Working in partnership with the Centre for Equity in Education
The Centre for Equity in Education has an established record of working with schools, local authorities and other organisations (including charitable bodies) to promote equity in education. For example:
- it has undertaken reviews of existing research evidence, including identifying good practice in relation to NEETs (Not in Education, Employment or Training)
- local authorities have negotiated packages of research and support to evaluate local initiatives and to guide their future development
- the Centre's Development and Research (D&R) process has enabled local professionals to work in partnership with the Centre to research their own contexts, and to develop locally tailored and evidence-based responses to issues of inequity.
Expressions of interest are welcomed from local groups who want to explore how they might work with the Centre. Please contact David Hauk (david.hauk@manchester.ac.uk or 0161 2753503) to arrange for an informal conversation. For those interested in D&R, a brief outline of what taking part in the process involves, and the outcomes it aims to achieve, is provided below.
Taking part in Development and Research projects
Based on extensive experience of working with schools and local authorities, the Centre has established a carefully structured Development and Research (D&R) process. This involves teams of local professionals (ideally with 4-6 core members) working in partnership with researchers from the Centre to develop interventions in response to evidence about what is really happening 'on the ground'. It enables issues and solutions to emerge from within local contexts, with this being in clear contrast to policies which are imposed from outside, and whose predetermined goals may not address local needs. The sorts of issues which groups might want to use D&R to address include:
- low aspirations and achievement
- disengagement from formal schooling
- social and ethnic tensionshigh levels of mobility.
Outline of the D&R process
The D&R process, as developed by the Centre, involves:
- Generating and engaging with evidence about what is actually happening in local communities and schools
- Using this evidence to drive the development of new strategies to meet local needsLearning from existing research evidence and others' experiences of developing new local-level strategies
- Developing monitoring systems which can acknowledge the complex and messy nature of change, whilst also providing clear evidence of impacts and directions for development
- Creating an ongoing and sustainable process of change, which acknowledges that complex changes take time to develop and embed, and that local circumstances and issues may change, requiring new approaches.
Following this general process, teams will work alongside researchers from the Centre for Equity in Education to:
1. Create a rich and complex picture of local-area issues and the impacts of disadvantage on education: Teams will draw on existing data (for example, from existing statistical packages) and generate new data through interviews and focus groups with a wide range of stakeholders.
2. Identify actionable issues: Reflecting on this, teams will identify an issue affecting education in their area which they would like to address, and the outcomes they would like to achieve in so doing. They will then develop a series of 'good practice' principles to guide their actions in relation to this. These principles will draw on research evidence about best practices, and be negotiated with a range of stakeholders in the area to create a sense of common purpose.
3. Use 'Theory of Change' to plan policy and practice interventions: 'Theory of Change' is an established approach to developing practical theories about how taking particular sets of actions, will bring about desired outcomes for children, families and communities. It will involve the teams in developing sets of short-term, medium-term and long-term goals, and determining the actions they need to take to meet these. Importantly, 'Theory of Change' will require the teams to identify the changes they anticipate as a result of each planned action, and to show clearly how their actions will link together to meet their overall aims. ('Theory of Change' has been used successfully in the national evaluation of Full Service Extended Schools - led by Prof. Alan Dyson from the Centre - and the Children's Fund Initiative.)
4. Implementing, monitoring, revising, and evaluating, planned interventions: Teams will implement their 'Theory of Change'. This will act not just as a guide, but also as a tool for monitoring and evaluation, with teams being able to assess, continuously, whether they are on track to meet particular goals, and if not, to adjust their plans accordingly. This is important in allowing teams to be responsive to situations that may arise as they take action, while at the same time, enabling them to maintain a strategic development plan with clearly anticipated outcomes.
Intended outcomes of D&R
The D&R process is intended to have direct benefits for the education of children and young people living in disadvantaged areas, whilst at the same time, establishing a sustainable programme of local-level development with clear processes for evaluation and revision. Specifically, it aims to:
Make direct contributions to the education and life chances of children and young people living in disadvantaged areas
Bring about significant changes in the quality of local professionals' understandings about the impacts of disadvantage on education in local contexts; and about how to plan, and who to involve, to achieve coherent area-level actions
Build capacity around local education systems, in a way which is inclusive of wider agencies, and which can enable more effective and sustainable responses to the impacts of disadvantage on education
- Develop models of policy and practice which can be adapted for use in other areas.