Conference Agenda

This study examines the impact on cultivating professional capital and culture of teachers and schools raised by the initiatives of Professional Graduate Projects (PGP) of University of Fukui, Japan. The design of Fukui PGP stands out as it adopts the idea that teachers are reflective practitioners whose learning comes by doing (e.g., Dewey, 1910; Schön, 1983). This initiative adapts the continuous reflective mode of Lesson Study (Kimura & Kishino, 2019) at its core structure to allow for collaborative inquiry-based action research with teachers and schools.

Our graduate students who are pre-service and in-service teachers engage into reflective practicum and conduct action research at partner schools. Especially, in-service teachers’ practicum and research are conducted at their working places (schools). Finally, they write the Longitudinal Reflective Practice Record to keep track of their practices, which can serve as an evidentiary basis for identifying the quality of learning at each phase and how the level of learning has evolved throughout the Lesson Study. Based on this context, the study aims to address the following research question: how did the Fukui PGP influence teachers at different career stages and support their professional capital development, advance Lesson Study practice at their workplaces, and involvement in professional learning communities and culture?

This study uses qualitative data collected from the Longitudinal Reflective Practice Records written by three graduate students enrolled as: new entrance teachers, in-service teachers, and school leaders to evaluate the Fukui PGP’s impact on teachers and schools. To clarify research questions, this study uses the concept of professional capital (Hargreaves & Fullan, 2012) as the analytical framework. Professional capital broadens the idea of teacher expertise from the individual to the organizational level and the idea of teaching skills and knowledge to a whole range of qualitative abilities, including social relationships. These aspects will clarify the impact on cultivating professional capital and culture raised by Fukui PGP. As case study, three records were analyzed using a qualitative content analysis approach that focuse on interpreting and understanding the subjects’ agency attainment and professional development through episode narratives. To be more specific, episodes relating to critical moments such as “turning point”, “change”, and “development” were extracted from their practice reports and displayed in timelines to compare and interpret the characteristics of their respective professional developmental journeys based on the concept of professional capital.

As results, the collaborative inquiry School-University partnerships in Fukui PGP, including the systematic curriculum and activities designed for facilitating teachers’ collaborative inquiries as social capital at schools and universities, turns out to be critical in attributing to teachers’ agentic enactments as human and decisional capital leading to school reforms through data analysis. The analyzed Longitudinal Reflective Practice Records featured three common dimensions aligned to narratives and episodes found in the reflective writings. Expressions to identify pivotal moments in their learning included; “experience of change”, “motivation for professional growth”, and “concrete sense of development”.

These findings show that high quality teaching and learning of teachers can be supported by collaborative inquiry school-university partnerships.

Despite nearly two decades of study, there remains a lack of empirical investigations of KMb efforts (Powell et al., 2018), which is especially pronounced for approaches that rely on sustained interactions among research producers, intermediaries, and research users (Beckett et al., 2018; Oliver et al., 2019). A key factor contributing to this knowledge gap is the paucity of evaluation tools with strong psychometric and pragmatic properties that could enable comparisons across contexts, support informed decision making for increasing the effectiveness and sustainability of interactions, and provide evidence for the outcomes and impacts of mobilizing knowledge among diverse research actors (Davies et al., 2015; Durose et al., 2018; Hoekstra et al., 2020). This purpose of this paper is to build out the argument that research impact assessment in education could make rapid strides with modest changes to current practice.

The methods in this paper build upon an earlier review of impact assessment tools designed for collaborative research approaches (Author, 2021). Due to the volume of primary studies focused on collaborative research, particularly over the last 10 years, the review was structured as an overview. Analogous to systematic and scoping reviews of individual studies, overviews provide a way of “bringing together reviews in a transparent and systematic way and aiding informed decision making by gathering, appraising and systematically analysing this evidence” (Hunt et al., 2018, p. 2). In total, after screening an initial set of 1,223 abstracts followed by 141 full-text articles, eight reviews were analyzed (Boivin et al., 2018; Buchanan et al., 2016; Granner & Sharpe, 2004; Hamzeh et al., 2019; Lawlor et al., 2019; Lewis et al., 2015; Sandoval et al., 2012; Squires et al., 2011). I extend the overview’s analysis of these eight articles by focusing on tools that meet the following criteria: (a) developed or applied within the past five years, (b) intended for use in K-12 education settings with multiple audiences (e.g., researchers, practitioners, policymakers), and (c) strong psychometric and pragmatic properties.

While the analysis phase of this work is still underway, five instruments will be examined and compared, followed by a discussion of enduring challenges for assessing impact. Those five tools are the following: (1) Brown et al.’s (2022) Research-Use Benefits, Costs, and Signification Survey; (2) Brennan et al.’s (2017) Seeking, Engaging with and Evaluating Research; (3) Neal et al.’s (2020) Archival Search of Use of Research Evidence; (4) Penuel et al.’s (2016) Survey of Practitioners’ Use of Research; (5) Farley-Ripple’s (2017) Survey of Evidence in Education for Schools.

Current quantitative approaches to measuring the impacts of research collaborations in education are failing to do so in ways that are meaningful, consistent, rigorous, reproducible, and equitable. This paper makes a first step in addressing this issue by exploring promising impact assessment tools from fields of study with conceptual similarities to research collaboration.

This paper proposal presents results from a study on experienced Swiss teachers’ workplace learning triggered by continuous professional development. It addresses the question of how teacher workplace learning takes place in the specific contexts.

Workplace learning of teachers is seen as embedded in daily classroom activities: Both, formal and informal workplace learning are considered (Hallinger & Kulophas, 2020). Research on workplace learn-ing has expanded considerably in the last years and can nowadays be considered a broad and interdis-ciplinary sub-discipline. A central aspect of the scholarly debate is the question of sustaining teachers' professional competences, with much attention being paid to the link between formal and informal learn-ing (Geeraerts et al., 2018).

The context of the study refers to a professional development procedure called STEEV (simultaneously teaching and evaluation that is effective and visible; in German: LUUISE) (Beywl et al., 2023). STEEV draws on research on teaching (e.g., Helmke & Weinert, 2021) and further education (e.g., Lipowsky & Rzejak, 2021). In addition, it fosters "evaluative thinking" (Dunn & Hattie, 2021, Hattie, 2023: teachers plan ahead, thinking about how they can assess and also promote the success of their teaching by means of collecting relevant data in a way that is integrated into existing classroom practices. The change of perspective, "seeing through the eyes of the learners" (Hattie, 2009), is crucial. This process strengthens the expertise of teachers by supporting them to address pedagogical challenges effectively and to achieve high teaching goals. Specific features of the program are a high practical orientation with close support of the participants by coaches during the planning of a data-based teaching intervention, the implementation in the classroom, which usually lasts several weeks, and the collegial reflection.

Methodologically, a grounded theory research approach was adopted corresponding to the pragmatistic line of Strauss & Corbin (1990). Through narrative and focused interviews STEEV-experienced teachers are asked about their experiences. Applying theoretical sampling and theoretical sensitivity, the inter-view data was analysed to develop concepts and then elaborated into categories. Finally, a learning model was developed. It suggests the importance of the connection between learning-oriented action and reflection by the teacher. This is similar to the experiential learning cycle of professional develop-ment (Kolb, 1984). The results of the study indicate on the one hand the effect of work-based learning and on the other hand effects on effective teaching.

Findings from this study can inform research and practical interventions in various contexts as the un-derlying theoretical assumptions are based on international evidence (e.g., Hattie 2023). It makes teacher workplace learning tangible (in the specific context) and points to the benefit of teacher (con-tinuing) education process involved for quality professional education as well as school effectiveness and improvement. Moreover, attempts can be identified how teacher workplace learning can be support-ed externally. Furthermore, it contributes to the expansion of scientific work in still young academic field of teacher workplace learning.

Contemporary education is moving towards a stronger connection with research, driven by policy and the recognition of the positive influence of research-informed educational practice (RIEP) on teachers' professional development. However, the practical integration of research into everyday school life is still in progress across many contexts. This paper examines the participation of teachers and school leaders in RIEPs that support inclusive education.

We take RIEP to refer to the utilisation of academic research by teachers and school leaders to inform their teaching methodologies, decision-making processes, leadership approaches, and ongoing professional development (Brown, et al, 2022).

We issued a survey to a total of 534 teachers and school leaders from Catalonia (N=343), Poland (N=112), and England (N=79). We have adopted Baudrillard's (1968) theoretical framework as a deductive lens. Firstly, we examined the benefits that the teachers and school leaders perceived as associated with using research in their professional practice, particularly in terms of: improvements in teaching, pedagogical understanding, and inspiration for using innovative approaches. Secondly, we explored the costs that the teachers and school leaders perceived as linked to using academic research in their professional practice, including: limited financial and logistical resources and teachers’ lack of preparedness in using research. Lastly, we examined the teachers’ and school leaders’ own sense of aspiration to use academic research in their professional practice, involving factors such as a perceived prestige or sense of professional identity associated with using research.

The findings of the study indicate that in terms of the benefits of using RIEPs, the items that received higher scores are associated with: the practical utility of research in guiding the development of new practices (M=4.09 – up to 5), enhancing the learning experience of students (M=4.14), and providing teachers with new and innovative ideas (M=4.9). Additionally, respondents expressed that there was a greater likelihood of them utilising research when it aligns with the objectives of the school and the specific needs of their students.

Regarding the costs associated with research use, respondents acknowledged the challenges they face in effectively translating research findings into practitioner-friendly language (M=3.90) and integrating those findings with their practical knowledge as educators (M=3.92).

Furthermore, respondents perceived research evidence to be significant primarily when its utilization aligns with the expectations of school leaders and the improvement priorities of the school itself. They viewed RIEPs as a ‘hallmark of an effective profession’ (M=3.76), contributing to the enhancement of their ‘school’s reputation and attractiveness as a place for both professional growth and learning’ (M=3.88).

The study findings highlight both the positive and critical attitudes the teachers have towards employing RIEPs in their professional practice. On the one hand, they recognized research and the potential positive impact research can have on teaching practices and school development. On the other hand, they articulated the challenges and considerations that teachers face if incorporating research into their professional activity. This study draws recommendations from the respondents’ contributions, offering them up for adaptation and practical application in the ongoing bid to nurture more inclusive education systems.