Research Learning Communities: exploring the context for and the benefits of teachers using research to improve their practice

This is part of the School of Education and Childhood Studies Research Seminar series for the Academic Year 2017-2018

Prof Chris Brown, School of Education and Childhood Studies

Title: Research Learning Communities: exploring the context for and the benefits of teachers using research to improve their practice

Abstract: Research Learning Communities (RLCs) were devised as a way to enable the roll out of research-informed interventions at scale (Brown, 2015). The product of new and innovative ways of thinking about how research and practice might best be combined, RLCs were originally trialled in some 55 primary schools in England as part of a randomized control experiment organized and funded by the EEF. They have subsequently been adopted by a myriad of school communities in England, Sweden and the USA. This session will discuss RLCs as a concept as well as examining the effectiveness of the approach by focusing on one specific RLC: a teaching school alliance situated in the south coast of England (‘Excellence Together TSA’). It will begin by setting out the origins of the original RLC project; the theoretical and conceptual thinking that underpins the model as well as the practical elements of how RLCs are run and delivered. It will then use the case of ‘Excellence Together…’ to illustrate how the RLC approach has led not only to teachers within this specific alliance engaging in research-informed teaching practice (RITP), but also how this practice has begun to transform teaching and improve student outcomes within participating schools.