Teaching, Learning and Research Autumn 1 2020

Teaching,
\}{
Learning
and Research
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
1. Reflecting on the successes of
the book club
2. #EduBookClub
3. Lockdown PLD: A reflection
4. Fellowship Dissemination
5. Fellowship Testimonials
6. Scholastic Excellence: Displays
7. Five challenges in moving
towards evidence-informed
practice.
Reflecting on Professional Learning
and Development
In this issue, we reflect upon the challenges
and opportunities that lockdown has provided
and demonstrate the level of resilience and
endeavour our staff and students have at The
Evolve Trust.
Also, we look at the partnerships that have
been forged to improve the outcomes for all,
through our links with Kate Jones and
Nottingham Trent University.
Finally, this issue provides an article that
examines the challenges of being evidenceinformed
ad how to overcome these
challenges.

Reflecting on the successes of the
Book Club
By Joe Morrin
Page 2
The Evolve Trust book club has been a resounding success this year, with many teachers developing
resources for their departments, using Kate Jones’ strategies, and writing accounts on how it has
changed their practice, for the Teaching and Learning Newsletter. Additionally, the Book Club has had
a strong following on Twitter and, as a result, The Evolve Trust has supported teachers from different
institutions, in the development of book clubs.
Since the development of the book club, the author of the book, Kate Jones, has forged a strong
relationship with the Evolve Trust and has promoted our book club and reflection logs with other
schools and Twitter followers. Moreover, Kate has been willing to support our Trust and has hosted a
PLD event for the Trust.
This Year’s Book Club will focus on Michael Chiles’ ‘The CRAFT of
Assessment’.
CRAFT is a brilliant book for teachers at any stage of their career. This book looks
at the discussions that surround the most effective process of assessment and
feedback, which has been a topic of significant debate in many schools in recent
years. Michael Chiles is a Geography Teacher and Principle examiner. Besides
this, he is strongly passionate about whole-school approach to assessment.
We’ve already got 10 staff interested. If you are interested in joining, please let
Joe Morrin know. Our first meeting is on 2 nd November on Teams.

#EduBookClub
Using Technology Across the
Trust
By Joe Morrin
Page 3
If being part of a wider community of pedagogical book lovers is your thing. Why not join
@EduBookClub1. Each month they EduBookClub looks at a new book, and it provides an
excellent opportunity to share your experiences of the book with others and to ask the author
questions. So why not get yourself on Twitter and join the discussion.
On Sunday 16 th August, Natalie Aveyard from the Evolve Trust hosted
a discussion on Caroline Perez’s book ‘Invisible Women’.
Invisible Women shows how, in a world largely built for and by men,
we are systematically ignoring half the population. It exposes the
gender data gap a gap in our knowledge that is at the root of
perpetual, systemic discrimination against women, and that has
created a pervasive but invisible bias with a profound effect on
women’s lives.
This was a very interesting and thought-provoking discussion.
@womenedbookclub @womened #invisiblewomen

Lockdown PLD: A reflection
By Jessica Simpson
Page 4
During the lockdown, I spent the weekend (starting the 4 th April) watching
online presentations by a range of brilliant educators. The event was run by
Research Ed Durringham (@researchEDDHS). The CPD event was live on
Twitter for the whole weekend which was great as it gave me time to watch
all the videos (#rEDDurringtonLoom).
Some of the amazing speakers included: Dylan Wiliam, Michael Chiles, Mark Enser, Mary Myatt and
David Didau. There was a varied choice of topics to listen to, including talks on: distance learning,
assessment, leadership and helping students use effective learning strategies.
The session on effective learning strategies was by Dr Flavia Belham (@FlaviaBelhamPhD) and looked
at how to help students learn new information. The session was really useful and gave a range of
different methods that can be used within the classroom. It highlighted methods such as retrieval
practice, spacing and interleaving and dual coding. The talk really stressed that in order to reduce
students’ cognitive load we need to make them (and their parents) aware of the different learning
strategies. Dr Belham advocated that by showing students how they can use these methods to learn
and retrieve information it would in turn help them to understand how pathways are created in their
own brains, eventually enabling them to become more active learners.
Another video by Damian Benney (@Bennypenyrheol) spoke about ‘Using Desirable Difficulties to make
learning easier’. Benny explained that ‘desirable difficulties’ (Bjork, 1994) are moments where the
learner is left feeling slightly uncomfortable. His speech was interesting and suggested that conditions
that lead to long- term retention create challenges and slow the rate of learning; ultimately making
students uncomfortable. It is during these moments that Benney suggests the best learning can
happen as the students are faced with challenge.
Also Michael Chiles shared some information about his new book ‘The CRAFT of Assessment’. Chiles
explained what each of his core values stand for: Condense, Reflect, Assess, Feed- forward and
Target- driven. He explained the idea of combining feedback with feeding-forward for students as
really important and expressed that the feedback needs to be timely, receptive and fluid between
pupil and teacher. I have ordered Chiles book and I am excited to find out more.
In addition, Claire Stoneman (@Stoneman_Claire) also spoke about Willingham’s quotation “People
are naturally curious, but we are not naturally good thinkers; unless the cognitive conditions are
right, we will avoid thinking.” This suggests our brains are designed for the avoidance of thought and
that thinking can actually often be a slow and difficult process. She explained that we often rely on
memory to make decisions. Naturally, we prefer to follow the paths to knowledge that are already
rooted in our retrieval memory. This emphasises that we need to create new paths for students to
find information (new and old) when developing learning. Stoneman proposes that we need to provide
multiple and concrete examples of why and how something works as well as providing time for
students to review and retrieve new learning.

Lockdown PLD: A reflection
By Jessica Simpson
Page 5
At the minute Research Ed Home are sharing a whole series of videos (including the ones that I
watched during this event) on Twitter at @researchEDhome. These are shared at 11.00am every
weekday and I highly recommend these sessions to any of you who want to develop your own
practice from the comfort of your own home.

Fellowship dissemination
By Joe Morrin
Page 6
This year’s Fellowship participants presented their findings from their practitioner research to
Nottingham Trent University and The Evolve Trust Executive Team as part of their assessed work for the
30 Credit M-Level module ‘Reflecting on Professional Development’.
All participants were praised for the quality and delivery
of their presentations, especially in light of some
technical challenges. Although this dissemination tool is
essential to the participants Masters Award, the outcomes
of the Practitioner research will go on to inform staff
practice, school, local and national policy. Well done to
all for passing their Masters course.
The project titles were as follows:
• The use of quizzing to correct student
misconceptions and embed knowledge at KS3.
• What impact does whole class feedback have on
student engagement with feedback and teacher
workload?
• Improving Written Expression in Boys with ADHD
• What are the benefits (in terms of learner
engagement and progress made) of practical
learning/learning through play, combined with an
effective assessment tool (to capture those small
steps) for learners with severe learning disabilities
(SLD)
• The effectiveness of spaced retrieval practice on
Pupil Premium boys in improving their retention of
subject knowledge.
• Misdiagnosed, misunderstood or missed all
together. What type of support is needed for
successful inclusion of autistic females?

Fellowship Testimonials
By Joshua Morris and
Grant Nightingale
Page 7
The fellowship has had a significant impact on teachers’ professional practice and participants have
been willing to share their views about the programme. Here’s some of their testimonials:
Joshua Morris’ project looked at the effectiveness of spaced retrieval practice on Pupil Premium
boys in improving their retention of subject knowledge.
Why did you want to do the Fellowship?
I wanted to do the Fellowship course as I wanted to further investigate the use of Retrieval Practice
as a teaching tool and better my understanding of the pedagogy that underpinned it. I also was
interested in developing my teaching practice, both pedagogically and practically, as having only
just finished my PGCE I wanted to continue to learn new skills and tips to further cement my
practice in my upcoming NQT – which I found very useful
What did you get from it?
From the course itself I got lots from the reading aspect and the sessions led by NTU. They
introduced new ways of reflective practice, again both practically and pedagogically, and most
importantly they were relevant to your working environment in a school rather than just a
pedagogical idea that in its practice was not functionable. As well as this, I also developed my
leadership and research skills as I was able to lead the project myself and also collate information
that I myself was in charge of analysing and also presenting – which again is another great
experience to add to your teaching skillset. The group sessions were also really useful as it allowed
you to meet up with others, who were at a similar stage in their careers, this enabled us to share
ideas and techniques more broadly as well as specific to our projects.
Would you recommend it and why?
I would highly recommend the Fellowship project, as it enables you as a teaching practitioner to
fine tune your teaching practice in a way that allows you measure an outcome, which it is desirable,
could potentially shape the department/school that you work in.
Grant Nightingale’s project assessed the impacts of whole class feedback on student engagement
and teacher workload?
Why did you want to do the Fellowship?
I wanted to complete the fellowship as I saw it as an exciting opportunity to reflect upon and
develop my practice. I knew there would be plenty of support available and it allowed me to further
my pedagogical knowledge.
What did you get from it?
The fellowship provided me with a further opportunity to engage with pedagogical research and
embed this research into my own teaching. It built my confidence in terms of my own skill set and
has led to me feeling more accomplished in my field.
I would fully recommend the fellowship program as it's an excellent opportunity for you to gain
further Masters credits whilst engaging with pedagogical research and conducting your own as part

Scholastic Excellence: Displays
Page 8
Our staff across the Trust have been working tirelessly to produce some amazing display boards,
creating a stimulating environment for all of our students.
Languages
Novel Study – Iron Man
Physical Development and Well Being

Scholastic Excellence: Displays
Page 9
Animal Farm
Titanic Novel Study

Scholastic Excellence: Displays
Page 10
The ‘Pledgehog’
Key Religions

Five Challenges in moving towards
Evidence-informed practice
By Louise Stoll Page 11
An international spotlight is now shining on evidence-informed practice. In a fast-changing world, where
diverse groups of pupils need to be prepared for their future rather than their parents’ past, the nature of
teacher professionalism has changed. This now includes teachers having the confidence to access and/or
create the knowledge they need with colleagues and share it to benefit others as well as themselves
(Schleicher, 2015). Being evidence-informed is therefore at the heart of teacher professionalism. So why
doesn’t everyone just get on with it? Here, I pose five challenges that need addressing before this vision
can be realised; I offer thoughts on ways to tackle these, and then conclude by raising questions as a
stimulus for conversation.
Challenge 1:
Thinking too narrowly about ‘evidence’
People have different conceptions about ‘evidence’ (Coldwell et al., forthcoming). Some practitioners
think about their own or their colleagues’ practice, including pupils’ reactions, while others only accept
evidence that incorporates statistical effect sizes that demonstrate the link between a classroom
intervention (for example, mastery learning) and externally-assessed pupil progress. For me, evidenceinformed
practice involves using and promoting a thoughtful blend of three forms of evidence gathering.
External research – while effect-size research is a valid form of research, this type of research is not usually
linked to wider outcomes, such as creativity, resilience, etc. Research also exists on how children and
young people learn, for example, motivation, the social nature of learning, etc. and the implications for
creating appropriate learning environments. Then there is research on professional learning, bringing about
change, leadership, schools as learning communities, all of which is relevant when using evidence to
enhance practice.
Different kinds of data – this includes a range of pupil data, going well beyond what’s usually assessed, to
include, for example, critical thinking, entrepreneurship and wellbeing; data on teachers and teaching,
school leadership and the school as a place to learn and develop; and looking at different forms of
assessment, such as portfolios, observations, surveys and interviewing pupils. Evidence-informed practice
uses data at the start (as a baseline), throughout (to evaluate processes) and at the end (to evaluate
impact).
Collaborative enquiry and research and development (R&D) – these are forms of research that include
cycles of investigating practice, exploring, trialling and carefully evaluating new practices. These forms
frequently incorporate the other two.
Challenge 2:
Being ‘driven’ by evidence
A read of policy documents highlights the interchangeable use of two terms: ‘evidence-based’ and
‘evidence-informed’. The distinction is important. If teaching is ‘evidence-informed’ rather than
‘evidence-based’, teachers are in the driving seat, not the evidence. This fits with another important
feature of teacher professionalism – autonomy. Like their pupils, teachers aren’t empty vessels waiting to
be filled up. They bring prior knowledge, experience and understanding of their context. Teachers need
the confidence and skills to connect what they already know with the different evidence forms and use
this to make wise decisions about ways to develop their practice. Think about it this way – evidence isn’t
just informing teachers’ practice; it’s enriching it. If we assume that much practice is good anyway, the
idea of using evidence and related enquiry processes is that they can add something valuable, helping
teachers to think about and try out ways to make practice more powerful (see Figure 1).

Five Challenges in moving towards
Evidence-informed practice
By Louise Stoll Page 12
Challenge 3:
Risking your own practice being challenged
Engaging in evidence-informed practice can be risky. It may seem easier to ignore problems, not to try to
find out why things aren’t working, or to just keep doing the same things rather than get out of your
comfort zone and try something different. Evidence-informed practice invariably throws up challenges that
force teachers to question their assumptions about the best ways pupils learn. That’s good, because
professional learning should challenge assumptions as part of changing practice (Stoll et al., 2012), and
evidence-informed practice is a form of professional learning. But you need a steady nerve; taking it
seriously requires an enquiry habit of mind (Earl and Katz, 2006) – being open, keen and willing to keep
exploring and evaluating the best ways to support pupils’ learning, development, progress and achievement
in their context. It also requires a commitment to learning new skills, developing new teaching strategies
as necessary, and practising them deliberately to develop expertise (Stobart, 2014). Unquestionably,
evidence-informed practice isn’t about standing still.
Challenge 4:
Convincing others about the value of evidence-informed practice
I assume (or at least hope) that most readers are interested in evidence-informed (or evidence-enriched)
practice, if not passionate about its merits. But you will no doubt know
colleagues who are not similarly predisposed, including some who are downright sceptical or resistant.
Persuading yourself to invest the energy and take the associated risk of practice change is one thing;
convincing others is altogether different. Language is important here. I used the term ‘evidence-enriched’.
It may be a matter of taste, but when introducing initiatives, it can help to suggest that colleagues will be
building on strengths. Given already considerable workloads, some people will want persuading that
evidence-informed practice ‘works’ – they’ll only be convinced by evidence. Designing small projects with
other interested volunteers and then sharing the findings – especially quick wins and other successes, but
also what you’ve learnt not to do – is commonly used to build up support and move towards the point where
many colleagues are engaged.
For readers who are senior leaders (especially head
teachers/principals), your interest in and commitment to
evidence-informed practice is critical. In all my research,
evaluation and
R&D projects, where the head teacher has seriously
‘bought in’ to understanding evidence-informed practice,
using evidence and backing colleagues doing so, efforts
to develop a culture of enquiry and related practice
throughout the school have been more successful. These
head teachers ensure the conditions in schools that
enable other colleagues to become fully engaged and
follow through – for example: time, access to research
resources, opportunities for knowledge-exchange,
modelling being evidence-passionate (by reading
themselves, for example) and testing out their own
theories of action about what they expect from particular
interventions, nurturing evidence champions, networking
and connecting with critical friends and research partners
(Stoll, 2015).

Stoll L, Harris A and Handscomb G (2012) Great professional development which leads to great pedagogy:
Five Challenges in moving towards
Evidence-informed practice
By Louise Stoll
Page 13
Challenge 5:
Going it alone
It may be evident from what has gone before that I see evidence-informed practice as a collaborative
endeavour. Considerable international research now exists highlighting the importance of collaboration,
social learning and collective learning. Autonomy within professionalism today is much more about
collective agency (can do) and responsibility (accountability to peers) (OECD, 2016a). And a third, related
feature of teacher professionalism these days is peer networking – collaborating with colleagues within
and across schools. I wouldn’t want to prevent any individual who is keen from carrying out a piece of
enquiry with their own pupils – that’s great – but I just think more broadly about what it could be like if
a whole system was evidence-informed. I know that there are examples of schools that are learning
organisations (OECD, 2016b), where teachers connect with colleagues in their school and others to carry
out evidence-rich collaborative enquiry, to learn together and find creative and compelling ways of
sharing findings and moving knowledge about evidence-informed practice around the system. But there’s
a way to go yet if this is to become systemic and sustainable.
Conclusion
Enriching your practice with evidence can be satisfying and fruitful, but also challenging. These
challenges are worth embracing, but they aren’t easy to address, and I’m sure there are others that I
haven’t discussed. Here are a couple of questions as conversation starters:
Do you face any, or all, of these challenges? How are you addressing them? What else might you do?
What other challenges to evidence-informed practice can you think of? How will you tackle these?
References
Coldwell M, Greany T, Higgins S, Brown C, Maxwell B, Stiell B, Stoll L, Willis B and Burns H (Forthcoming)
Evidence-Informed Teaching: An Evaluation of Progress in England. Report for The Department for
Education.
Earl L and Katz S (2006) Leading Schools in a Data-Rich World: Harnessing Data for School Improvement.
Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
OECD (2016a) Supporting Teacher Professionalism: Insights from TALIS 2013. Paris: OECD Publishing.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264248601-en.
OECD (2016b) What Makes a School a Learning Organization: A Guide for Policy Makers, School Leaders
and Teachers. Paris: OECD publishing. https://www.oecd.org/education/school/schoollearningorganisation.pdf
Schleicher A (2015) Schools for 21st-Century Learners: Strong Leaders, Confident Teachers, Innovative
Approaches. International Summit on the Teaching Profession. Paris: OECD Publishing.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264231191-en.
Stobart G (2014) The Expert Learner: Challenging the Myth of Ability. Maidenhead: Open university Press.
Stoll L (2015) Using evidence, learning and the role of professional learning communities. In Brown C (ed)
Leading Evidence Use in Schools. London: IOE Press.