Leeds Beckett University - City Campus,
Woodhouse Lane,
LS1 3HE
Schools invited to bid for £50,000 University research fund
The Carey Philpott Partner Research Fund has been established by the Carnegie School of Education at Leeds Beckett, and is open to applications from all of its partner schools, networks and community-based organisations with an education focus, of which there are more than 1,000 nationwide, to develop practice-based research within their organisation.
Five awards of £10,000 are available for the academic year 2017-18, with successful bidders being supported by a researcher within the University who is an expert in the project’s field. Each organisation will also become part of the Carey Philpott Partner Research network and will benefit from sharing outcomes of all research projects in the scheme.
Rachel Lofthouse, Professor of Teacher Education at Leeds Beckett University (pictured top), explained: “The overall aim of the Fund is to support the development of educational practices which are informed by relevant, rich and context-sensitive research. We hope that the five successful projects will support educational decision-making which creates positive impacts for children and young people, professionals and communities. Researchers from the Carnegie School of Education look forward to sharing their expertise, but just as importantly, to learning alongside the practitioner researchers who get engaged in each setting.”
Bids are invited around the following research areas:
- Race and education: Practice-based research into racism in school settings, whether in the classroom itself or in the workplace culture.
- Creativity: Practice-based research into using immersive story and the creative arts as a stimulus to develop child-led, imaginative and curious learning.
- Mental health in schools: Practice-based research, working with the Carnegie Centre of Excellence for Mental Health in Schools at Leeds Beckett, focusing on the role and outcomes of senior staff in promoting a whole school approach to support the mental health and wellbeing of children.
- Professional learning through coaching and/or mentoring: Practice-based research into enhancing professional learning through coaching, mentoring or associated developmental practices.
- Special educational needs and/or disabilities in schools: Practice-based research in mainstream or special school settings, focused on raising outcomes for learners with Special Educational Needs and/ or disabilities or on developing staff expertise within this area.
Sharing their experience of winning a Research Fund from the Carnegie School of Education, Jack Wardle and Claire Dutton, teachers at Richmond Hill Primary Academy in Doncaster, said: “The funding has been invaluable in making our action research aspirations a reality, helping us to afford the time and resources needed to apply real focus and energy to the research process over a sustained period of time. The support and challenge provided through our researcher-in-residence has been first-class, keeping the research project on track, valid and ethical at all turns. As newly-appointed Research Leads, the experience of being involved in action research that is proving to have a direct influence on the practice of our schools has exceeded all expectations; the potential for transformation by being involved in research, at both a school and individual level, should not be overlooked. Not only have we grown in knowledge and understanding of the area of our research but also in our ambitions to influence wider educational development and outcomes.”
Professor Damien Page, Dean of the Carnegie School of Education, added: “As one of the leading Schools of Education in the country, we’re committed to working with our partners to increase research activity as a means of improving outcomes for young people. The Carey Philpott Fund will allow those who work with children and young people to find out what really works and to share that practice across the sector.”
Carey Philpott was Professor of Teacher Education in the Carnegie School of Education at Leeds Beckett University who passed away in January 2017 and who was an advocate for professional learning and evidence-based teaching.