Mobilising Teacher Researchers Challenging Educational Inequality

'[A] really important book […] the growth of interest in teachers in England taking part in educational research is significant.' – John Furlong, Emeritus Professor of Education, Oxford University, UK. Mobilising Teacher Researchers brings together the results of a research project carried out over a two-year period, commissioned by the National College for Teaching and Leadership and involving over 650 schools in England. An internationally renowned group of contributors present crucial and intriguing lessons learnt from the 'Closing the Gap: Test and Learn' project, aimed at identifying ways in which to close the attainment gap, raise the achievement of disadvantaged children in England, and introduce new research methods into schools. From the project’s policy origins to its implementation, the book captures the diverse range of outcomes from the project, both intended and unexpected. It reveals the ways and extent to which teachers were mobilised as researchers, and how analysis will impact on the future of research-informed practice in schools. This resulting collection of evolutionary debates focuses on topics such as new forms of governance, teacher engagement and the effectiveness of Randomised Controlled Trials. It foregrounds new approaches to school-based educational research, and is crucial reading for anyone concerned with educational research, and seeking to understand education for social mobility.

Contents List of tables List of figures List of abbreviations Notes on contributors Introduction: Ian Menter and Ann Childs Part 1 Closing the Gap: Test and Learn Chapter 1 Who, how and why? Motives and agendas for key stakeholders in Closing the Gap. Ann Childs, Roger Firth and Ian Thompson Chapter 2 Closing the Gap - Test and Learn: an unprecedented national educational research project, Richard Churches, Robin Hall and Juliet Brookes Chapter 3 Closing the Evidence Gap? The challenges of the research design of the Closing the Gap: Test and Learn project, Ian Menter and Ian Thompson Chapter 4 Closing the Gap and professional learning - two targets for a national project, Philippa Cordingley, Paul Crisp and Bart Crisp Part 2: Teachers and Research Methods - Some Wider Issues Chapter 5 Room in the toolbox? The place of Randomised Controlled Trials in educational research, Steve Higgins Chapter 6 The potential of teacher-led randomised controlled trials in education research, Richard Churches, Robin Hall and Steve Higgins Chapter 7 Building research capacity and relationships in schools: the consequences of involvement in 'Closing the Gap', Ann Childs and Nigel Fancourt Chapter 8 Research ethics in 'Closing the Gap': equipoise in randomised controlled trials in education, Nigel Fancourt Part 3: New approaches to school-based educational research Chapter 9 Teacher-researchers’ expanding perceptions of research in a school-university collaborative research project, Els Laroes, Larike H. Bronkhorst, Sanne F. Akkerman, and Theo Wubbels Chapter 10 The future promise of RCTs in Education: some reflections on the Closing the Gap project, Paul Connolly Chapter 11 What’s not to like about RCTs in education?, Trevor Gale Afterword, Ann Childs and Ian Menter

Ann Childs is Associate Professor of Science Education at the Department of Education, University of Oxford, UK. Ian Menter is Emeritus Professor of Teacher Education at the Department of Education, University of Oxford, UK.