How can the facilitation of talk about learning, e.g. teacher-teacher or pupil-pupil, support improvement?
Centre members are keen to develop communities and networks, within and across projects, which privilege talk about these aspects of teaching and learning: in classrooms, in staff rooms and in collaborations across different agencies. Talk is privileged through the structures of projects and pedagogies and the explicit use of developmental techniques drawn from coaching, thinking skills and counselling research.
How can different perspectives on ‘what works’ support innovation?
Systematic reviews carried out by CfLAT are informing practitioners about ‘best bets’ in thinking skills, learning skills, learning styles, counselling and parental involvement. The findings from systematic review are simultaneously tested and challenged by our many partners conducting practitioner enquiry in classrooms across England, giving context and nuance to our understanding of effective learning and teaching.
How can pedagogic tools be developed and used for research?
Innovative research tools developed by the Centre are used to inform research questions and day to day pedagogy: Pupil Views Templates for example provide information about a range of issues from metacognition to ICT, playground use to peer as-sessment.
Leaving aside any personal bias, the teachers in the Oldham schools have, without exception, re-sponded positively to P4C. It is in many senses a very simple pedagogy, where curiosity and imagination are tempered by a critical examination of reasoning and where the interests and opinions of children are given considerable rein. (Leat et al. 2008)
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