Research Round-Up from the Learning and Skills Research Network
Jo Fletcher-Saxon
Assistant Principal: Higher & Adult Ed I Teacher Educator I Podcasting Pracademic I Co-host #FEresearchpodcast I Ed. LSRN I PhD teacher research as CPD I Jisc Community Champion I BERA Teacher Network
January 2025
This issue of?Research Round-Up?has information about publications and activities within LSRN networks and across organisations involved with research in and about the further education and skills?sector.?Research Round-Up?is circulated via LinkedIn, posted on social media, added to our LinkTree and sent out via email. If you’d like to include an item in the next?issue?send it to?Andrew Morrris?at?[email protected]?by Monday 3rd March 2025.
Jo Fletcher-Saxon and Andrew Morris
Contents
LSRN
LSRN National Conference 2025
Booking is now open for the Learning and Skills Research Network (LSRN) National Conference 2025 #LSRN25. Join us on the 4th April 2025 for an inspiring event exploring the uses of research in further education. This year, we delve into how research shapes and enhances our practices as educators, fostering innovation and growth across the sector. Attendance is strictly limited to those who have booked.
Book your place here. On the booking page you will need to first select which option you want (see below) and then click on Add to cart
The conference will run from 9.45am to 5pm. It will include parallel seminars, with three speakers each plus 10-minute speeches to the floor and a digital gallery of materials and information. The fee is ￡35 per day ticket or ￡40 with High Tea and twilight networking event. There will also be an extended programme on April 5th featuring a writing retreat (free) and networking lunch
The conference venue is at the University Centre West Anglia, at the College of West Anglia, in the beautiful and historic town of King’s Lynn. The nearest train station is King’s Lynn. There will be free reserved on-site parking. We will provide refreshments throughout the day. Lunch will be supplied by a local charity called Feed Fenland. Advice on local accommodation is on the webpage and you can contact Joyce at [email protected]
Organisers: Dr Joyce I-Hui Chen; LSRN Chair; Kayte Haselgrove, LSRN vice chair; Lee Ballard, LSRN convenor, Kerry Heathcote and Andy Houghton, College of West Anglia.
LSRN for Islands
The second Islands network meeting is planned for 31st January 2025 1 pm – 2:30 pm online. The focus of the meeting will be to hear from six different practitioners about their research in everything ranging from Creative Pedagogies for the Future; Using low risk creative process for students; Using AI for teaching and learning as well as behaviour management strategies. This network meeting will enable island-based practitioners to connect with each other and talk about evidence informed practice. We will also aim to start planning an in-person island-based LSRN meeting in the future. ?It will be an exciting start to 2025 and hopefully lead onto some possible collaborations that extend beyond our collective shorelines.
For further information contact the convenor, Louise [email protected]
Black Country LSRN
The LSRN Black Country Colleges Annual Conference, ‘Hear Me, See Me’ – research in FE, by FE, was hosted by Sarah Cattell, David Turner and Richard Brennan at Walsall College, in collaboration with the University of Wolverhampton. A report of the event is on the LSRN website: Black Country LSRN | Learning and Skills Research Network. Convenors Annie Pendrey and Julie Wilde would like to thank all our local colleges and research leads for their continuous enthusiasm and support for FE researchers and contributing across the network, a super community is emerging with college leads and contacts as below:
Our community of Black Country researchers are using the winter to reflect upon our previous Conference at Walsall College and with the launch of our Writing Hub, we are beginning to receive articles for publication in our own regional journal: FocusED. Plans are afloat for our Summer Conference, lead by Craig Tucker and Emma Shrimpton to be hosted at Halesowen College, June 18th? 2025
Contacts: [email protected] and [email protected]
West Yorkshire LSRN
Rachel Terry, convenor of West Yorkshire LSRN for many years, will be moving on after the LSRN conference in April. We are grateful to Rachel for all her work of the years in West Yorkshire and later as Chair of the Convenors Group. She made a particularly big contribution to LSRN in 2023, editing the post-conference publication “Staying with the troublemakers”. Thank you for all this, Rachel and best wishes for the future.
There is now a vacancy for a convenor (or ideally two co-convenors) for this region. If you would like to know more about what is involved, just get in touch with Andrew Morris and/or Rachel for an informal conversation about the role.
Beds, Bucks, and Herts LSRN
A Regional Event for the Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, and Hertfordshire region was held on November 28th at The Bedford College Group in Bedford, United Kingdom. Presentation themes included Ethical Education, Student Transitions; Adult Learner Engagement; Attendance Interventions; Functional Skills Assessment and AI in Education. An overview of the event and a handbook with details of the contributions is available on the Beds, Bucks and Herts LSRN webpage. Contact Mahruf Shohel
East Anglia LSRN
East Anglia LSRN has monthly events in partnership with the College of West Anglia. The next event is on Wednesday 22nd January.?Please book the event on Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/cwa-research-innovation-forum-cwarif-tickets-648198147107?keep_tld=1
Contact Joyce Chen
Events
Edge Foundation
Degree Apprenticeships
On Tuesday 28th January, join us online for an insightful discussion on Degree Apprenticeships, centred around the findings from three research studies conducted by Edge. Learn from the experiences of Degree Apprentices, employers, and education providers, dive into strategies for widening participation, and explore what makes effective work-based mentoring in allied health professions. Register here.
Sam Jones and Kerry Scattergood – book launch
Sam and Kerry, former and current LSRN convenors, have edited a book Exploring Practitioner Research in Further Education: Sharing Good Practice. You are invited to the book launch on 28th February 11-1 at Solihull College.?It will be an opportunity to hear from the chapter authors and celebrate the progress made in the sector.
Contacts: ??Sam Jones??? Kerry Scattergood? ?
Birmingham City University
Reimagining and Reclaiming Adult and Further Education Congress: The Post COVID Experience
This Congress will take place at Birmingham City University on Wednesday, June 25 · 9am – 5pm. It is organised in strands and we encourage all delegates to be ready to give voice to their individual perspectives. The aim of the strands is to provide fora in which the experiences of practitioners and students can be contextualised by policy and theory. Our keynote speakers will frame key themes at the start of the morning and afternoon sessions. Each thematic strand is led by coordinators who will stimulate and orchestrate the discussion. Afternoon sessions will foreground possibilities for action, change and open up the possibilities for research activities in the year ahead.
For full details and registration click: Reimagining and Reclaiming Adult and Further Education Congress Tickets, Wed, Jun 25, 2025 at 9:00 AM | Eventbrite.
Publications
Edge Foundation
Student Voices: What Are Students Saying About Their Experiences of T Levels?
Edge’s new report (Dec 2024):?Student Voices: What Are Students Saying About Their Experiences of T Levels??examines student perspectives on T Levels.?Written in collaboration with Professor Kevin Orr and based on insights from over 200 students and staff from 11 colleges, it highlights both the promise and challenges of T Levels.?
Ofsted Inspection in the general Further Education and Skills sector in England
There’s an astonishing lack of academic research into what works well and what doesn’t in the Ofsted inspection system of the Further Education and Skills (FES) sector. Edge have published a new report which contributes important evidence around the experiences of college stakeholders, including tutors, lecturers, principals and all those involved in FES. The government has recently introduced changes to how Ofsted operates in schools. This new research comes at a crucial time in terms of what changes will be made in the FES sector.
Degree Apprenticeships
On Tuesday 28th January, join us online for an insightful discussion on Degree Apprenticeships, centred around the findings from three research studies conducted by Edge. Learn from the experiences of Degree Apprentices, employers, and education providers, dive into strategies for widening participation, and explore what makes effective work-based mentoring in allied health professions. Register here.
Association of Colleges and UCL Institute of Education
The educational provision for 14 to 16-year-olds in further education in England
AoC and IOE UCL’s Faculty of Education and Society are delighted to be launching our project report: ‘The educational provision for 14 to 16-year-olds in Further Education in England’. This Nuffield-funded project ran over two years from September 2022 to October 2024. We are grateful to the Nuffield Foundation for their funding and support.
Click here to read the report
领英推荐
Education Policy Institute
A quantitative analysis of T level access and progression
In this report, we investigate the early-stage trends and impacts of T levels, and the T level transition programme (TLTP – soon to be renamed the T level foundation year). We aim to provide evidence to support and inform future policy, decisions and interventions around T levels and the TLTP. We explore the characteristics of students who enrol on T levels and the TLTP, the drivers and consequences of T level withdrawal, transitions from the TLTP to T levels, and the impacts of T levels and the TLTP on post-16 attainment and progression. We also look at the typical course content of the TLTP.
Read the report here
Gatsby Foundation
Training for Industry Associates in Further Education
Gatsby, in collaboration with the Department for Education and Edge Hill University, is launching a project to support industry professionals transitioning into teaching roles within the Further FE sector. For more information please read the FE News? article: FE News | Transforming FE workforce recruitment and retention through industry collaboration
Good Career Guidance: The Next Ten Years
A report?Good Career Guidance: The Next Ten Years sets out the updated benchmark framework for careers guidance and the underpinning evidence and showcases examples of good practice. The framework has a positive impact on young people, with research indicating a link between a school or college achieving more benchmarks and a reduction in their young people being not in education, employment and training (NEET). It has been adopted in more than 90% of schools and colleges; 4,700 institutions now measure their careers provision using the eight Gatsby Benchmarks
Nuffield Foundation
The Skills Imperative 2035: Recommendations Report – Responding to changes in the labour market to support workers at the greatest risk
This is the first recommendations report to be published by the?Skills Imperative 2035 programme, a five-year programme funded ?by the?Nuffield Foundation and led by NFER. It draws on evidence in the?five working papers?published through the programme to date. Twelve million people work in occupations that are projected to decline, putting them at higher risk of losing their jobs. This report provides recommendations for supporting more of these workers in to successfully transition into growing areas of the labour market.
Report-Occupational-hazard-Inequalities-in-labour-market-mismatch.pdf
This report is part of a wider study on inequalities in access to elite occupations by the CEPEO Centre at UCL funded by the Nuffield Foundation. See the Nuffield programme: Inequalities in access to elite occupations – Nuffield Foundation. The report finds that:
Education Endowment Foundation
Can using ChatGPT for lesson and resource preparation in Key Stage 3 science reduce teacher workload?
Although it’s a study of Keystage 3, this trial of the use of AI in lesson preparation shows an interesting result for us all – 31% drop in preparation time, without loss of quality. 259 teachers in 68 secondary schools across England took part in the randomised controlled trial. Of those, 129 teachers in 34 schools were randomly allocated to use ChatGPT alongside a guide on effective implementation, to support lesson and resource preparation for their Year 7 and 8 science classes. It found:
Read about the research here. The guide used by teachers is freely available here: Teaching with ChatGPT
Learning & Work Institute
Adult Participation in Learning Survey 2024
The 2024 survey shows just over one half (52%) of adults have taken part in learning in the last three years, the highest rate since the survey started in 1996. The increase in participation since the pandemic has been driven by a rise in self-directed learning, including online, and often for personal or leisure reasons. The survey reveals stark and persistent disparities in learning for adults:
OECD
Survey of Adult Skills (PIAAC)
The OECD Survey of Adult Skills (PIAAC) is a worldwide collaborative project with a number of international partners. It aims to measure the skills needed by adults to participate in society and for economies to prosper. The latest survey assessed skills in literacy, numeracy and adaptive problem solving, and was carried out with adults aged 16 to 65 in their homes.
Selected findings for England
Read the full report .
About Research
Nuffield Foundation – funding opportunities
The Nuffield Foundation is an independent charitable trust with a mission to improve people’s lives by funding research. It is a leading funder of UK research on post-16 education, training and skills. Applications for the Research, Development and Analysis fund are invited twice a year; the next deadline is 1st April 2025. The Racial Diversity UK Fund will open its second funding round in Autumn 2025. For more information, see: Research Funding | Apply for Funding | Nuffield Foundation
Nuffield’s work encompasses:
The Foundation seeks to be an open, collaborative and engaged funder.
Educational Action Research?journal
Action research
A Special Issue of?Educational Action Research?journal will focus on classroom-based action research as well as action research in other contexts that draw inspiration from the work of Lawrence Stenhouse. ?Contributions from colleagues throughout the world working in all phases of education, are welcomed.
Nuffield Foundation and Education Policy Institute
A new Centre for Education Systems – setting up phase
A new Centre for Education Systems (CES) is to be set up to synthesise evidence to inform education policy, and to make it available in a usable form. It will represent a consolidated source of authoritative information and insight. A preliminary project will support the development of this new organisation that will be the first to co-ordinate international research on macro policy to inform policy making. CES founding members are Lucy Crehan, Sam Freedman, Loic Menzies and Patrick Wall. The grant will be administered by the?Education Policy Institute?and the project will be supported by an Advisory Board that includes Dylan William, Anna Vignoles and Steve Munby.
The CES will work to ensure that policy makers are better informed, so that they can design and select policy instruments that are more coherent and more likely to achieve their intended purpose.?The first step will be to undertake international evidence synthesis across ten jurisdictions to compare with the four UK nations.
See the new website
Education & Training Foundation
Invitation to participate in Maths GCSE resit project at ETF
The Education & Training Foundation is running a research project funded by the Education Endowment Foundation on Maths GCSE resits in colleges, called Can-do Maths. Colleges are invited to register to participate and only 16 places are available; the deadline is soon – 27 January, 2025 at 12:00am. Teachers will receive a?professional development programme alongside ongoing specialist support from a?dedicated expert practitioner, to deliver a?series of intervention activities in their GCSE resits. ?Can-Do Maths intervention was developed as part of aa action-research project at the Centre for Excellence in Maths. This pilot will help establish the feasibility, evidence of promise and readiness for trial of the updated Can-Do Maths intervention. The pilot will be evaluated by University College London.
For details, and to register click: Can-Do Maths – Pilot | EEF
Education Endowment Foundation
Invitation to participate in a trial of Get Further’s GCSE Resit Tuition Programme
Colleges are invited to participate in an individual-level randomised controlled trial on GCSE English or Maths Resits. The project will be run by Get Further whose small-group tuition programme GCSE Resit Tuition is designed for post-16 students who are resitting GCSE English or maths. Students are supported by tutors, who go into colleges to work with up to three students per weekly session.?The programme will be evaluated by a?team led by the University of Warwick using a?randomised controlled trial (RCT) and Implementation and Process Evaluation (IPE).?All General Further Education colleges and Sixth Form colleges across England are eligible. Students will need to be in their first year of post-16 study, resitting GCSE English or maths for the first time, and not participating in November 2025 GCSE resits. The deadline to register is 30 September 2025 at 12:00am.
Click for details and to register: Get Further’s GCSE Resit Tuition Programme – Trial | EEF
Convenors across regions: https://lsrn.wordpress.com/convenors/