Praxis Teacher Research

by Ferdinand Doepel, Trinity School, Croydon Research questions: To what extent do metacognitive methods enable students in Lower 6th to improve their study habit? What is the effect on their mental health? Context and Rationale: According to the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF, 2018) metacognition and self-regulation offers high impact intervention techniques for very low cost […]

by Jack White-Foy, Dulwich College Abstract Inhibitory control is thought to play a role in conceptual change, whereby a naïve idea is inhibited in favour of the correct scientific one but is never truly erased. Activation of the anterior cingulate cortex and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex have been associated with better performance on misconception tasks in […]

by Becky King, The Duston School THE ISSUE: Professional autobiography – what motivates me as a teacher? The Duston School has a history of High Prior Attaining students falling short of their target grade in English. Indeed, in the most recent Ofsted Inspection in October 2018 stated that ‘At Key Stage 4, pupils’ outcomes in […]

by Jack White-Foy, Dulwich College ABSTRACT Neuroscience encompasses every aspect of brain and behaviour, from tiny molecular interactions to exchanges between groups of whole organisms. Educational neuroscience is the relatively new field of applying our understanding of development, cognition and behaviour to teaching and learning. This project set out to introduce students to cutting-edge Brain-Computer-Interface […]

By Andrea DiStefano & Tom Kelly, City of London Boys School What is the problem? We are aware that classroom learning resources (and worksheets) often have issues with accessibility. Over 11% of pupils experience some form of visual processing or other accessibility obstacle. Teachers do not always know the strategies or techniques that enhance accessibility. […]

by Jo Parker, DUCKS, Dulwich College Rationale Children often start a school setting from the age of 3 when in Nursery. All children at this age enjoy books, listening to stories and spend time independently looking at books in the reading area. When offering to read or being asked by the children to read a […]

by Mark Squire, Haberdashers’ Aske’s School for Girls Introduction To not dare is to have already lost. We should seek out ambitious, even unrealistic projects, because things only happen when we dream. Andrée Putman The education system is traditionally based on convergence: a narrowing of the curriculum and therefore the narrowing of perspectives of students […]

Matt Kerr, City of London School Research question: To what extent are CLS boys in the Third Form at risk of exhibiting behaviour consistent with Technology Addiction? The issue: The idea for me to study the notion of Technology Addiction came when the School was about to embark on banning mobile phone use for some […]

Suzanne Hughes | Rectory Farm Primary School Project rationale  My school’s Ambition Charter states that we want our students to build happy and successful lives. For this, they need strength of character; strong communication skills along with a resolute confidence. There are high levels of disadvantage at my school and, as a staff body, we passionately […]

Sharon Snowden | Park High School Project rationale  Data collected from our feeder schools indicated that 66 students would be starting at Park High in September 2018 not having met the nationally expected standard in reading, or had no data. This is broadly in-line with the trend over the last four years, in which between […]

Sarah Green | Newall Green High School Project rationale  Newall Green High School is a small 11-16 secondary academy which is part of The Prospere Learning Trust. It is located in Wythenshawe, South Manchester, which is one of the most socially deprived areas in the country. The proportion of disadvantaged students and those with SEND […]

Ruth Loxley | Hastings High School Project rationale  My original exploratory research question actually focused on the oracy to writing process and was: ‘to what extent do oracy strategies improve the writing skills of low ability Year 10 boys?’ However, when I started this project, I quickly found that there were a number of barriers […]

Rosie Cook | St Stephen’s C of E Junior School Project rationale  The National Curriculum states that “children should be taught: to speak with confidence in a range of contexts, adapting their speech to a range of purposes and audiences” (Department for Education, 2014). At our school, we want our children to be confident speakers […]

Richard Sternberg | Byron Court Primary School Project rationale  I am interested in how teachers can positively influence character, well-being and personality. As Mental Health is a topic receiving intense scrutiny in education currently, I set out to explore how developing oracy skills can affect social and emotional well-being. My initial research revealed several key […]

Rebecca Hall | Windhill 21 Project rationale  The purpose of this research was to explore and evaluate the impact of a ‘Word a Day’ programme on vocabulary development. Vocabulary has been a rising theme on the national education agenda and many schools are considering how best to support children to use a wide-ranging, diverse and […]

Rebecca Carter, Silsden Primary School  Project rationale  Over a number of years in teaching, I have observed a lack of articulacy amongst low attainers. Unable to express themselves because of a lack of vocabulary and poor grammar, these children are often the ones to struggle at school and become disaffected, leading to behavioural issues. In […]

Philippa Adkins , Surrey Square Primary School Project rationale  I am hugely passionate about students being able to express themselves when sharing their thoughts and experiences with peers, both inside and outside of the classroom. I have always put a high value on children’s personal talk about their lives. Examples of this include their peer-to-peer conversations […]

Natasha Oswald | Tilbury Pioneer Academy Project rationale  Recent studies have shown that there is an increasing number of children entering the EYFS with an extensive gap in their communication and vocabulary. This has particularly been recognised in areas with a higher level of deprivation. The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) has long been seen as […]

Michelle Khambhaita, Keighley St Andrew’s CE Primary Project rationale  I wanted to explore the effects of improved oracy skills on pupils’ social and emotional wellbeing, in particular their self-confidence. Having started working at a new school in September 2018, I was struck by the pupils’ lack of confidence when sharing their work or offering their […]

Maggie Moe, The Angmering School Project rationale  Having worked in a comprehensive school judged as requiring improvement, school leaders have identified middle ability boys as consistently underachieving and frequently becoming disengaged in their learning. Underachievement in boys’ literacy has been studied by various researches for more than a decade, all reaching a similar conclusion: girls […]

Louise Northey, International Academy of Greenwich Project rationale  At the school where the research was undertaken, a specific cohort that had been identified as underperforming in English were middle ability Year 8 boys. Therefore, these students were chosen as the focus group for the research. Five students were selected from the middle ability Year 8 English […]

Liberty Kitchen, Catherine Junior School Project rationale  For my project, I decided to research to what extent the use of presentational talk (implemented for 4 months) improved writing in Year 5. As the saying goes, “If you can say it, you can write it” and I wanted to test this theory further. Social constructivist theorists […]

Katy O’Neill | South Malling CE Primary and Nursery  Project rationale  I chose to focus on developing the quality and quantity of talk in a guided reading group of five Year 3 students. I selected this focus in response to observations I had made of the characteristics of group talk generated in guided reading sessions […]

Katie Middlehurst, St Ann’s CE Primary School  Project rationale  Whilst watching ‘Oracy in Action’ at School 21, I was inspired by the talk-rich assembly that I observed. I noted that compared to the current practice in my school, there were far more opportunities for the students to: engage in exploratory talk; speak to larger audiences; […]

Julie Walters, Shoreditch Park Primary School  Project rationale  However, I noticed that, for some students, oracy based tasks were a challenge and that collaborative thinking and discussion weren’t areas of learning where they felt at ease. I observed some reluctant speakers in my class and was keen to develop classroom practice that ensured every student […]

Hester Dickinson , Dinnington High School Research question: To what extent does the use of oracy strategies improve the quality of written work, over a three-month period, among a focus group of Year 9 students?  Project rationale: I chose to focus on this area as my school has a large proportion of students who we are […]

Heather Roche, Little Stoke Primary School  Project rationale  Good communication skills are crucial in the early years. Being able to talk and listen well are critical in helping children learn, make friends and feel confident. Poor language puts children at risk of poor reading and writing, poor behaviour and poor attainment (The Communication Trust, 2011). […]

Gillian Russell, Coppice Primary School  Project rationale  As a teacher of year 6, at the start of the year I identified a group of six underachieving boys with high prior attainment (i.e. they were capable of achieving Greater Depth in the KS2 SATs Reading test, but were currently working at Expected level).  My initial Guided […]

Frances Spivey, Academy at St James  Project rationale  Reading was highlighted as a particular focus due to our ASP (Analyse School Performance) report which indicates that as a school Reading is a line of enquiry due to falling standards. Therefore, as a school leadership we have prioritised the teaching of Reading, using Oracy at the […]

by Emily Bass, Fulbridge Academy Project rationale  The purpose of this project was to investigate verbal reasoning as a means of embedding mathematical concepts in year 1 children and to see whether this led to an increase in scoring both in summative maths testing and through teacher assessment of knowledge and lesson progress. It was […]

by Ellie Garment, Colonel Frank Seely Academy Project rationale  In March 2018, as part of an annual review, four external senior leaders visited our school to look at the quality of teaching and learning. A common observation made by each of the visiting senior leaders was that students in some lessons were ‘apathetic’ or ‘passive’ and […]

by Edward Booth, Braunstone Frith Primary School Project rationale  I have chosen to carry out an action research project on the impact of exploratory talk to support mathematical reasoning on a group of students in my year 5 class who entered the year being one or more steps below Age Related Expectations (ARE). I have […]

by Dave Dodd, Crab Lane Primary Project rationale A significant proportion of the students who come to our school enter without the necessary language and communication skills to fully access the curriculum. We have already begun to raise the profile of high quality oracy in school, through a focus on collaboration and speaking frames and […]

by Sam Pennycook Context: Our purpose was to explore the effects of a structured programme on the level of confidence students had when tackling independent work for their A Level studies in Year 12. The transition from GCSE to A Level is challenging for all students but most of the observations I have made in […]

by Dave Spence, Wilmslow High School  Project rationale  An analysis of KS4 data revealed that students were underperforming in extended written responses on English literature texts in relation to the national average. In particular, boys were struggling to produce substantive written responses in exam conditions and a further sub-group of disadvantaged students were attaining well below […]

by Charlotte Gleeson, Manchester Enterprise Academy  Research question To what extent do paired discussion activities, implemented for half a term, improve confidence in oral responses among high ability working class girls?  Project Rationale The school that I work at serves a community in the top one percent of social deprivation across the country; our Pupil […]

by Joe Fenton and Sarah Wallace Research question: To what extent do strategies for metacognition enable pupils to produce creative project work? This project builds on some findings from last year, that project work that involves metacognition facilitates creative work. This is linked with Berys Gaut’s (2018) argument that certain strategies can be taught which […]

by Bev Knuckey, Llanedeyrn Primary School  Project rationale  Teachers have developed processes in our school to ensure moderated assessment is consistent at each outcome and level. With oracy our priority, attention has been given to its assessment and management – the storing of recordings; how accessible they are for teachers and senior leaders; and the […]

by Beth Cooper, St Wilfrid’s RC College  Project rationale  To promote more ambitious teaching and learning experiences for a high prior-attaining Y7 class  To maximise outcomes for Y7 students with high KS3 scores  To ensure participation and engagement of every student in the class  To promote exploratory talk to stretch and challenge students’ ability to […]

by Michele Tatman Rationale My initial research question was: ‘To what extent do Year 5 girls reflect on their learning?’ However this proved to be too wide a question and was narrowed down to the use of one reflective tool; the ‘post-it’ note and it’s use in one Year 5 class.  I chose to focus […]

by Amy Weerasekera, School 21 Research question To what extent are high expectations for listening, used alongside scaffolds for response, an effective strategy for improving learning through talk? Project rationale I chose to focus on listening as an area of development following learning walks and discussions with colleagues. It was clear that although we had […]

by Alun ReevesRSA Academies Abbey Wood First School & Church Hill Middle School Project rationale Teaching across a pair of schools in Redditch (one a first school and the other a middle school), I work with many students who do not come from ‘talk-rich’ environments or have the early-life experiences of their more advantaged peers. […]

Introduction The purpose of this study was to explore the way social stories can be used as tools to help develop emotional intelligence in young children. To do this, I collected comments about feelings that were communicated during six separate story sessions with children in Years 1 and 2. This study also measures the effect […]

Context A frequent talking point at parents’ evenings is the perception amongst teachers and parents that reading for pleasure plummets around the age of 13, particularly amongst boys. This is backed by research. For example, Hall and Coles (2002) report “a clear trend towards fewer books being read as children grow older” and that “there […]

Context There are no answers in teaching that can make you successful. No list that you can check off and be “finished and perfect”. To be a good teacher, you must strive to understand learning and keep this at the forefront of what you do. This research project, carried out as part of an Institute […]

Introduction Being a toddler can be a tricky time in a child’s life.  Some of the children in my setting have just left the Baby Room, where they were in a small environment with only two adults and no more than five other children each day. They suddenly found themselves in a room twice the […]

Context: Our purpose was to explore the effects of Let’s Think in English (LTE) on the quality of critical and creative thinking in the grade 5 and 6 classes in an International school in Zürich. We also wanted to explore the cognitive development of the students and the further development and transfer of these skills […]

Authors: Joe Sylvester and Lucy Longhurst Summary: Allison and Tharby’s statement about questioning feels instinctively correct: ‘…questioning is hard to pin down. Good questioning is ubiquitous and fluid. It occurs in different forms during each part of a teaching and learning cycle.’ (Allison & Tharby, 2015) We ask a lot of questions (on average, 2 […]

Authors: Richard Riggs and Nick Hudson Summary: Teachers spend a lot of time marking students’ work. We wanted to ensure that marking was productive and helped students to make progress. The initial problem: Is marking as productive as it could be? Do the students find the feedback they are given helpful? To what extent does […]

Context: I run a centre for secondary aged students with Communication Difficulties, including Autism. Through embarking on the Masters in Education Studies at the University of Sussex focusing on Person Centred Education, I have become increasingly interested in student voice (Fielding, 2001, 2005) and enabling the voices of students with communication difficulties within mainstream environments to […]

Context: I am a Science teacher, and I am currently teaching GCSE Biology to Year 9. I’m going on maternity leave soon, and I want to do something to help my students develop the independent learning skills they need in order to revise effectively. In my teaching practice, I am concerned that I have not previously given my […]

Context: I have been teaching A level history for over 20 years. The new A Level coursework element of Year 13 requires the students to research independently, and I was concerned that my Year 12 students may suffer when their time came. But I was presented with an unusual opportunity: could the fact that they […]

Context: The White Paper ‘Educational Excellence Everywhere’ (DfE, 2016) sets out the policy agenda for the government from the present to 2020. Lumby and Muijs (2014) remind us that in the UK, a government White Paper is intended to set out legislation and to invite response to it. The suggested legislation presented in the 2016 […]

Context: This study explores the development of formative homework-feedback within a school setting, and forms the basis for my MA dissertation (see attached for the full report). Introduction: First I reviewed the existing literature relating to homework and feedback. Then I carried out an action research project, using pupil and teacher focus groups. In particular, I was interested to investigate the current […]

Context: Year 10 GCSE mixed ability Photography class 3 year GCSE course Large, mixed comprehensive school in South East London Introduction: This Action Research study is concerned with the big ideas (Threshold Concepts) in Photography and how they might be meaningfully integrated into a programme of study for GCSE students. I was also interested in the […]

Context: I teach a Year 8 mixed ability Science group, ranging from NC level 4 to level 8. Previously, I have noticed that when writing up science experiments, conclusion writing is one of the areas where there is lots of room for improvement from students across the ability range. Conclusion writing is where students get to show off their […]

Context: A level photography Threshold Concepts Critical understanding Introduction: What are the key Threshold Concepts in A level photography? Would time spent explicitly discussing them with AS level photography students improve their critical understanding of the subject, helping them to think and behave like artists/photographers? Research question(s): How well do we teach students how to […]

Context: This study, which I completed for an MEd in 2015, explores the impact of two models of classroom observation on teaching and learning: the Ofsted approach, and Lesson Study – an evidence-based / practice-based approach to improving teaching through lesson observation. Introduction: I began by carrying out a review of the literature with regard to the […]

Context: I have chosen to carry out an action research project on independent learning my year 9 Computer Science class. I have chosen this class because this is going to be the only year 9 group with no previous knowledge of Computer Science; future GCSE groups would have learnt Computer Science for at least a year in KS3. And I have […]