Scottish Government

Appendix 9: Schools of Ambition Evaluation Conference, May 2007

From September 2006 the Research Support Team has provided mentoring support to individual schools through a designated research mentor. From the early stages of the research it has been important to establish strong collegial relationships with partners in schools. Through a series of face-to-face meetings and workshops, supplemented by email and telephone contact, a strong and stable link has been established between individual mentors and clusters of partner schools. The Virtual Research Environment ( VRE) was designed to further strengthen communication and collaboration between mentors and schools and importantly between schools in the Schools of Ambition network (school to school).

In addition to support from a research mentor, it was important to provide opportunities for colleagues in schools to learn from each other. The Research Support Team saw great value in bringing together representatives from each school to share experiences, ideas, research instruments and evaluation designs. The format for the conference was discussed by the Project Management Team in a series of meetings, with input and strong support from colleagues in SEED. Mentors consulted with colleagues in school (on scheduled support visits) to identify priorities and to establish preferred presentation formats. A discussion thread was also started on the VRE to canvas opinion, although this was not developed. It was important to emphasise that this was largely an event for and by teachers.

A call for contributions was circulated in March 2007. 19 sessions were offered by teachers working in 14 Schools of Ambition across Scotland (detailed below). Schools from a wide range of local authorities were represented including the Shetland Islands, Highland, Argyll and Bute, Dumfries and Galloway and the Scottish Borders. The one-day conference for 88 delegates was held at the Paramount Highland Hotel, Stirling on Monday, May 14 ^th. 25 teachers and 11 pupils were involved in a full day of presentations. In addition to offering fifteen minute oral presentations followed by questions, schools were invited to display posters and project information on display boards in the main meeting room. These were available to view throughout the day. Each of the three universities within the Research Support Team offered a workshop for delegates: Strathclyde University demonstrated the collaborative potential of the VRE; The SCRE Centre, Glasgow University offered a session on working with data; and Aberdeen University offered a session on approaches to investigating distributed leadership.

Contact details were shared with delegates to facilitate further networking after the conference. Following the event, participants (who had not already done so) were encouraged to share their presentations and resources with the wider Schools of Ambition community using the VRE. A conference folder containing all conference material was set up in the resources area of the VRE.

An evaluation report based on 30 conference evaluation forms completed during and after the conference was submitted to the Project Management Team, the Research Advisory Group and the SEED team of Advisors (June 2007). The overall impression of the conference was very positive.

Figure 1

Delegates were most enthusiastic about the opportunity to learn about developments in other Schools of Ambition.

"It was a very pleasant, supportive and interested environment in which to give a presentation…"

"Very inspiring day and well managed…"

"Thoroughly enjoyed the school sessions - great ideas to take back..…"

"Sharing practice was of value…"

"I have found the inputs from other schools very interesting throughout the day…"

"Enthusiastic and inspiring presentations, great involvement of pupils….…"

"Enjoyed all presentations, interesting to hear varied approaches".

"Exciting to hear about research taking place in schools"

"Leaflets from other schools - great!"

Suggestions for improving the structure of the day, focused on a desire for greater opportunities to hear about applied evaluation, in context. Delegates also expressed a desire for higher levels of participation through participation in formal (interactive) sessions and through informal networking opportunities. Not surprisingly, teachers requested sessions that were relevant, accessible and active.

"More whole group activities and more opportunities to network…."

"A better balance of expert advice and practitioner experiences throughout the day."

"Concentrate more on research rather than on programmes…fewer presentations…."

"A workshop on how to create questionnaires…."

"Less theory/ more practical advice…"

"Ensure the value of research is not de-contextualised from the realities of school,… "tough realities".

"Keep sessions relevant and hands-on…"

Key points

• Teachers value the opportunity to share ideas, experiences and resources.
• Delegates value interactive approaches and opportunities for participation.
• Pre-conference planning can support improvements through:
• • offering templates to scaffold presentation plans
  • encouraging a wider range of presentations formats
  • designating display space to particular themes
• Mentors can support teachers by encouraging participation, supporting the writing of proposals, reviewing conference materials (and offering to co-present).
• The provision of applied examples by the Research Support Team can provide a 'walk through' of various methods of data collection and analysis.

Targets

• Attendance by delegates from tranche one, two and three schools.
• A wider range of formats
• Explicit focus on evaluation in all (reviewed) contributions

schools of ambitiom
Teacher Research Conference - Call for proposals

Date: Monday, May 14 ^th 2007
Venue: Paramount Highland Hotel, Stirling
Time: 9:30-16:30

Keynote address: Professor Anne Campbell, Liverpool Hope University

About the conference

The teacher research conference is an exciting opportunity for teacher evaluators within the Schools of Ambition to share work in progress and discuss ideas and innovations with peers in a supportive environment. Sessions in a variety of different formats are offered including teacher-led workshops, seminar presentations and 'surgeries' on particular aspects of report writing or research planning led by the Research Support Team.

Seminar presentations are opportunities for teachers to present the findings of evaluation activities undertaken in school. The surgeries and workshops are opportunities to seek assistance with future plans and learn more about the range of techniques available to support research and evaluation activities. There will be opportunities both to present and also to attend a range of sessions.

Attendance at the conference will offer delegates the opportunity to:

• Exchange ideas with peers across the Schools of Ambition in an interactive forum.
• Develop awareness of the range of enquiry strategies available to teacher evaluators.
• Share strategies to evidence the impact of innovation - new ideas, new techniques.
• Strengthen plans for year two of the action research strand.

Each School of Ambition is warmly invited to offer presentations on work-in-progress in their school.

Presentations are invited on a range of themes:

• Reports on teacher-led small-scale evaluation projects
• Workshops on using particular evaluation tools and approaches e.g. online questionnaires, focus groups, using video and encouraging pupil participation.
• Key management issues e.g. partnership working, CPD, establishing and supporting research and enquiry teams in school.

Presentations are invited of 15 minutes duration, followed by time for questions
Each school can submit more than one presentation
Papers will be grouped together in similar themes
The Research Support Team will allocate a chairperson to help with timing and discussion.

Attendance is free for all participants. Lunch and refreshments are provided.

Each school has two delegate places reserved for the conference. If you require additional places, please discuss your requirements with Moira Hulme (Tel: 0141 3303411, email: m.hulme@educ.gla.ac.uk)

DEADLINE for submitting proposals: Monday April 2 ^nd 2007
Your mentor will offer support in drafting proposals

Teacher Research Conference - Call for proposals

Examples of session descriptions

Report on teacher-led small-scale evaluation project:

The challenges involved in expanding vocational provision in a rural high school

This presentation outlines the major challenges involved in planning, delivering and evaluating a programme of vocational learning at a rural high school. The session outlines the case for expanding provision in this area, the consultation process that was undertaken and the methods that were employed in evaluating progress. Evaluation data was produced using focus groups and interviews with local employers. This was supplemented by existing attendance, referral and attainment data. The presentation summarises the main outcomes to date and concludes by sharing the lessons that can be learned from this school's experience.

Key management issues:

Planning for 'transformation': Motivating and sustaining the commitment of teachers

This session outlines the challenges to senior management in planning for transformational change in a large urban high school. It outlines one school's attempt to address these challenges, giving examples of how teachers contributed to the change agenda through a variety of consultation activities: seminar papers, CPD programmes and teacher enquiry groups. The paper stresses the importance of 'invitational' approaches and the significant challenges involved in working towards a 'distributed' model of leadership.

Workshop on evaluation tools and approaches:

Developing sustainable evaluation approaches to monitor the impact of school transformation

This session looks at how a range of sustainable strategies have been developed in a large high school to evaluate key strands of the Transformational Plan; in particular, the effectiveness of measures to promote leadership and empowerment across pupils and staff. Key topics will include: how the school is developing a capacity to use qualitative approaches to fully evaluate 'transformation', how students have been involved in collecting and analysing data and how existing school monitoring systems such as online surveys have been adapted and enhanced to reach staff, students and the wider community.

Schools of Ambition Conference Sessions, 14 May 2007.