Learning during the first three years of postgraduate employment - the LiNEA Project
This paper is based on findings from the first phase of a four-year research project funded by the UK Economic and Social Research Council as part of its Teaching and Learning Research Programme. The major component of this project is a longitudinal study of trainee accountants, graduate trainee engineers, and newly qualified nurses in England. This critical period of introduction to professional work has not been previously studied by a longitudinal series of observations and interviews, though
Learning during the first three years of postgraduate employment – The LiNEA Project
In this project then, we’re looking at young graduates in nursing, engineering and accountancy going into their first jobs, and we’re trying to find out what they’re learning, how is that being learnt, and what sort of things affect their learning.
In telling you about our project and the way it is working, I also aim to give you some inkling of what seems to be coming out from the people we’ve already spoken to about higher education, what they’ve derived from it, what they’re abl
Learning in the first professional job: the first year of full time employment after college for acc
This paper reports findings from the first phase of a four-year research project funded by the UK Economic and Social Research Council as part of its Teaching and Learning Research Programme. The major component of this project is a longitudinal study of trainee accountants, graduate trainee engineers, and newly qualified nurses in England. This critical period of introduction to professional work has not been previously studied by a longitudinal series of observations and interviews, though a n
Early Career Learning - the LiNEA project. Interim report for Accountancy
This report on the learning and development of trainee accountants covers the first two years of a four-year project funded by the Economic and Social Research Council’s Teaching and Learning Research Programme. Its findings are based on evidence collected from fourteen trainee accountants in their first year of training and from some of their mentors and managers. The main themes have been selected in order to facilitate discussions about the progress of the research with our employer partner
Pupil groupings within classrooms: social pedagogy within cultural contexts
There have been many studies of teaching and learning in classrooms, for example, involving teaching approaches and styles, learning or broad classroom level structures (e.g. age of pupils, ability, curriculum). These studies offer insights into teaching effectiveness, patterns of learning and broad explanations of classroom effects, yet they add little insight into the complex ecology that characterises children’s development in school contexts. Studies of teaching and learning within classro
Pupil groupings in primary school classrooms: sites for learning and social pedagogy?
Studies of teaching and learning within classrooms rarely consider the
multilayered effects of social context, especially involving within-class groupings. Yet,
all pupils in classes are placed in some form of grouping throughout their classroom life
and this will have an impact on their learning. This article seeks to move forward the
understanding of within-class groupings in real classrooms. Five ‘core themes’ central
to pupils’ experience of groups in classrooms are identified (group s
Whole class technology for learning mathematics: the case of functions and graphs
This paper draws on research being developed within the teaching and learning strand of the Economic and Social Research Council InterActive Education Project, which is examining how new technologies can be used in educational settings to enhance learning. It focuses on the ways in which mathematics teachers can use digital tools for enhancing the learning of functions and graphs within a classroom setting. It includes a comparison of two teachers working with information and communi
Re-conceptualising ICT in geography teaching
This paper is concerned with the ways in which ICT is conceptualised in geography education in England. Our argument is that the way ICT has been conceptualised in school geography is clearly linked to a particular view of geography as a subject, one based on ideas of positivist and empiricist science. Other views of geographical knowledge based on humanist and realist approaches to science have been neglected. In this paper we describe this dominant approach, and suggest how these features are
Naturalistic observation of small group work in key stage 1 classrooms
The physical environment of the classroom is one of many diverse social contexts encountered by a child; recognisable in many shapes and forms across the world, its core features have remained essentially unchanged throughout centuries of concomitant social change. Whilst such durability stands as a powerful testament to the success of the classroom as a mode of social organisation and learning (Kushner, Simon et al. 2001), it is also indicative of how decades of curriculum research, innovation
What is it like for you?: surveying the learning experiences of disabled students in four HE institu
This paper explores phase one of a four-year study of the learning experiences and outcomes for disabled students. The project employs a longitudinal design with a mixed-methods approach. The main aim is to develop an in-depth understanding of the learning experiences and learning outcomes for a small cohort of students with different impairments in four discipline areas in four different higher education institutions. In particular the study aims to uncover barriers to learning and good pract
First steps and second thoughts on method: beginning to research the learning of new
teachers
This paper is an account of our progress in addressing the challenge of developing a quasi-experimental method of assessing early professional learning (EPL), based on a model from data gathered by teachers as ethnographers in their own schools. From the early doubts and debates in internal discussions about the research design, we present in this paper the steps taken so far and our thoughts about these. Progress on the five indicators of early professional learning in the proposal are describe
Using research to enhance professionalism in further education (FE)
This project aims to understand the relationship between the changing professionalism and research in the further education sector. It also aims to identify ways of using research for the advancement of professional practice within FE. In order to understand the ways in which research is or is not utilised to inform professional practice in the sector it has been necessary to explore and deepen understanding of professional identities and practice in FE. To this end existing research into FE has
According to the promises: the subculture of school science, teachers' pedagogic identity and the ch
This paper reports findings from the Economic and Social Research Council-funded InterActive Education Project, in which teachers, researchers and teacher educators have worked together to develop, perform, and evaluate secondary school science department-based ‘Subject Design Initiatives’. Drawing on notions from sociocultural theory, we have focused on ‘cultural tools’ as material and symbolic mediators of learning. In the Subject Design Initiatives teachers are seen as central to lear
Project Newsletter No 1
Progress report showing the profile of learners participating in the project and some of the information we are gathering.,16,19
Teaching-Learning Environments in Undergraduate Biology: Initial Perspectives and Findings.
The report is in four parts. Following this opening section, the second part of the report
presents a review of the literature relating to undergraduate teaching and learning in the
biosciences, while also introducing perspectives from the more general literature on learning
and teaching in higher education which have particular significance for the work of the project.
The third part of the report describes the telephone interviews which were undertaken with a
small sample of biology teachers a
Informal learning in early teacher development
In the context of increasing expansion of a competence – based model of teacher development, the counter-balance of a more articulate description and explanation of informal learning is urgently required. Our first use of the term in the context of professional learning emerged from preliminary theorising on the experience of learning to teach from the narrative data of beginners. It was invoked to describe learning that seemed to take place outside the formal structures and prescriptions of p
Approaches to Studying and Perceptions of University Teaching-Learning Environments: Concepts, Measu
This paper introduces work on a major ongoing research project being carried out
collaboratively between Edinburgh, Durham and Coventry Universities in Britain. The main
concepts and conceptual frameworks being used in the project are introduced, along with a
brief summary of a literature review used to define the most salient aspects of teachinglearning
environments in higher education. The remainder of the paper describes the
development and initial analyses of two questionnaires completed by
Adult learners drop to lowest level under Labour
Newspaper article citing evidence from the Learning as Work TLRP research project,1740,1737,1726,24
Deepening capacity through innovative research design
This paper describes the design of a major development and research project within the UK's Teaching and Learning Research Programme.,48,56,114,120,126,24,30
The design of the ESRC-TLRP 'Learning How to Learn' project
This paper, by Mary James, David Pedder, Paul Black, Dylan Wiliam and Robert McCormick, describes the design of a major development and research project within the UK's Teaching and Learning Research Programme. It outlines the project's aims to enhance teaching and learning in schools through innovative practice at classroom and school level, and through networking. It describes the assumptions and principles on which the design of the study was based and how the overall plan for the research ev
