Research-Based Professional Development – Global Perspectives

‘We know a lot about teachers and research. We know that they should mix and there can be significant benefits if they do so, but we also know that teachers and research often fail to socialise.‘ – Chris Brown, Jane Flood and Graham Handscomb (2020)^[1]

Great expectations!

Much has been said about the merits of research as a fundamental element of teacher professional development – whether this be teachers using research in their thinking and practice, carrying out their own enquiries, or being part of the research of others.^[2] Indeed the advent of evidenced-based professional development has been widely heralded (some might say hyped!) for many years. Way back at the beginning of the century, folk like Dyson were proclaiming:

All teachers should have an entitlement to research thinking in order to develop their role as critical users of research. All schools and colleagues should have an entitlement and perhaps a responsibility, to participate in a relevant research partnership for appropriate periods.^[3]

But, despite these great expectations, the prevalence of such practice within education and in our schools has been woefully thin. At best, it has been a slow burn! However, there are now, at long last, real signs that the era of research-based professional development has arrived. Not only in the UK, but across the world, there has been a genuine groundswell of interest and an array of activity and development which has the potential to transform professional learning through evidenced-informed approaches. 

One powerful example of this has been the formation of an International Research Network (IRN) focused on Research-Informed Education. This was initiated by Jana Groß Ophoff and Chris Brown, and sponsored by the World Education Research Association (WERA). The network has 33 leading educationalists from Asia, Australasia, Europe, the Middle East, North America, South America, and Scandinavia – all working together and taking forward major developments in evidence-informed professional learning. A rich flavour of their thinking and practice is provided in Professional Development Today Issue 23.3, which has contributors from Austria, Canada, Germany, India, Japan, New Zealand, the USA and the UK.

Teacher ownership and confidence

Perhaps one of the main factors in the hitherto slow and over-cautious pace of development in this area is that evidenced-based professional development embodies the whole principle of autonomy and control, empowering teachers and giving them agency. Whereas, across the world, this has been singularly lacking in many education systems. So, for example, Joel Malin, in the USA, observes that:

a lack of trust has been manifested for instance by policies aimed at managing them (e.g., via tightened accountability, teacher-proofing curricula, and teacher evaluation policy) rather than investing in, nurturing, and empowering them.^[4]

Instead, he argues for a bottom-up, self-directed, evidence-informed approach to professional learning. Further advocacy from the USA of the potent effect of research to transform is given by Elizabeth Furley-Ripple and colleagues.^[5]  Drawing from four case studies, they show that when research is woven into the very fabric of school life and learning, there are considerable benefits in professional development, the quality of teaching and school improvement.

However, there are considerable challenges to be tackled in creating the conditions to achieve this. David Kemethofer, investigating the Austrian experience, highlights the crucial part that school leaders play in the development of data-based decision-making. He finds that there is much to be done to foster confidence and competence if they are to effectively fulfil this role.^[6]

Similarly, Robert Pham Xuan, also working in Austria, emphasises the pivotal factor of teachers’ beliefs and attitudes and the need for schools to be ‘designed not only as a scientific and reflective institution’ but also as a meeting place for ‘multi-professional teams’.^[7]

Teachers’ beliefs and attitudes are also at the core of the research Gavin Brown has carried out in New Zealand.^[8] He found that there were some key implications for enquiry-based professional development related to the conceptions teachers had about assessment and its practice. Key messages emerging for school leaders included the importance of assessments being clearly designed to tell teachers what they need to know about student progress and needs, and to allow teachers to discover ‘bad news’ without shame or blame so that they welcomed the discovery of failure to guide improved teaching.

Culture, context and competence

All of this points to the fundamental importance of culture and context. There is a need for teacher ownership to enable drawing on research in thoughtful and context-sensitive ways.^[9] Reflecting on the experience in India, Karanam Pushpanadham is adamant that understanding the contextual factors and implementation challenges that influence the effectiveness of professional development are crucial.^[10]

So, appreciating the range, scope, depth, and indeed, complexity of different forms of professional development, and how research-informed thinking and practice play out with this, is crucial. Thus, Tom Perry and Becky Morris, from the UK, argue for the necessity of a practical framework for understanding this complexity and which will enable teachers and school leaders to design, navigate and sustain high-quality research-informed professional development.^[11]

For Jana Groß Ophoff (Austria), Chris Brown and Jane Flood (UK), there is a fundamental challenge in teacher research competence that needs to be faced.^[12] Their investigation in English schools, with implications for other world settings, strongly indicated that achieving a research-informed teaching profession requires radical reform in teacher training and development which prioritizes research competence. Such competence includes not only data and assessment literacy but also becoming adept at identifying clear problems and posing robust questions.

Resources and opportunities

In addition to equipping teachers with research competencies, there is also the question of access to relevant resources and support. Kimberley MacNeil and colleagues, from Canada, explored how evidence-based resources can be positioned to enable knowledge construction in a way that supports educators to make connections between useful ideas and their practice contexts. They reported:

Our studies have shown the importance of providing teachers with access to relevant resources paired with opportunities for them to act with agency in making decisions about when and how to draw from them.^[13]

Elsewhere, Uwe Maier in Germany has explored how teachers can learn to adapt their pedagogy and individualised support to students through the use of a resource like teacher-facing dashboards. These are designed to summarize and display student learning processes and outcomes.^[14] He found that teachers needed to develop adept approaches and skills to successfully use such tools, another facet of research competency. 

Meanwhile, in Japan, Jingling Lin has explored the potential of online journal clubs for teacher professional development, and particularly for teachers researching into their own practice.^[15] Intriguingly, she also examines the contribution that AI technology has to make to such practice.

Bold aspiration

Taken together these contributions reveal a wide range of thinking, research and development in evidenced-informed professional learning across the world. We have known for some time that enquiry and research are key contributory factors to effective professional development.^[16] A few years ago I attempted to articulate a vision about what this means for schools going forward:

The third-millennium school is required to be self-evaluating, open to scrutiny, evidenced-based, data data-rich.^[17]

On reflection, this strikes me now as a truly challenging aspiration. What is clear from this powerful set of WERA contributions from across the world is that the flourishing of evidenced-based professional development will depend on two inter-related factors: embedding practice within the very culture of the school and tenaciously renewing/recreating it over time. As Joel Malin observes:

a research-informed culture is a long-term goal—a culture in which practitioner and research knowledge can be cyclically and dynamically co-created.^[18]

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References

1. Brown, C. Flood, J. and Handscomb, G. (2020) Introduction in Brown, C. Flood, J. and Handscomb, G. The Research-Informed Teaching Revolution: A Handbook for the 21^st Century Teacher. John Catt Publishing.
2. Dyson, A. (2001) Building Research Capacity. National Educational Research Forum.
3. Ibid
4. Malin, J. (2024) Teachers In Control Of Their Own Professional Learning. In Professional Development Today Vol. 23 Issue 3. Imaginative Minds Publishing.
5. Furley-Ripple, E.; Mead, H and Tilley, K. (2024) Using Research For Professional Learning: Lessons From Four Schools. In Professional Development Today Vol. 23 Issue 3. Imaginative Minds Publishing.
6. Kemethofer, D. (2024) Are Schools Adapting To Data-Based Decision-Making? In Professional Development Today Vol. 23 Issue 3. Imaginative Minds Publishing.
7. Pham Xuan, R. (2024) What ‘Teacher Habitus’ Can Tell Us About Teacher Development. In Professional Development Today Vol. 23 Issue 3. Imaginative Minds Publishing.
8. Brown, G. (2024) What Do Teachers Think About Assessment? In Professional Development Today Vol. 23 Issue 3. Imaginative Minds Publishing.
9. [Malin, J. (2024) Teachers In Control Of Their Own Professional Learning. In Professional Development Today Vol. 23 Issue 3. Imaginative Minds Publishing.
10. Pushpanadham, K. (2024) Why Teacher Professional Development Is Essential. In Professional Development Today Vol. 23 Issue 3. Imaginative Minds Publishing.
11. Perry, T. and Morris, R (2024) What Is Research-Informed Professional Development? / How To Sustain Research-Based Professional Development. In Professional Development Today Vol. 23 Issue 3. Imaginative Minds Publishing.
12. Groß Ophoff, J; Brown, C.; and Flood, J. (2024) Teacher Research Competency Matters! In Professional Development Today Vol. 23 Issue 3. Imaginative Minds Publishing.
13. MacNeil, K.; Schnellert, L. and Butler, D. (2024) Training Teachers For Evidence-Based Practice. In Professional Development Today Vol. 23 Issue 3. Imaginative Minds Publishing.
14. Maier, U. (2024) How To Use Teacher Dashboards To Support Learning. In Professional Development Today Vol. 23 Issue 3. Imaginative Minds Publishing.
15. Lin, J. (2024) Journal Clubs – The Power And Possibilities. In Professional Development Today Vol. 23 Issue 3. Imaginative Minds Publishing.
16. Stoll, L; Harris, A; and Handscomb, G. (2012) Great Professional Development that leads to Great Pedagogy: Nine Strong Claims from Research. LCLL, Institute of Education, University of London; The National College; NFER; Sheffield Hallam University.
17. Handscomb, G (2019) Professional learning and research. In Godfrey, D. and Brown, C (2019) An ecosystem for research-engaged schools. Routledge.
18. Malin, J. (2024) Teachers In Control Of Their Own Professional Learning. In Professional Development Today Vol23 Issue 3. Imaginative Minds Publishing.