Practitioners are frequently unsure of the validity of research (Gerston, 2001). This may be a result of the practitioner not being experienced in, or secure with methods of deciding which studies are valid (St.Clair, Chen and Taylor 2009). When practitioners read research, it can be hard to decide whether the information they have read is reliable and valid; and whether or not to apply to their setting. It may help if the research they are reading was conducted by a reputable author. St.Clair, Chen and Taylor (2009) assert that, often the validity of a study can be determined by the reputation of the source in which the research was published or by careful review of data collection and analysis procedures, but making these decision requires a fairly refined understanding of research structures (such as journal reputations). A further impediment is that highly respected people often have conflicting views on very significant issues, which leaves practitioners confused and untrusting.
St.Clair, Chen and Taylor (2009) conducted a piece of action research to find out how adult literacy practitioners use research. They stated that one important issue to consider was practitioners' pattern of consumption of research information, fundamentally meaning how much the practitioner reads research and digests the information they have read. The findings from the research showed that twenty two percent read research related items at least weekly, twenty eight percent suggested monthly, thirty eight percent said several times a year, and twelve percent replied that they rarely read research (St.Clair, Chen and Taylor 2009). From these statistics it is imperative to say that the research identified that not enough practitioners read about research. If practitioners do not have any knowledge of applied research then they may not be able to develop their practice or introduce new ways of working and reflect upon policy. This suggests that practitioners need to have knowledge and understanding of applied research in order to benefit policy and practice in early years.
The Hillage Report (1998) also highlighted that teachers do not read research widely enough. The Hillage Report (1998) was critical of the quality of much research in education. According to Ozga (2000) the Hillage Report (1998) commented negatively on the impact of research on policy and practice, and the failure of researchers to disseminate their findings to non-academic audiences.
Early years professionals need to have knowledge and understanding of applied research in order to promote critical reflection of practice and policy as an individual and as part of a group. It is important to develop a research community because it brings about new ideas and ways of thinking, however this can generate problems as Gersten (2001:45) states that, "The research community often has conflicting opinions (about the 'best way' for research to be conducted), which can confuse and mislead practitioners"
Stenhouse (1975) alleged the term ‘teacher-as-researcher. He argued that it is teachers who, in the end will change the world of the school by understanding it and that being an extended professional involved studying the work of teaching and researching it oneself, not leaving it to others (Stenhouse, 1975). Stenhouse asserts how being an active researcher benefits policy and practice in early years.
The effects of practitioners engaging in research and enquiry can be beneficial. Through engaging in research teachers gain a better understanding of their practice and ways to improve it (Elliott & Adelman, 1973). In turn they are able to themselves examine theories that are part of educational practice and through the results of their research are able to make their own judgements and decisions about applying findings to their setting.
McLaughlin, Black Hawkins and McIntyre (2004) emphasize that if practitioners engage in research, it results in a renewed feeling of pride and excitement about teaching and in a revitalised sense of oneself as a teacher. It reminds practitioners of their intellectual ability and the implication of that ability to their professional lives, such as the impact it can have on policy and practice within their setting. By practitioners being active researchers, it provides them with the ability to observe that the work that they do in school matters. By conducting research, they are able to critically analyse how they how they work best and what amendments need to be made to their practice.
Being an active researcher reconnects many of the teachers to their colleagues and to their original commitments to teach; it emphasises the meaning of developing the research community and encourages teachers to expand an prolonged sense of what they can and should do therefore restoring a sense of professionalism and authority in the sense of having a voice (McLaughlin & Black Hawkins McIntyre, 2004).
To be an active researcher means, the practitioner taking part and doing research themselves. An active researcher can use research to focus on and evaluate their own practice. They can use approaches such as case study’s and action research and then use the results to further develop policy.
In the UK Lawrence Stenhouse (1975) pointed out the connection between action research and his concept of the teacher as researcher. (Hopkins, D, 2002). A teacher being an active researcher and carrying out their own research is beneficial to policy and practice in the early years because the teacher can critically reflect on what they have found out and then apply it to their own setting. They know themselves what needs to be changed in order to make their setting more efficient, it’s just a case of how to change it.
Early Years professionals can use research to inform their own knowledge and use it to help discover the inadequacies in practice. Once the inadequacies have been researched, professionals can put new policies and procedures into place in order to eradicate these inadequacies. Research provides historical perspectives relating to current practice, this can be seen a positive factor for an early years professional, as it allows the professionals to learn from research which has already been carried out. Aubrey and Dona et el (2000), assert that, according to the Institute for Employment Studies (IES), research review funders, researchers, policy-makers, teachers and publishers have a joint responsibility to create a more effective research system in which educational research informs policy and practice. Perhaps the researcher should be exploring a wider variety of routes for dissemination. Dissemination is to distribute or spread something, especially information, widely. In other words the research would benefit from an injection of new ideas, from a range of early years professionals. This would in turn benefit policy and practice within early years.
Lindon (2005) says ‘some research over the years has demonstrably affected practice’. Research explores the links between theory and practice; this can be linked to the concept of scaffolding theory developed by Jerome Bruner. This theory looks at the importance of adult intervention on child understanding. Bruner carried out research to prove this theory before putting the theory into practice as according and according to Lindon (2005) he led a major research study that developed a target child method of observation; this method of observation is used in settings on a daily basis. Bruner’s concept of scaffolding has remained influential on practice.
Being an active researcher means that the research will inevitably provide specific knowledge and information appropriate for that setting and can inform the professional carrying out the research how introducing new idea and structures can support policy and practice in early years. As well as amending previous policies, research can also enable the implementation of new policies bring about changes for the better.
There is no set form that research must come in; there are different techniques and approaches to choose from and the technique or approach chosen to use will depend on the nature of the research.
One of the forms that research can take is action research. This can be used to evaluate what is happening in the setting, find out what needs to be changed, the parents can be asked, the change then put into place and then evaluated. Action research is working as part of a team to produce a change; a collaborative approach (involves others in the production of change strategies). This approach has come into the educational field about ten years ago and is significant in the field of early years. It is about improving practice for everyone but especially for the child. It involves a systematic approach for example, it starts with the education, then the discussion debate (critical analysis) then the intervention strategy, then the change and finally the change of education; the cycle then continues.
The advantages of action research are that it brings about change and therefore influences policy and practice. More people are involved and therefore more knowledge is used. The disadvantages of action research are that there can end up being too many people and therefore there may be too many ideas. It also takes a long time generally being a minimum of 18 months. However the action research approach differs from the case study approach because a change is being made. A case study is more evaluative.
A case study (Bassey, 1999) is a methodological approach. The pros of a case study are that it is real life and gives the researcher a close- up on reality. It focuses on a specific instance. However, there are some downfalls of a case study being that it’s more difficult to generalise and it is unique to that setting, there are also different variables.
A case study (Bassey, 1999) carried out by Bartlett, Burton and Buckley (2005) ‘considers the important part that practitioner research can play in the professional development of teachers’. The aim of the research project was to ‘find out whether children’s behaviour as well as their attitude to themselves and others would improve when the language used with them and the words they use themselves become more positive’. The case study (Bassey, 1999) uses both diary accounts and questionnaires, making the methodology qualitative. Qualitative research is descriptive whereas quantitative methodology is based around statistics and can be produced as graphs/numbers/frequency/surveys etc. The research project has only used two methods of data collection. This case study (Bassey, 1999) would perhaps benefit from using the triangulation method to create a more in depth, reliable research project. The participants are children from years five and six and the researcher’s colleagues from a primary school in North West England. The sample strategy that has been used is purposive. This strategy has been used due to convenience as the researcher has used students from year five and six from the school in which the researcher teaches.
Children and adults have similar rights to be informed about the nature and purpose of the research; understand researchers’ intentions; to feel confident that the study is worthwhile; and to know what will happen to the findings (Green and Hogan, 2005). In the case study carried out by, Burton and Buckley (2005) ethical principles have not really been clearly addressed as there is no mention of confidentiality and it does not say whether the children have been asked whether they want to participate in the research. All potential research participants have the right to give or deny informed consent (Hill, 2005). However, names have not been mentioned, therefore, some level of confidentiality has been achieved and maintained.
So the question is has this case study benefited policy and practice in early years? As far as policy goes, nothing was referred to when the research was carried out and therefore this research has not directly benefitted policy. However, it has benefitted practice within this case and therefore is unique to the setting but has not universally changed policy and practice in early years.
This piece of research could be bias as the researcher knows the participants on a one to one basis, again affecting the reliability and validity of the research as participants’ answers maybe influenced by the researcher.
This case study (Bassey, 1999) is a small-scale piece of research and therefore the impact has not affected the early years field as a whole and therefore has not been particularly relevant. This research project was awarded a scholarship of £1,500 by the DES which allowed the researcher a small amount of time to carry out the research making it feasible.
An action research project carried out by Amanda King, proves to be a much more reliable and valid piece of research as opposed to the case study referred to earlier. The aim of King’s (2007) research was to explore practitioner’s perceptions of the need for continuing professional development.
King (2007) used three methods of data collection in her research; these were questionnaires, interviews and data analysis. The interview method was open- ended; this was to make the data collection more systematic as King (2007) had only a short time scale to carry out the research. Two sources of documentary analysis were used and according to King (2007), this supplemented findings from other methods, giving further insights into the key aims of study. King (2007) ensured that triangulation occurred by using three methods of data collection. This ensured her research was valid and reliable. A method that could have been used with both the case study and action research is observations. Using observation as a research method can provide early years professionals with the tools to understand interactions in ‘natural settings’. Because they add another dimension to what people say. They allow the researcher to watch in a systematic and structured way. They can be used alongside other researched methods such as interviews to ensure that triangulation occurs.
A weakness of observations is that it can become observer bias and subjective as opposed to objective. The child being observed can also become affected by the presence of someone watching them, which can lead to the observation becoming unreliable. Also observations can only be used on a relatively small sample of people.
King’s (2007) research supported practice in early years as it has revealed that professionals are aware and understand the need for continuing professional development. This research has primarily supported practice as it has shown that training early year’s professionals to be highly knowledgeable around all aspects of teaching will benefit children as they will obtain the best education that is feasible.
In conclusion, research is central in helping professionals to support policy and practice, it challenges practice and not only does it allow professionals to develop knowledge and understanding but it also enables practitioners to critically evaluate policy and practice and identify where further training is required. Looking at the future for professionals, research is a key tool in shaping future policy. The use of research allows practitioners to learn from pervious mistakes enabling a continuum of further professional development. The implementation of relevant polices is paramount for practitioners and conducting research allows practitioners to identify the appropriate polices needed and how to apply them to practice. Overall, the use of research is a key factor for any practitioner, providing evidence and critical analysis of previous and current policy and practice in early years.
Research plays an important role in supporting policy and practice and in providing the best possible education for children. It continually provides the development of professionals, enabling them to deliver what is best for the children, without research we would not know about how to provide the best provision for children. Without research there would be no progression on policy and practice.
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