Overview

Our research works to understand effects of the learning environment on teaching and learning practices and outcomes. We work to affect educational change, providing alternative models for the curriculum and environment for pupils, teachers and schools to maximise inclusive practices and learner-centred approaches. This includes understanding the growing impact of technology in education and challenges to the traditional role of the teacher. We also advance knowledge of the phenomena of internationalization and the challenges and implications for higher education policy makers, leaders and practitioners. Specifically our works includes:

• Project-based and inquiry learning; community curriculum making
• Participatory and co-creative approaches to planning, designing and researching educational innovation
• Teaching and learning in innovative learning environments (ILEs), open plan and flexible spaces
• Computer Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) and Self Organised Learning Environments (SOLE)
• Outdoor learning, including Forest School, school gardening and sail training, and the impact of such approaches on the emotional wellbeing of children and young people.
• Ethical and values-driven internationalisation strategies and practices
• Internationalisation of the curriculum and the student experience
• Arts-based, imaginative pedagogies for nurturing metacognition and voice
• Contemporary arts-based pedagogies

Our work includes

• Improving progress for lower achievers through Formative Assessment in Science and Mathematics Education, €1.9 million, funded by FP7, January 2014 – December 2016
• Impacting on young people’s emotional wellbeing: a Forest School intervention £14, 962 ESRC IAA Co-production fund April 2017 –March 2019
• Researching the impact of the Breeze Project on children and young people’s wellbeing £12,950 Scotswood Natural Community Garden March 2019 – January 2021

• Collaborative ReDesign with Schools – CoReD €254,580; Erasmus+ funded project developing user-friendly tools for school communities to use to understand and change the design and use of their school space; 2019-2022.

• ROMtels(Roma Translanguaging Enquiry Space) €261,317 Erasmus+ grant involving partners in UK, France, Finland and Romania 2014-2017
• Creative Fuse North East Evaluation, £8,949.04, funded by Creative Fuse North East, September 2017 – December 2018.
• Evaluating using comics to inform children about having an MRI scan £10,905 Great North Children’s Hospital Foundation 2018-2019.
• The impact of a new school building on students and non-teaching staff £14 900 Newcastle PVC Discretionary Fund February 2017- July 2017
• ATIAH (Approaches and Tools for Internationalisation at Home) EU189K, Erasmus+ Strategic Partnerships grant with partners Universita di Bologna and KU Leuven, 2016-18
  • Capacity Building for Internationalisation Project £10K, funded by British Council Brazil, 2018
  • International Early Career Researcher Development in Internationalisation Project£31k, Newton Fund British Council with partner Kasetsert University, Thailand , 2016
  • Using SOLE Across Borders in Romania, Ukraine and Moldova, £76,772, CARITAS Austria, 2017-2019

Staff involved in Pedagogic Innovation Research include

David Leat

Maria Mroz

Ulrike Thomas

Lucy Tiplady - Outdoor learning, alternative learning environments, learner-centred pedagogies, participatory and co-creative methodologies

Alison Whelan

Pam Woolner - Effects of learning environments; changing practices; educational architecture; participatory design; school building history and policy

Relevant Publications include

Fletcher, E. (2020) Sail training: using acculturation to activate a socio-cultural or natural pedagogy, Pedagogy, Culture & Society, DOI: 10.1080/14681366.2020.1735495

Leat, D., Thomas, U., Hayward, K & de A’echevarria, A. (2020) The Good, the bad, the disconcerting – a week in the life of university project based learning (PBL) week for schools, in M. Steer, S. Davoudi, M. Shucksmith and L.Todd (eds) Hope under neoliberal austerity: responses from civil society and civic universities,  Bristol University Press.

Negris de Souza, L., Kowaltowski, D. C. C. K., Woolner, P & de Carvalho Moreira, D. (2020): School design patterns supporting learning through play, International Journal of Play, DOI: 10.1080/21594937.2020.1757204

Tiplady, L.S.E. & Menter, H. (2020) Forest School for wellbeing: an environment in which young people can ‘take what they need’, Journal of Adventure Education and Outdoor Learning, DOI: 10.1080/14729679.2020.1730206.

Wysocki, L. (2020) Hate, Marginalization, and Tramp-bashing: A Raceclass and Critical Realist Approach to Researching British National Identity through Comics. In: T. Giddens (ed) Critical Directions in Comics Studies, University Press of Mississippi.

Cardellino, P. & Woolner, P. (2019) Designing for transformation – a case study of open learning spaces and educational change, Pedagogy, Culture & Society, DOI: 10.1080/14681366.2019.1649297

Mroz, M. & Woolner , P. (2019) Hey teachers leave us kids alone? Can playtimes be enjoyable for all? Education 3-13: International Journal of Primary, Elementary and Early Years Education.

Robson S, Wihlborg M. co-editors, special issue: Internationalization of Higher Education: impacts, challenges and future possibilities. European Educational Research Journal Volume 18, 2, 2019 https://journals.sagepub.com/eprint/wi5BEvwgz6rc774Fm4zV/full

Woolner, P. and Tiplady, L. (2019) Enhancing Wellbeing Through Broadening the Primary Curriculum in the UK with Open Futures. In H. Hughes, J.Franz and J. Willis (Eds) School Spaces for Student Wellbeing and Learning: Insights from Research and Practice. Singapore: Springer.

Almeida J, Robson S, Morosini M, Baranzeli C. (2018) Understanding Internationalization at Home: Perspectives from the Global North and South. European Educational Research Journal https://doi.org/10.1177/1474904118807537

Laing, K., Mazzoli Smith L. and Todd L. (2018) Foregrounding relational issues in schools as a means of removing barriers to learning. In: S. Gannon, R. Hattam and W. Sawyer (Eds) Resisting Educational Inequality: reframing policy and practice in schools serving vulnerable communities. London: Routledge.

Robson, S., Almeida, J. & Schartner, A. (2018) Internationalization at home: time for review and development?, European Journal of Higher Education, 8:1, 19-35, http://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/JXfK7cyJaJCXAT29siP9/full

Shields, S. (2018) ‘Meritocracy, pragmatism and possibilities: A working class female experience of university.’ Discover Society, October 2nd 2018, DS61. Available at: https://discoversociety.org/2018/10/02/meritocracy-pragmatism-and-possibilities-a-working-class-female-experience-of-university/

Wihlborg, M and Robson S (2018) Internationalization of Higher Education: drivers, rationales, priorities, values and impacts. European Journal of Higher Education, 8(1): 8-18.

Woolner P, Thomas U, Tiplady L. (2018) Structural change from physical foundations: The role of the environment in enacting school change. Journal of Educational Change, 19(2), 223-242.

Wright D, Clark J, Tiplady L. (2018) Designing for Formative Assessment: A Toolkit for Teachers. In: Thompson D., Burton M., Cusi A., Wright D, ed. Classroom Assessment in Mathematics. Cham: Springer, pp.207-228.