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In 2008, Professor Frank Hardman led a baseline study of pedagogic practices in Tanzanian primary schools to inform the design of a national school-based in-service education and training (INSET) programme. In February 2011, a pilot of the programme was launched and in August 2012 Hardman was commissioned to lead on an evaluation of the pilot, building on the 2008 baseline. Based on the findings of the 2012 evaluation, the Tanzanian Ministry of Education and Vocational Training (MoEVT) and Prime Ministers' Office-Regional Administration and Local Government (PMO-RALG) are currently planning a national scale-up of the INSET programme.
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.
Robertson's research in learning via game-authoring demonstrated sustainable success in bringing programming into schools. This subsequently catalysed (i) creation of a whole new suite of qualifications by the Scottish Qualifications Authority; (ii) inclusion of the requirement for games development experience in the new Scottish Technologies Curriculum; (iii) the development of `Computing at Schools Scotland' in terms of its successful annual conference and provision of specialist CPD for Computing teachers. Having so far influenced the education of over 500,000 Scottish pupils, Robertson's work is also cited in the key document underpinning Obama's programme for STEM training in the US via game-authoring.
Successive research studies carried out by Professor Brahm Norwich in the Graduate School of Education have addressed the development of policy for children with Special Educational Needs (SEN), shaped professional understanding of how best to teach pupils with SEN, and generated a resource to support teacher-educators and teacher trainees in meeting the needs of pupils with SEN. The research has driven a fundamental re-appraisal of how children with SEN should be taught, showing that many children with SEN do not require specialist teaching, but rather an intensification of the same general teaching methods used for non-SEN pupils. The research has resulted in the creation of a practical training tool for SEN teaching and a teacher-training tool designed on this basis has been disseminated nationally to teacher training providers. Testimonials indicate that the tool has contributed directly to improving the quality of teaching for pupils with SEN.
This case study focuses on Holocaust education in schools in Scotland. The research has shaped future United Nations programmes, influencing teaching pedagogy in Scotland and in the international community. Findings have contributed to the recognition of the positive value of school based Holocaust education as evidenced in Scotland by local authorities' provision of Continued Professional Development courses in teaching the Holocaust to teachers, and increasing numbers of schools commemorating Holocaust Memorial Day. Further, the research has contributed to the political debate on the value of school visits to the Auschwitz-Birkenau Holocaust Memorial and Museum, and educational debates on the contribution of Holocaust to Citizenship education.
This body of regional, national and internationally commissioned research, alongside the development of outputs designed specifically for user groups, has resulted in: changes to training interventions with those who are long-term unemployed regionally and trans-nationally, including refugees; changes to policy and practice to enhance success in accessing higher education of refugees and asylum seekers regionally and nationally; development of a set of `guiding principles' adopted by the Higher Education Academy in their funding of Strategic Development Grants focussed on enhancing ethnic minority student degree attainment; critical debate in national press and via other public platforms.
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.
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).
The IOE's Centre for Holocaust Education has transformed the way that this disturbing historical event is taught in many English schools. The Centre's highly regarded research-informed professional development programme has benefited thousands of teachers and ensured that an estimated 1m pupils experienced a deeper emotional and intellectual engagement with this difficult subject. The Centre has established a group of `Beacon Schools in Holocaust education' which have developed programmes of study that are now being shared with their own school networks throughout England. It has achieved international `reach' by producing educational materials for the UN and providing advice, training and consultancy for organisations such as Yad Vashem, Jerusalem's international Holocaust memorial museum.
The University of Aberdeen's £1.4M Inclusive Practice Project has developed innovative approaches to teacher education to create classrooms where all children can learn through full participation in the school community, without the stigmatisation that comes from ability labelling. The Project has driven major changes in teacher education, in primary and secondary school classroom environments in Scotland and beyond. The Project is responsible for major changes to initial teacher education and ongoing professional teacher education programmes and is influencing education policy in Scotland and abroad.