This year is proving something of an annus mirabilis for research in the FE and skills sector. Not only has the recent biannual conference of the Learning & Skills Research Network (LSRN) demonstrated the breadth of practice-based research in the sector, but a milestone book, Exploring Practitioner Research in Further Education, by Kerry Scattergood and Samantha Jones has placed it firmly in the public realm.
The year has also seen the reinstatement of the Education & Training Foundations’ pioneering Practitioner Research Programme at the University of Sunderland, many of whose graduates are moving onto doctoral research and taking up positions of influence in colleges.
The more recent Research Further scheme at the Association of Colleges is supporting others to develop their research ideas and encouraging college-centred research that can help influence policy and practice.
Across the diverse sessions of LSRN’s research conference last month – from formal presentations to digital contributions – several recurring themes emerged. These included the evolving identity and roles of FE educators, new approaches to CPD and rethinking observation and feedback practices.
This surge of research activity hasn’t arisen by accident, of course. The gradual emergence of a sustained culture of research is the long-term outcome of many initiatives, driven largely by enthusiasts. The “grandaddy of them all”, to quote from Scattergood and Jones’s book, is LSRN, founded in 1997. It has remained independent and informal ever since and is driven entirely by the willing efforts of volunteers.
New research infrastructure
Those brought together through LSRN activity have gone on to set up further elements of research infrastructure. The Research College Group brings together colleges that have committed at the highest level to supporting and conducting research.
FE Research Meet, set up in conjunction with the National Education Union, provides an informal environment in which practitioners at all levels of experience in an area come together to share and develop their work. FE podcasts provide insights into the research culture, though interviews with researchers on topics such as lesson observation, mentoring and GCSE resits.
So, what does this buzz of activity suggest about the future of FE research? It is clear that the sector is beginning to etch out a distinctive approach to research. The increasing numbers of practitioners acquiring capabilities through practitioner research programmes and post-doctoral study means the capacity to design and conduct studies is growing.
Not only is this leading to greater quantity and quality of research. It also means that FE and skills practitioners are making their mark in the wider research community by contributing to journals and conferences and taking up roles within research organisations such as the British Educational Research Association (BERA). Key to the distinctiveness of this work, however, is close attention to the detail of contexts relevant to the sector – the classrooms, laboratories, workshops and salons that characterise education across the vocations, and in training and community settings for adults, language learners and offenders.
The inclusive approach extends to the pathway into research. Opportunities are being extended at every level for practitioners to follow up their curiosity, and embark on a journey with the support of colleagues already on that pathway.
Through informal networking and online sharing, the intimidation often felt about trying to engage with research is alleviated. Questions and challenges arising directly from one’s day-to-day teaching experience can be brought safely into the research arena.
As the research culture continues to develop from the bottom-up, it is possible to imagine a future in which serious, locally developed evidence will inform decision-making in our institutions as well as our classrooms. Governors and leaders, as well as people at the chalkface, may look to soundly based evidence to inform the decisions they take.
We also shouldn’t forget that there are large amounts of education & training delivered by other types of providers, not just colleges & delivery that is not publicly funded.
It’s self evident that in order to get the sector’s voice heard, we need to ensure we have both quanti and qualitative robust evidence to back our views. This can be easily turned to a more proactive research function which incrementally underpins and amplifies what we are saying, thereby pushing the agenda along. I’m very glad to see such research options beginning to open up across the sector again; it’s always been baffling to me how some could think it is not important.