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Our research into learning through digital technologies has increased the focus on the importance of learning processes and context. The research developed new models of strategic evaluation and learning framework analyses as well as a new concept of MEGAcognition. These have shaped the development, customisation and implementation of more appropriate digital educational resources, nationally and internationally. Our research has involved and influenced key national and international companies and groups. Its users have been policy makers and developers, as well as teachers and pupils in primary and secondary schools. The research has: 1) influenced policy and practice developments nationally and internationally (in UK government departments and the e-strategy agency, and in five major resource development companies and corporations with international reach); 2) increased awareness of and engagement in learning opportunities (in four local authorities); 3) built capacity (in three resource development companies and projects); 4) offered insights into ways to develop, refine and customise educational products for specific audiences (in six resource development companies and local authorities); 5) raised awareness and understanding of educational concepts to non-academic audiences nationally and internationally (through 35 public and private seminars and keynote sessions to national and international audiences); 6) raised awareness of learning and pedagogical practices (in six major resource development companies and corporations).
From 2000 to 2003 Professor Jean Rudduck led a largely Cambridge-based research team that investigated the potential of `student voice' to engage learners. The `Consulting Pupils about Teaching and Learning' research Network, funded by the ESRC's Teaching and Learning Research Programme, trialled and evaluated strategies with teachers in a wide range of schools. Take-up in the UK and abroad was extensive. This case study focuses on the impact in Ontario, Canada; where the Ministry of Education explicitly used the findings of Rudduck's research to mount an ambitious Student Voice initiative (2008-); the success of this has led to date to the Ministry providing some 6,000 grants to 800 schools to help build stronger approaches to `student voice' into the infra-structure of its school system.
During the past twenty years, mentoring and coaching has increasingly been employed as a key strategy in the initial training and continuing professional development of teachers in England and other European countries with the aim of improving teaching and learning. This research has resulted in regional and international impact on education practitioners' continuing professional development and practice. These include:
(1) Primary and secondary teachers from the Merseyside region, who participated in the LJMU Mentoring and Coaching programme to enhance the effectiveness of their professional practice as individuals and to facilitate professional learning and development within their schools.
(2) Education practitioners from teaching, nursing and social work across Europe, who participated in the TISSNTE Intensive Course and attended dissemination events and workshops in England (2012), Finland (2010), Hungary (2008, 2011) and Norway (2009).
University of Glasgow-led research on assessment and learning directly shaped assessment policy and practice in Scotland, the UK and Norway. This included the development and implementation of the Assessment is for Learning Programme (AifL) and the Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) as well as changes to testing and monitoring under the Scottish Survey of Literacy and Numeracy (SSLN). The University of Glasgow's contribution to the internationally renowned Assessment Reform Group prompted further curricular and assessment changes both within and beyond the UK. Most recently the impact of the Glasgow research has extended to Norway where it influenced the Norwegian Directorate of Education's changes to assessment policy.
This case study concerns a body of research conducted at Plymouth University on outdoor and experiential learning. The research has impacted upon children and schools through developing outdoor learning approaches and schools making changes to the school physical environment to support learning. It has also impacted upon practitioners and their practices and influenced the review of outdoor learning curriculum in Victoria (Australia). It has led to a successful Lottery bid, led by the Silvanus Trust, which is having a direct impact on practitioners and their approach to understanding outdoor learning and well-being.
Our research on curriculum and teacher agency has shaped curriculum policy and teacher development in two Scottish local authorities and a third had embarked on this route at the end of the period. Secondly, the research is informing the national curriculum review being undertaken by Education Scotland. Consequently, it is being used in teacher development programmes that are promoting improvements in the classroom. It has also informed scrutiny of policy among a wider professional audience and raised awareness of complex processes of curriculum reform within the broader public discussion in Scotland.
Impact is primarily economic and organizational, resulting from more effective leadership processes and practices by small firm owner-managers. The mechanism of impact was a programme known as LEAD (leadership, enterprise and development), which drew a significant community of owner-managers of smaller firms in Greater Merseyside into the Management School, to enable them to use research findings about managerial and entrepreneurial learning, leadership and business support in the running of their firms. The resulting impacts were on management practices and processes, and firm performances. Practitioners engaging with the University of Liverpool Management School (ULMS) LEAD programme experienced turnover increases averaging 21%. The beneficiaries are small firms, their employees and business support partnerships.
Research by the University of Nottingham's Education and Technology for Health team has benefited healthcare students, professionals, users, carers and institutions both in the UK and internationally by establishing a participatory methodology for high-quality, sustainable multimedia Reusable Learning Objects (RLOs). These learning tools are now used in 50 countries globally to facilitate individual access to knowledge, enhance learning within curriculums and deliver continuing professional development, with feedback showing satisfaction of up to 100% in some nations. They are also being used to train healthcare professionals in resource-poor countries, further strengthening the University of Nottingham's role as a global education provider.
The mode and structure of initial teacher education (ITE) is an instrumental factor in the quality of pupil learning and educational attainment. University of Glasgow research had a direct role in re-shaping ITE by substantially influencing Teaching Scotland's Future: Report of a review of teacher education in Scotland, the government's most comprehensive and radical review of teacher education and professional learning for the last 20 years. The final government report specifically called for a `hub model' of teaching schools, similar to a model being piloted at Glasgow, to be introduced across Scotland, effecting a transformation in the way that Scotland's 49,000 teachers are initially taught and trained.
Outdoor learning is a multi-dimensional concept embracing three dimensions: `outdoor/adventure-sport activities', `personal development' and `environmental/sustainability education'. Its potential across curricula has been recognised in UK and international policy contexts. Research by Beames, Higgins, Nicol and Ross, and collaborators since 2000, has led directly to national and international developments: 1. Scottish Government (SG) policy on local outdoor learning; 2. SG and General Teaching Council for Scotland policy on sustainability education and outdoor learning; 3. specialist degree programmes, and continuing professional development for UK and overseas teachers. Related work has supported policy developments on recreational and educational countryside access.