FE RESEARCH

Sharing information

Research has always been associated with the higher education (HE) arena but it also operates in the day-today professional practice of the further education (FE) practitioner. Here, we speak to four individuals who are raising the profi le of research in the sector

SAM JONES

Advanced practitioner, research and scholarship lead, Bedford College Group #FEresearchmeets were a direct response to a conversation between myself and Norman Crowther from the National Education Union at a Learning and Skills Research Network meeting.

Almost completing my master’s, I serendipitously felt that there was a need and a space for researchers and lecturers from the FE sector to come together to share their research and ideas. Norman countered that if I felt like that, I should create one and, as I can be rather ‘jump fi rst think later’, I agreed to do just that! That was in November 2016.

By January 2017, Norman and I had met to discuss the model and funding of the fi rst #FEresearchmeet and in June that year we ran it at Bedford College Group with two keynotes, fi ve presenters and 30- plus sector staff in attendance.

It wasn’t an easy day; the runway was still out from the students’ fashion show that weekend and we got turned out of rooms so learners could complete assignments. But we kicked off with The Prodigy’s Firestarter and that seem to set the mood. Everyone was up for the challenge and a guest appearance from the Chartered College of Teaching’s Alison Peacock seemed to point to us moving in interesting directions.

I don’t think I have ever been so exhausted but so elated at the end of a working day. Everyone was buzzing from the day; the challenge then was to spread that buzz.

IKON IMAGES

JO FLETCHERSAXON

Assistant principal, adult and higher education, and practitioner research lead, Ashton Sixth Form College Back in 2017, serendipity brought me into contact with Sam Jones and put #FEresearchmeet on my radar and my adventures in all things FE research began.

At college, we off er a small range of HE courses and have a small number of HE lecturers who I wanted to support with scholarship. At the same time, as a college, we were remodelling the cross-college CPD programme to introduce a greater amount of choice for colleagues during the CPD twilight sessions. These two drivers became the catalyst for running #FEresearchmeets and off ering action research opportunities to staff .

A lot has happened since 2017! We have run two #FEresearchmeets, and I have become a convener for the Learning and Skills Research Network and to date have run four network meetings for FE researchers. I’ve launched #BrewEdFE with colleague Graham Pitchforth, and my latest adventure in all things FE research is launching #FEresearchpodcast with Alistair Smith, creating another platform for promoting practitioner research and its value.

All of this has been hugely enriching for my personal professional development and my teaching as a PGCE tutor, but it is the ripple eff ects of which I am proudest. Creating spaces which are well informed, critical and rooted in theory as well as practice is a joy. I liken this aspect of my career and working life to a spider’s web, building a web of connections that are benefi cial to me, to my colleagues, to the students we all work with and to those I meet from other organisations. Long may such ‘potentia’ (Mycroft, 2019) continue!

KERRY SCATTERGOOD

Adult literacy tutor who serves on the Society for Education and Training’s Practitioner Advisory Group Frustrated by the common defi cit approach to professional learning in education, I became increasingly interested in the #FEresearchmeet movement as an opportunity for learning organised by practitioners, for practitioners.

My own action research had almost been a secret. Although I took it as part of an Open University module funded by my college, I am not sure any of my colleagues knew what I’d undertaken, and I certainly didn’t share anything I’d learnt. There just wasn’t a community of practice built around sharing such learning.

My intention was to create a community of practice to share and value practitioner research, not just in our own college, but in our wider community. We decided to run a ‘mini-meet’, inviting Sam Jones to keynote, sharing the research journey at Bedford College Group. We ran two workshops to enable practitioners to think about developing their own action research for professional development, and we’re running a ‘full-size’ #FEresearchmeet this summer.

My own research journey is continuing, as I have joined the ETF’s practitioner research programme at the University of Sunderland’s Centre for Excellence in Teaching Training.

ANNIEPENDREY

Educator in FE and HE and founder of Creating Spaces, she also serves on the Society for Education and Training’s Practitioner Advisory Group The ripples on the pond eff ect, the ‘buzz’ created by Sam Jones and the #FEresearchmeets developed by Jo and Kerry reignited my passion for research at a point in my career where I was both studying for my Advanced Teacher Status (ATS) and my Higher Education Senior Fellowship.

My ATS journey required me to research, develop a case study, relate to Professional Standards and to improve the quality of the provision for my learners and my institution at the time. However, once this research was completed it needed to be shared and to be an inspiration to others in the profession. So how would this be achieved?

This question was answered within my role at the Society for Education and Training (SET) Practitioner Advisory Group; the online community of Twitter, where I met Sam, Jo and Kerry; and my involvement in AP Connect in connection with the ETF and Lou Mycroft and too many other inspirational FE practitioners to list. These inspirational people and organisations created not only ripples but ‘waves’ of enthusiasm for FE research, and so in January 2020 I hosted a #FEresearchmeet in the West Midlands and now work in partnership with Kerry.

The ‘buzz’ remains and I have since developed a webinar for SET to support other professionals in action research, in the hope they will present at future #FEresearchmeets or sit among the non-hierarchical, inclusive environment with other professionals refl ecting and answering the original question in this article: ‘Does FE research?’