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Sunderland Repository records the research produced by the University of Sunderland including practice-based research and theses.

Learning Together: Evaluating and improving Further Adult and Vocational Education through practice-focused research

Gregson, Margaret and Spedding, Patricia (2018) Learning Together: Evaluating and improving Further Adult and Vocational Education through practice-focused research. In: Proceedings of the European Conference on Educational Research (ECER), Vocational Education and Training Network (VETNET). CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 1 . Vocational Education and Training Network VETNET, Bern, pp. 165-172. ISBN 9781723598005

Item Type: Book Section

Abstract

This paper argues that the relationship between educational research and educational practice
cannot be reduced to the simple application of knowledge gained from research conducted by
others. It contends that far from teachers being passive consumers of knowledge produced by
others, often in the form of ‘blueprints’ or ‘recipes’ for good practice, teachers are in fact creators
of new educational knowledge as well as potential generators of and contributors to educational
theory. It asserts that the new learning involved in putting an idea, concept or theory
from educational research into educational practice is a process of inquiry and therefore an
important and legitimate form of educational research. The paper discusses how an approach
to the continuing professional development of teachers, based upon practice-focused educational
research and inquiry-based pedagogy, coupled with a programme of dedicated research
support, can enable teachers to produce significant, well-theorised and systematic educational
research, leading to improvements in educational practice. This paper concludes that a practicefocused
and inquiry-based model of educational evaluation and improvement offers education
and policy professionals in the Vocational Education and Training sector (and potentially in the
schools sector) an alternative to current technical-rational, top-down approaches to inspection
and improvement in educational contexts.

Keywords
educational evaluation, educational improvement, educational research, further, adult and vocational
education (FAVE).

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More Information

Depositing User: Margaret Gregson

Identifiers

Item ID: 10881
Identification Number: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1319718
ISSN: ISBN: 978-1723598005
ISBN: 9781723598005
URI: http://sure.sunderland.ac.uk/id/eprint/10881
Official URL: https://zenodo.org/record/1319718#.XQdKpi2ZM6U

Users with ORCIDS

ORCID for Margaret Gregson: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-2195-3738
ORCID for Patricia Spedding: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-6089-6046

Catalogue record

Date Deposited: 21 Jun 2019 10:23
Last Modified: 26 Feb 2021 10:30