SecEd Podcast The SecEd Podcast: Research-informed schools (and teaching)
Jan 22, 2025
Sean Harris, a doctoral researcher focused on educational inequality, Andrew Jones, an assistant head teacher exploring novice teachers' perspectives, and Stacey Jordan, a leadership coach and former head teacher, discuss research-informed schools. They debate the types of research schools should engage with and emphasize the importance of balancing external studies with local evidence. Practical strategies for teachers to connect with research, the significance of qualitative insights, and professional development pathways are highlighted, alongside advice for fostering research curiosity within school improvement.
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Curate Grey Literature And Set Alerts
- Use grey literature (Sutton Trust, Joseph Rowntree, Chartered College) and open-access alerts (Google Scholar) to find relevant local and policy-focused research.
- Curate a small number of papers regularly and apply CLAIMS scrutiny rather than trying to read everything.
Current Evidence Bias Favors Quantitative Cognitive Science
- Evidence-based practice in schools has skewed toward cognitive-science, quantitative studies and meta-analyses.
- That tilt can marginalise valuable qualitative, historical or subject-specific research and produce one-size-fits-all recommendations.
Pupil Voice Revealed Free-Meal Stigma
- Sean used qualitative research with children to discover stigma from biometric meal systems that reduced free-meal uptake.
- That pupil voice insight led to a simple change which increased uptake more effectively than top-down initiatives.
