NATIONAL TEACHER RESEARCH CONFERENCE
19th of March 2004
Birmingham NEC
Partly as a result of the completion of the BPRS, I was invited in August 2003 to attend the above conference: the 2nd conference run by the National Teacher Research Panel. I was invited to present a workshop, but decided that there was not enough to justify an hour long session. There were also few other people working in the same area, so a joint workshop with other people didn't really come off either.
The conference was supported by the following organisations:
Centre for the Use of Research Evidence in Education
Look out for a promised new site at Easter. The site has details of the Conference.
NATIONAL TEACHER RESEARCH PANEL
GENERAL TEACHING COUNCIL FOR ENGLAND
With sponsorship from the
NATIONAL COLLEGE FOR SCHOOL LEADERSHIP
DfES
The weather was rather stormy on the morning of the conference, but cleared up by lunchtime, and it was very pleasant eating lunch beneath the glass atrium.
The conference opened with 4 short speeches, all of which were interesting and thought provoking.
I particularly liked the ideas put across by Professor Charles Desforges from Exeter University. The basic ideas in the opening sessions were related to the importance of research to the teacher, and to the institution where they worked. It was also an essential part of CPD.
I particularly liked the point where the Professor realised he was having an impact on his students: when he found, carved into one of his pupils' desks: ' Desforges is a B*****D!'
He also talked about the importance about developing TOOLS FOR LEARNING, so that the research wasn't an end in itself but led on to something. That was the aim of the GEOGRAPHY PAGES website which came out of my own research, and has already been mentioned in several other references as being a good model for the dissemination of research. It's about using the KNOWLEDGE gained in research to start CHANGING BEHAVIOUR.
It is about developing an ENGINEERING APPROACH: using research outcomes to make things better.
There were over 40 workshops run by a range of people from different schools and institutions.
I spent the morning in the Exhibition space, and the Research Cafe. This included a chance to meet various people. One of the people I talked to turned out to be Professor Rosamund Sutherland, who I came across the next day on this BBC ARTICLE on how ICT is being used in Education. She was involved in the INTERACTIVE EDUCATION project: "Teaching and Learning in the Information Age".
In the afternoon I attended 2 sessions:
One of them was the Interactive Education session I talked about earlier. There were some good ideas used in various subjects. I may try to introduce some of them, adapted to Geography teaching.
A great venue, quality catering and a nice free bag. Many thanks also for the payment to cover supply costs which was certainly helpful in getting permission to attend, and I enjoyed the drive back along a relatively empty M6, with my first view of the TOLL ROAD, and some rather nice fair weather cumulus, and it was also a trial run for later in the year when I'm attending another event at the NEC.
Many thanks for the invitation. I hope to be involved in more Action research soon.
To find out more, why not visit the NATIONAL TEACHER RESEARCH PANEL website, where details of the conference are still posted, and you will soon be able to read the opening statements by the people mentioned above. Useful summaries were handed out on the day.
Go to the GTCE's RESEARCH OF THE MONTH page.
Also check out the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR ABLE CHILDREN IN EDUCATION for some ideas on teaching the 'G&T' or whatever you call them...