Research Practice Partnerships (RPPs) as a Strategy for Educational Change: Every Dundee Learner Matters (EDLM) (Poster 4)

• In Event: Bridging the Gap: Enhancing Research Use in Research-Practice Partnerships Based Across the Globe

Abstract

Purpose
This poster provides an overview of an RPP that has supported the development of a city-wide school improvement strategy that has emerged from a ten-year approach to supporting educational change and improvement in Scotland (Authors, 2022). It explains the co-construction of a guiding vision and design features put in place to support more effective ways of ensuring all children can achieve their full potential irrespective of their circumstances.

Theoretical perspectives
Set within an education system that is relatively centralized, the strategy sets out to build a Networked Learning System that works across boundaries and is guided using evidence and inquiry to inform developments (Madrid Miranda and Author, 2021).

The starting point for strengthening the capacity of schools is with the sharing of ideas, knowledge and practices through collaboration amongst staff. This is intended to encourage new thinking and experimentation with alternative ways of working. This is based on research which shows that this can be stimulated through an engagement with the views of different stakeholders, bringing together the expertise of practitioners, the insights of pupils and families, and knowledge from academic research in ways that challenge taken-for-granted assumptions, not least in respect to the progress of vulnerable groups of learners (Authors et al., 2020).

Methods
The approach used is ‘design-based implementation research’ (Fishman et al., 2013). This is guided by four principles: a focus on problems of practice from multiple stakeholders’ perspectives; a commitment to collaborative design; a concern with developing theory and knowledge related to both classroom learning and implementation through systematic inquiry; and a concern with developing capacity for sustaining change in systems. This is underpinned by the implementation of key ‘design features’ which are monitored and refined through data collection and analysis involving interviews and focus groups, social network analysis, the generation of artifacts and analysis of secondary data.

Findings
The evidence collected so far suggests that these developments are already having an impact on the presence, participation and progress (3Ps) of pupils. Whilst there is more to be done in terms of systematically embedding the approach, progress has been made in the following areas:

There is widespread awareness of Every Dundee Learner Matters and what it sets out to achieve;
the 3Ps have become the drivers for enhancing educational equity across the city;
all schools and nurseries have established one or more School Inquiry Groups;
these groups have used collaborative action research to identify and address barriers to the 3Ps in their pupils;
all schools and nurseries are members of a School Improvement Partnerships set up to share expertise, encourage innovations and undertake ‘Peer Review’;
District officers and the university research team have worked together to support school-led improvement efforts
and
a programme of leadership/learning seminars supporting key people in the field.

Significance
This poster offers new insights into a RPP that has evolved over a period of five-years to co-construct a city-wide improvement strategy focusing on enhancing educational equity and school improvement across all phases of schooling.

Authors

• Christopher James Chapman, University of Glasgow

• Mel Ainscow, University of Manchester