the barriers to engagement in your context and how might they be overcome?

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What are the barriers to engagement in your context and how might they be overcome?

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As many others have already discussed, time and prioritising workload are major barriers to engagement. As part of the T&L team, we are looking into how we can engage the wider staff without adding to their workload. A new T&L policy has been produced to support colleagues and develop high quality T&L which is evidence-informed.

Another barrier is not knowing where to start. More staff training is needed, alongside the introduction of the new T&L policy to show staff how to access quality research and the importance of being evidence-informed. This will likely reduce the opinion of some staff of 'fads'. It's all about building the culture in the school.

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What are the barriers to engagement in your context and how might they be overcome?

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What are the barriers to engagement in your context and how might they be overcome?

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As many have said, time and prioritising workload for overworked teaching staff. As with many colleagues, I have had to find time to do this as an extra, in addition to attending a variety of CPD sessions. The key to this is focusing CPD time on improving evidence knowledge and sharing ideas and action research planning and outcomes. Conducting action research needs time for planning, resource building and evaluation. At the moment there are a few members of staff conducting individual projects without any real cohesion between us and we are few in number. If there was a focus on this for improving teaching and learning and CPD time given over to collaboration and discussion around the evidence and the subsequent action research to inform practice, it would be more effective and obtain more buy-in from staff.

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Why is it important for schools to engage with research evidence?

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Why is it important for schools to engage with research evidence?

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Schools have a duty to provide the opportunity for the best outcomes for students. With this in mind, we must seek to improve teaching and learning continually. This is difficult because different strategies work in different schools and individual classrooms. Using research evidence provides a good starting point to help schools, leadership and teachers identify which strategies might be effective to make that improvement. Using evidence to inform action research is important to be able to try out and then identify what works (or not) within a particular context; this might be a whole school or an individual classroom. It encourages self-reflection of practice at all levels and should be used as a basis for CPD to develop teachers and their practice, however experienced.

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If School leaders do not prioritise engagement with research, there becomes a very real possibility schools existing in an 'echo chamber' ,creating cultures and practices/procedures that may need to be refined, and limiting scope for practitioners to refine and perfect their practice based on established research and or/experiences of others. Sometimes I feel we are too bogged down in our own specific 'context' that we dismiss ideas and approaches that with some refinement could also work just as well. The main barriers are teacher workload and stresses.

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We need to know that what we are doing in our classroom is worthwhile and will have the greatest impact to improve pupil outcomes. We need to stop the trend of moving from one 'new' idea to another. In my experience these continual changes in practice are often driven by new staff joining a school with new ideas. Evidence must back up our choices and the way we teach. To achieve this and eliminate some of the challenges a school should be a safe, open minded, reflective work place. EIP should be led by the leadership team and they should guide and support all interested staff.

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I run an "academic reading group" at my school, where staff discuss an article/chapter from a book that we've all read, and try to apply things to our practice. Lately the attendance is plummeting because staff are over-worked, and every hour counts for their planning and preparation. There are lots of staff who would love to meet up and discuss research and how we can use it to inform our teaching, but they just can't prioritise actually doing it with their plates so full already.

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There is no other profession where the work of the professionals has such a profound impact on the lives of the people relying on them, where those professionals predominantly only rely on personal experience.It is our responsibility to ensure the work we do has the greatest possible positive impact on students. This means engaging with the evidence where possible to calibrate what we ‘think’ works from ‘anecdotal evidence and personal experience’ with research that shows what ‘does’ work. The main barriers I am facing are: a tired staff body, weary of many new leaders coming in and introducing a ‘guaranteed to work’ fad that staff put 100% effort into, only for the focus to shift 6 months later when results are not seen. The second challenge is that I am introducing a ‘back to basics’ approach but some staff see this as ‘just common sense’ despite not doing it. James Sambells-Perry

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I feel that I engage regularly with research but this is very much in my own time. My colleagues often comment on how I'm 'well-read' and that I must spend all of my time reading. The biggest barrier is time. All teachers are interested in research and pedagogy but there is always an endless list of things to do, so research gets pushed out. I'm seeking to make evidence informed teaching the heart of our practice. We have recently reinstated subject leaders and part of my work with them will be to support their research so that this becomes integral to future policies and practice.

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Evidence informed practice is like wandering into a labyrinth

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Evidence informed practice is like wandering into a labyrinth

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Why? Well it's easy to get lost amongst plethora of articles and data, it's never clear whether to turn left or right, sometimes heading back the way we came is the easiest option.
Evidence informed teaching seems a no brainer, I wonder why I've never really come across it or noticed it in 17 years of teaching. But to make it work we need a clear strategy - the labyrinth needs a map, our teachers need a guide and no one needs to feel rushed. Ultimately, I believe that leadership must set out the direction through well crafted policies and then signpost research clearly. Most fundamentally, staff training must be given over to teachers to learn about research and to grow in confidence when using it.

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I think that one of the primary barriers to engaging with research is time and a lack of dedicated time to discussing research. A possible route around this would be to have department-based twilight sessions where a member of staff could talk about a piece of research that they have recently engaged with. Formalising this process would centre research as an important part of practice, rather than a 'bonus if I have enough time.'

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Why do you think it is important to engage with research evidence? 

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Why do you think it is important to engage with research evidence? 

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Engaging with research allows us to reflect on our own classroom practice and develop teaching strategies. This could be adapting strategies we as teachers already use in the classroom or being open to using new teaching strategies.

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Why do you think it's important for schools to engage with research evidence? 

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Why do you think it's important for schools to engage with research evidence? 

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I think it is important that as teachers we acknowledge that things that we once thought to be true might not be backed by evidence and could therefore be detrimental to our overall goals. I think that as professionals, there should be a certain standard of accountability that ensures that we are constantly reviewing and developing our practice in line with evidence.

However it can be difficult, teachers are often overworked and can lack both the time and the inclination to engage with research. Other barriers include rigid systems which prevent teachers from being creative and trialing out new initiatives. This is where schools need to come in providing support, resources and developing communities of practitioners who actively engage in research and support one another.

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I think that it is important as we are hugely accountable for other peoples lives and life choices. I agree with others points as well, how do we know that we are doing the best possible job unless we are challenged and tested?
I also believe that we not only owe it to the students, we also owe it to ourselves to keep striving to be as informed and open-minded as possible about the world, and engaging in regular research is a helpful way of regularly reminding me to do this.

I believe time to be the most persistent barrier preventing me from engaging in EIP. What with a normal day, extra roles in school and ex-curric. it is really difficult to regularly engage. I think as a younger teacher as well I do think that the slightly mixed culture of enthusiasm and scepticism toward EIP from both equally and more experienced teachers is confusing.

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Why do you think it is important to engage with research evidence? KR

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Why do you think it is important to engage with research evidence? KR

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Engaging with research allows us to keep open minds and be willling to adapt our teaching methods for the good of the child/ren. It's easy to do what we've always done - hard to plan and do something dfferent but sometimes the hard ends up making life easier ... tricky one!
I think the perception of it being more work is a major barrier - as is the 'exhaustion' felt by many
teachers. It is up to those who feel able to, to do so and report back at the impact and show small easy ways to implement new things so that colleagues feel able to dare to try. Personally, I think some more experienced teachers can feel jaded - 'been there, done that, you're new - you'll soon learn its all a fad' This can be really hard to combat but again, ensuring SLT are supportive and quietly doing small steps so that it can be eveidenced as worth while.
Whilst the challenges of the last year mean it is even more vital that we are open minded and searching for new approaches, it is also imperative that we are mindful of professionals capacity.

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Why do you think it is important for school to engage with research evidence? JS

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Why do you think it is important for school to engage with research evidence? JS

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I believe that teachers on the frontline of education should always be ready to engage with research evidence. As with any profession, we should be reflective of how successful we are in our roles and open to new ideas to improve. Engaging with research evidence allows us to consider alternative methods of practice that we (or even our school) may not have been aware of.

Schools that promote an engagement with evidence amongst their teachers are clearly looking to strengthen the learning experiences of the children in their school. Having just started working in a school that encourages teachers to engage in evidence much more deeply, I can also comment that I feel much more conscious about the quality of the learning experiences that I am trying to provide.

What are the barriers in our context?
Mirroring what many on this thread are saying, I feel that engaging with research evidence must be managed effectively by senior leadership to ensure that teachers are not burned out  or overworked in doing this along with their usual responsibilities.  Opportunities for engaging with this research should not only be enthusiastically encouraged by leadership, but be carefully planned so that teachers have the time and energy to engage with research effectively.

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Why do you think it is important for schools to engage with research evidence?

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Why do you think it is important for schools to engage with research evidence?

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As practitioners it is important that we continuously engage in research evidence to improve our teaching, school environment and the education of young people. Research will allow us to make informed decisions and make us more critical to the way we work. Engaging with research will also make us more confident to question our practice and to experiment with different methods.

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Why do you think it is important for schools to engage with research evidence?

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Why do you think it is important for schools to engage with research evidence?

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As teachers, we have the responsibility to improve and renew our practice, and as middle leaders, we need to show that we are constantly learning from our colleagues, trainees or by being up to date with the latest research. By putting it all together, we would be able to engage in research evidence and truly make a difference for a new generation of children whose approach to learning is very different to their parents.

What are the barriers to engagement in your context and how might they be overcome?
One of the main barriers for most of us is time and being too worried about making a mistake and the effects on the students. In my own experience when I have tried to change something I had to have too many meetings to convince SLT and at the end you wonder if this is worth it or you are just making your life too difficult or even if the whole change is necessary. However, I believe that after the recent month’s events (covid) there is a willingness to make things work in a more effective way, we need to use this to our advantage.

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The greatest barrier for us is in managing a change of culture, standards and expectations.  

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The greatest barrier for us is in managing a change of culture, standards and expectations.  

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It is in the best interests of the pupils, and ultimately ourselves as professionals to engage with research evidence so that we can make learning more relevant and meaningful; ensure greater progress for a wider range of pupils and better prepare them for the future. A culture of professional dialogue and learning is vital. The wider implications for my school are that these positive enhancements or changes (in culture, pastoral, academic) should support higher achievement and success in all its forms which can be commuted with the community, leading to higher rates of pupil retention and recruitment – an economic necessity.  

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It is in the best interests of the pupils, and ultimately ourselves as professionals to engage with research evidence so that we can make learning more relevant and meaningful; ensure greater progress for a wider range of pupils and better prepare them for the future. A culture of professional dialogue and learning is vital. The wider implications for my school are that these positive enhancements or changes (in culture, pastoral, academic) should support higher achievement and success in all its forms which can be commuted with the community, leading to higher rates of pupil retention and recruitment – an economic necessity.  

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I like the course reference to acknowledging fads. For evidence informed practice to make a real difference schools need to go beyond the headlines.

To be able to critically engage with research in a systematic and sustainable way may well be a new challenge for many school leaders.

School leaders have a responsibility to develop culture, policy, systems and procedures to inspire, prioritise and support evidence informed practice.

As a school leader, I find this exciting and frightening at the same time.

I really appreciate the Chartered College commitment to evidence informed practice, I note the institution is starting a new leadership course in January 2022. I wonder if the CCT has any influence on the NPQ qualifications. I am a facilitator for those courses. Consistently, I have been disappointed to note that they are not regularly updated to reflect evidence informed practice.

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For me the three points listed below are the most significant reasons to engage with evidence informed practice. Although the professional learning offered by the right policy & systems for R&D should not be underestimated.

As teachers, our core responsibility is students' learning - social, emotional & academic. Evidence informed practice can support teachers to...

1 - gain insights into the most effective teaching strategies.
2 - develop confidence to implement new approaches.
3 - support improved behaviour, attainment and attitude in the classroom.

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Why important?
Who has told us that what we do is good enough? Other than the odd lesson obvs - how do they know what is good and works well? Unless they are evidence informed and I have not seen that recently from any sort of lesson obvs that I have been involved in. We need to move forward and make our own progress for the betterment of our pupils - how do we know what we do day in and day out is right - results? We owe it to our pupils to get the best from them. I want to be the best teacher I can be and get the best out of my pupils and if I can get others involved and on board too then this is a huge win.

Barriers.
Like many have said, time is a huge barrier. We’re have been so caught up in time consuming items that we forget what we are doing and why we are really there. We often like to just plod along and take a ‘if it ain’t broke don’t fix it’ approach - but then it is in many ways ‘broke’ because we aren’t getting the best from 100% of pupils - well certainly not where I am!
There is also the concern around people who see this as a new fad - ‘oh here’s a new fad, just like learning styles and Kagan’. It’s about being able to convince and encourage enough to be able to make that change. Are some schools just completely averse to change and new approaches and looking at the evidence?
Finally, are staff (understandably so) driven by the exam or the content and cannot get around to anything else?

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Why do you think it's important for schools to engage with research evidence?

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Why do you think it's important for schools to engage with research evidence?

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To allow teachers to develop and improve their practice. As a school this would mean that your staff are constantly working to be the best teachers available to your students. As a school this would create an inquisitive and friendly school where there can be no fear of failure. A more open environment in which CPD is encouraged and new learning is seen a good thing rather than sticking to school pro forma's all the time!

What are the barriers to engagement in your context and how might they be overcome?
Staff are not given the CPD time. Staff are not given the freedom to trial new teaching methods in the classroom. Staff have a heavy workload already and are unable to research effectively. Staff are not rewarded for wanting higher qualifications - in fact they become too expensive for schools.

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How do we know as leaders and as teachers we are doing the best we can? As well as looking beyond our own school to bst practice in schools we may know about or be signposted to, how do we ensure we have a view on what could work, what might work and how this could be modified and personalised for setting? Evidence informed practice is essential to inform decisions, build new practice and evaluate its impact as well as giving staff confidence to take risks and make changes. Our responsibility to the children, and community, is to do the very best for our children - and if evidence informed practice can do this, why would you not engage? Some staff will find this threatening or challenging, disconcerting or feel a bit lost at a change to "what we have always done" but evidence can support them and give them courage to move forward.
Barriers:
- fear of change, of losing face, of having to relearn
- time and/or workload
-confusing emotion with an objective evaluation and reflection of impact
- accountability, clinging to things that have worked in the past without measuring or reflecting on their current success and effectiveness.

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As school teachers and leaders we have a responsibility to provide the best possible teaching for our students no matter what their need. This could be achieved through trial and error (and this will certainly be part of any process) but as there is a wealth of evidence and others have already done the research, it makes sense to start from a point of knowledge. Using the research that is available helps us to have impact and to target what we know works. This will ultimately create better work load balance and give a sense of professional well-being.

Barriers
Time and workload are always a factor in education and this needs the investment of leadership to ensure that time is embedded within the calendar of CPD.

Another factor is resistance. We need to demonstrate to teachers that this will benefit the and their students. This can take time. This can be done through training and CPD.

Finally, accountability is a major factor in resistance. Teachers are too often judged on their classroom practice. To use evidence in your classroom practice and to develop new ways of working takes experimentation, trial and sometimes error. Just because something works elsewhere we cannot guarantee it will work in our practice, for our students. We also need time to develop our skills in implementing research in our practice. This means that we need, as leaders, to create a culture of research and experimentation. We need to empower teachers to make changes and to fail sometimes without the fear of being judged.

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It is important for teachers to want to improve their practice and using research evidence is a way of doing this. A whole school approach or a support network would give staff the opportunity to talk about what they have learnt. If research evidence helps to improve a school, why would you not want to explore it?

Barriers
As many have also said, time seems to be a major barrier. Open-mindedness amongst staff can also vary and have an impact on people's willingness to try something new.

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1) Why is it important for schools to engage with research evidence?

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1) Why is it important for schools to engage with research evidence?

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I think that without engaging with evidence there is a risk that so much we do becomes emotionally driven. This can then lead to lesser outcomes for our pupils. I have so often been told of a great idea or technique that a colleague, dept or school was using. When I looked only to find it brought about compliance or low demand but actually made little difference to outcomes. To have our profession actually drive forwards what education looks like in the classroom and secure the best outcomes for our pupils we must therefore constantly reflect and engage with the evidence.

Barriers:

Time - changing practice requires time given
Agency - how many or my colleagues can just decode to do it all differently
Motivation - why change what you believe works

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As teachers, I think it is very easy to just accept what we have planned is 'it' and due to time barriers and work load, it can be difficult to brach out with research to improve and develop our practice. CPD sessions can also be seen as more of a 'tick box' exercise rather than a way to improve and really have an impact on our teaching. It can also be difficult to apply to different subject areas.

We have weekly teach meet sessions in school. These are quite poorly attended. There doesn't seem to be any incentive to join or to deliver. The culture around evidence informed practice needs a larger stage across whole schools.

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I always find research and CPD ideas really interesting but often find it really difficult to see Howe I could transfer the skills or ideas to my own subject. I also find I an be really excited afternoon a CPD session but then never seem to have time to implement the strategies.