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Developing Higher Education in Further Education Colleges

Summary of the impact

A twelve-year programme of research (2001-12) led by Professor Gareth Parry on higher education in further education colleges has produced impacts on policy development, institutional strategy and professional practice in England. The beneficiaries are the central authorities for higher and further education, the colleges of further education and their university partners, college managers and tutors, and thereby students and employers. The types of impact are changes to national funding and reporting arrangements; enhancements to policy and organisational learning; and contributions to institutional capacity-building. The vehicles for achieving impact are collaborations with policy, professional and practitioner communities through expert programmes, consultancies, databases, directories and guides to good practice. The reach of the impact is national, cross-sector and institutional, with a wider influence on debates across the UK and international developments including in Australia.

Submitting Institution

University of Sheffield

Unit of Assessment

Education

Summary Impact Type

Societal

Research Subject Area(s)

Education: Specialist Studies In Education
Economics: Applied Economics

Leadership of learning impact in further and higher education

Summary of the impact

Researchers from Oxford Brookes University have significantly contributed towards driving improvements to teaching and learning through an evidence-based approach. They have influenced practice and policies, whilst challenging public perceptions about the impact of education. Through their partnership with the University of Westminster, the Westminster Centre for Excellence in Teacher Training has improved teaching and learning in the Learning and Skills Sector, engaged with the design and delivery of enterprise education programmes for Further Education leaders and championed the status of vocational education. They have actively contributed to public debates and their research continues to be disseminated and used in training throughout the UK.

Submitting Institution

Oxford Brookes University

Unit of Assessment

Education

Summary Impact Type

Societal

Research Subject Area(s)

Education: Education Systems, Curriculum and Pedagogy, Specialist Studies In Education

Case Study 1: Nomadic pastoralists’ inclusion in the global Education For All movement enabled by re-designing of education services.

Summary of the impact

The global pledge of achieving Education For All by 2015 is compromised by providers' reliance on education services that are designed for sedentary users and exclude nomadic pastoralists. Dr Caroline Dyer (University of Leeds; Senior Lecturer in Development Practice, 2004-2011; Reader in Education in Development, 2011- present) has re-visioned approaches to education for nomadic groups through her analysis of how public policy perpetuates pastoralists' educational marginalisation and design of research-based models of service provision that can deliver pastoralists' right to education inclusion without compromising their mobile livelihoods. Her research led to changes in national policy strategy and re-designed service delivery in Kenya in 2010, shaped policy debate in Afghanistan from 2012, and has supported community and NGO advocacy in India since 2008.

Submitting Institution

University of Leeds

Unit of Assessment

Politics and International Studies

Summary Impact Type

Societal

Research Subject Area(s)

Studies In Human Society: Policy and Administration, Sociology

Shaping the new open education policy and practice agenda

Summary of the impact

`Opening up education' is a sustained theme of the Centre for Research in Education and Educational Technology (CREET). Across more than 25 projects, active from 2008, our research has been instrumental in establishing and shaping the global agenda in open education, especially through open licensing of content and tools. Our evidence-driven and action research has two strands of impact:

  1. Practice: leading change in educational systems and industry
  2. Policy: influencing institutional, national and international strategy.

Our innovative collaborations and community engagement are international with examples of practice in Brazil, Africa and Europe, and strategic influences in USA, UK and the Commonwealth of Independent States.

Submitting Institution

Open University

Unit of Assessment

Education

Summary Impact Type

Societal

Research Subject Area(s)

Education: Curriculum and Pedagogy, Specialist Studies In Education

Defending the Subject

Summary of the impact

A unique insight in The Dangerous Rise of Therapeutic Education (2008), and developed through an ESRC Seminar Series, is that a therapeutic ethos in education is creating a diminished human subject through a `dual attack' on the human subject as a knowing subject and the subject-based curriculum.

A conscious public defence of the subject-based curriculum was then undertaken through seminars, debates and conferences involving think tanks, charities and union organisations. The appointment of Professor Dennis Hayes to the London Mayoral Education Inquiry (2012) was one consequence. The Inquiry resulted in funding of £24.5 million for the London Schools Excellence Fund.

Submitting Institution

University of Derby

Unit of Assessment

Education

Summary Impact Type

Societal

Research Subject Area(s)

Medical and Health Sciences: Public Health and Health Services
Education: Curriculum and Pedagogy, Specialist Studies In Education

RECOUP

Summary of the impact

The Research Consortium on Educational Outcomes and Poverty (RECOUP) examined the effects of education on the lives and livelihoods of people in four developing countries - India, Pakistan, Kenya and Ghana. It also investigated how best to improve education and poverty-reduction strategies in and for developing countries. Its research outcomes influenced the volume of UK aid to education between 2008-13. It helped to improve the allocation of UK aid, resulting in greater emphasis being placed on the most needy countries. It brought particular benefits for the aid process in the case of India. It also helped refine international approaches to the education of the disabled.

Submitting Institution

University of Cambridge

Unit of Assessment

Education

Summary Impact Type

Political

Research Subject Area(s)

Education: Specialist Studies In Education
Studies In Human Society: Sociology

Transforming lives on the Indian sub-continent: the long arm of education research

Summary of the impact

The IOE researchers featured in this case study have had a major and sustained impact on education in the Indian sub-continent. Geeta Kingdon has shaped UK government policy on educational aid to India. She has also helped to ensure that millions of poor children in Uttar Pradesh — India's most populous state — qualify for free places in private schools. Angela Little's work in Sri Lanka has raised the profile of primary education, which has been hampered by low status and inadequate funding. She has also done much to improve the life chances of the country's disadvantaged children — particularly those growing up on tea plantations.

Submitting Institution

University College London

Unit of Assessment

Education

Summary Impact Type

Societal

Research Subject Area(s)

Education: Curriculum and Pedagogy, Specialist Studies In Education

Improving academic induction for higher education lecturers in professional fields

Summary of the impact

Across the Higher Education sector, in the UK and in much of Europe, university lecturers in professional fields are usually appointed on the basis of their practitioner experience and expertise, and they may have little prior experience of teaching at Higher Education level or of research activity. The impact of the research in this case study has been on individuals, Heads of Department, academic developers and universities across the UK in influencing changes in academic induction practices leading to enhanced professional development of university lecturers in professional fields, especially in teacher education, nursing and the allied health professions. The dissemination of the research included the publication by the Higher Education Academy (HEA) of guidelines for academic induction of teacher educators.

Submitting Institution

University of Cumbria

Unit of Assessment

Education

Summary Impact Type

Societal

Research Subject Area(s)

Education: Curriculum and Pedagogy, Specialist Studies In Education

Education and Peacebuilding in conflict-affected states

Summary of the impact

This research, commissioned by UNICEF between September 2010 and December 2012, and led by Professor Mario Novelli, University of Sussex, examines the role of education in peacebuilding in conflict-affected states. The findings were directly employed by UNICEF to create a Dutch government-funded, four-year, $200 million, Peacebuilding, Education and Advocacy Programme (PBEA) now operating in 13 countries (2012-16). The findings successfully challenged the UN's approach to peacebuilding, which prioritises investment in security, democracy and economic reforms, making a strong case for greater investment in education programming in post-conflict settings. The findings form part of a paper commissioned by the UN Peacebuilding Support Office (PBSO), where it is stated that the social sectors, including education and health, require a bigger role in peacebuilding operations. Both the UNICEF PBEA programme and the shift in UN Peacebuilding strategy are likely to make a positive long-term impact on children's and adolescents' lives in conflict contexts.

Submitting Institution

University of Sussex

Unit of Assessment

Education

Summary Impact Type

Societal

Research Subject Area(s)

Medical and Health Sciences: Public Health and Health Services
Studies In Human Society: Political Science

SKOPE (Skills, Knowledge and Organisational Performance): Influencing policy in the UK and abroad - a study of cumulative impact

Summary of the impact

SKOPE has been an ESRC research centre since 1998. Successive pieces of research on linked themes have cumulatively influenced thinking, and practice, in policy circles and amongst practitioners more generally. SKOPE is recognised by these constituents as providing important oversight and challenging roles in the policy process, through its research on how skills are acquired, and where and how they are best used in the labour market. As indicated in a Frontier Economics report, its research findings, built up over the years, have provided an influential British critique of approaches to the making of skills policy.

This work has resulted in changes and amendments to specific policies and processes not only in the UK (Train to Gain) but also in Australia (high skill eco-systems), New Zealand (tertiary education) and within the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) (skills and competitiveness).

Submitting Institution

University of Oxford

Unit of Assessment

Education

Summary Impact Type

Economic

Research Subject Area(s)

Education: Specialist Studies In Education

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