Research Subject Area: Education

REF impact found 369 Case Studies

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Access to Justice Through Education: Building a Law Clinic Culture in the UK and Beyond

Summary of the impact

The pedagogic research undertaken by the School of Law has produced an ambitious and innovative model of clinical legal education: the in-house live client model, which offers a university-based free legal service offering full representation to private clients and NGOs in the form of the Student Law Office. The Student Law Office integrates supervised legal service in the law curriculum, thereby delivering free access to justice to the wider community whilst benefiting the learning environment. Impact is three-fold:

  1. a major contribution to voluntary legal services in a region with high social deprivation: over 1,000 clients secured access to justice and over £840,000 of compensation has been recovered for clients;
  2. a national and world leading role influencing the legal profession, regulators and policy makers; and
  3. building the capacity of law clinics in other HEIs to provide a free legal service.

Submitting Institution

Northumbria University Newcastle

Unit of Assessment

Law

Summary Impact Type

Societal

Research Subject Area(s)

Education: Curriculum and Pedagogy, Specialist Studies In Education
Law and Legal Studies: Law

Addressing the Inherent Biases in Automated Systems: On Detecting 'Plagiarism'.

Summary of the impact

Over a decade's research by Introna and Hayes has investigated the biases inherent in automated systems. As part of this research they showed that the design and use of plagiarism detection systems (PDS), used by Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) worldwide, may be unfair due to their embedded values and assumptions. A series of reports, workshops and supporting resources, using these insights, have transformed writing support and teaching practices at no less than 32 HEIs nationally and internationally, affecting lecturers, support staff and student union representatives. As a result, at least 10 HEIs have developed less punitive policy frameworks and taken a more developmental approach, leading to a much fairer treatment of plagiarism cases.

Submitting Institution

Lancaster University

Unit of Assessment

Business and Management Studies

Summary Impact Type

Societal

Research Subject Area(s)

Education: Specialist Studies In Education

Applying ‘plurilithic’ concepts of English to help English teachers become aware of, and to challenge, deficit models of language learning, teaching, and assessment

Summary of the impact

Dr Christopher Hall's research on second language (L2) lexical development stressed the hybrid nature of lexical mental representation in learners of English. This led him to reflect more critically on the local experiences and needs of learners and non-native users, and to develop a `plurilithic' account of the ontological ambiguity, unfairness, unhelpfulness, and unsustainability of monolithic conceptions of English for learning/teaching. Informed by this research, Hall (Reader in Applied Linguistics) and colleagues Dr Rachel Wicaksono (Head of the Department of Languages and Linguistics), and Clare Cunningham (formerly Wardman, an ECR and Lecturer in Linguistics) have taken steps to raise awareness of the implications of monolithic thinking among UK and international English Language Teaching (ELT) stakeholders, thereby challenging some firmly established tenets of language education policy.

Submitting Institution

York St John University

Unit of Assessment

English Language and Literature

Summary Impact Type

Societal

Research Subject Area(s)

Education: Curriculum and Pedagogy
Psychology and Cognitive Sciences: Cognitive Sciences
Language, Communication and Culture: Linguistics

Bringing the benefits of grammar knowledge closer to L2 practitioners

Summary of the impact

The research focuses on the second language acquisition (SLA) of tense and aspect, which are persistently problematic areas of grammar for language students to master. It has led to the development and delivery of workshops for language teachers which deliver three impacts:

  • an enhanced knowledge of the linguistic properties of tense and aspect;
  • an understanding of the reasons underlying learners' difficulties;
  • the consideration of effective pedagogical techniques in grammar teaching.

The teachers' improved confidence and skills lead to greater motivation and engagement by their students, delivering the main impacts which are improvements in education and the learning of second languages.

Submitting Institution

University of Greenwich

Unit of Assessment

Modern Languages and Linguistics

Summary Impact Type

Societal

Research Subject Area(s)

Education: Curriculum and Pedagogy, Specialist Studies In Education
Language, Communication and Culture: Linguistics

Bristol research into the Pompeian Court of the Sydenham Crystal Palace helps schools, heritage groups and the wider community gain fresh insights into the past and its interpretation

Summary of the impact

Hundreds of school students, their teachers, local heritage groups, audiences at live events and thousands of people engaging in online activities have benefited from a University of Bristol research project called Resurrecting the Past: Virtual Antiquities in the Nineteenth Century. The project uses the medium of a 3D online model of the Pompeian Court of the Crystal Palace to promote awareness of the Palace and provide access to knowledge about it. Just as significantly, the project has explored how history is interpreted and inspired innovative ways of teaching. The research has not only illuminated a particular place and period but also investigated the relationships between 19th-century physical and 21st-century virtual reconstruction. Perhaps most importantly, it has given young people a deeper, transferable understanding of the nature of history and historical `facts'.

Submitting Institution

University of Bristol

Unit of Assessment

Classics

Summary Impact Type

Cultural

Research Subject Area(s)

Education: Curriculum and Pedagogy, Specialist Studies In Education
Studies In Creative Arts and Writing: Art Theory and Criticism

Bristol research leads to better ways of evaluating schools and promoting learning, achievement and improvement in the UK and Internationally

Summary of the impact

Since 2008, UK and overseas policies, practices and tools aimed at evaluating and promoting quality in schools and supporting student learning, attainment and progress have been profoundly influenced by research conducted at the University of Bristol. The work began in 2001 in the Graduate School of Education; from 2005, the School's efforts were complemented by those of the Centre for Multilevel Modelling. The research has generated original knowledge about school performance measures and school, teacher and context factors which promote student learning. This knowledge has transformed government and institutional policies and practices. New improved methods of evaluating schools and interventions in education (and other sectors) have been demonstrated and widely disseminated, thereby enhancing public understanding of institutional league tables and facilitating the scaling-up of new approaches nationally. The development of statistical methodology and MLwiN software and training has enabled more rigorous and sensitive quantitative analysis of educational datasets around the world, as well as wider take-up of this methodology by non academics.

Submitting Institution

University of Bristol

Unit of Assessment

Education

Summary Impact Type

Societal

Research Subject Area(s)

Education: Curriculum and Pedagogy, Specialist Studies In Education

Building a Safer Surgical Workforce; Driving Innovation in Simulation, Training & Educational Research

Summary of the impact

The impact of educational research from the Rothschild Centre for Clinical Simulation and Education Research (RCSER) at Imperial College London has progressed from the development and validation of simulators and skill assessment, through to shaping guidelines for training curricula and continued professional development in the NHS and beyond. This body of multidisciplinary research brings together Imperial's contributions in simulation science, skills assessment, performance-shaping factors, educational theory and surgical practice to contribute to national and international healthcare education and policy. The work impacts upon clinical practice at regional, national and international levels, with far-reaching implications for the quality and safety of patient care.

Submitting Institution

Imperial College London

Unit of Assessment

Clinical Medicine

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

Cyberbullying and E-Safety in Children and Young People: the impact of research by the Unit for Child and Youth Studies, York St John University

Summary of the impact

Bullying has for many years been acknowledged as a serious problem in schools (Smith & Brian, 2002). Research has shown that being a victim of bullying can have serious and long-term negative effects on psychological well-being (Hawker & Boulton, 2000). This case study outlines the impact of survey-based work, undertaken in schools by the Unit for Child and Youth Studies, exploring school engagement, bullying and wellbeing, which has identified and increased awareness of cyberbullying. This knowledge has been integrated into the development of government policy, as well as school and local authority interventions, on cyberbullying and e-safety more broadly.

Submitting Institution

York St John University

Unit of Assessment

Psychology, Psychiatry and Neuroscience

Summary Impact Type

Societal

Research Subject Area(s)

Medical and Health Sciences: Public Health and Health Services
Education: Specialist Studies In Education
Psychology and Cognitive Sciences: Psychology

Calculating the Value of Global Education Exports for UK Government.

Summary of the impact

Prior to 2004 there was no accurate way of determining the value of education to the UK economy. Moreover, education had not previously been considered as part of the economy in the same way as, for example, manufacturing. At this time the British Council commissioned Geraint Johnes to produce a methodology for evaluating the global value of all education exports. The Department of Business, Innovation and Skills used this on 2008-2010 data to calculate its worth at £14.1bn to the UK. BIS have re-used this methodology in subsequent years and estimated that by 2025 the UK value will increase to £26.6bn. The research has also been used in the ongoing debate on immigration and UK Border Agency policy for example the revoking of visas by London Metropolitan University in August 2012, which was widely publicised by national and international media. It has also been frequently cited in government papers and in Parliament.

Submitting Institution

Lancaster University

Unit of Assessment

Business and Management Studies

Summary Impact Type

Societal

Research Subject Area(s)

Education: Specialist Studies In Education
Economics: Applied Economics

StudentVoice

Summary of the impact

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.

Submitting Institution

University of Cambridge

Unit of Assessment

Education

Summary Impact Type

Societal

Research Subject Area(s)

Education: Curriculum and Pedagogy, Specialist Studies In Education

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