What educational research is and what it might be. Why SEND needs research and vice versa

1. and back again
Michael Jopling
ResearchSEND 2 March 2019
TO
FROM

2. Overview
• What educational research is and what it
might be
• Why SEND needs research and vice versa
• Research to impact to research
• Research to practice to research
• An example
• Towards a radical education

3. A quote
My aim [...] is to show that the externalism of the
West, the prevalent tendency to pay undue regard
to outward and visible "results" and to neglect what
is inward and vital, is the source of most of the
defects that vitiate Education in this country
and therefore that the only remedy for those
defects is the drastic one of changing our standard
of reality and our conception of the meaning and
value of life.
Holmes (1911)

4. Research is messy (and if it isn’t, you’re doing it wrong)
‘I wanted to try and in fact theorize [policy]
untidiness. I didn’t want to develop or use
theory that would organize, tidy up the
policy process. I wanted to try and develop a
set of theoretical ideas that would capture
and understand the messiness.’
(Ball, 2011)

5. Educational research might be provocative
‘Education research should not just solve problems,
it should cause them as well’
It should:
• be close to practice
• focus on ‘what works’ and ‘what does it work
for’? (Biesta et al, 2019)
‘Emphasis remains, in practice, on the generality of
“what works” rather than where it might work, for
whom and under what conditions.’ (Wrigley, 2018)

6. Might (educational) research be useful?

7. Why SEND needs research: drivers
1. Inclusion in ordinary classrooms
2. Marketisation
3. Application of evidence-based education
(theory and findings) - usefulness

8. Why research needs SEND: drivers
1. Marketisation (accountability).
2. Impact: dissemination and grounding in
practice.
3. Impact (REF).

9. Research to impact to research
Need to:
• Build impact evaluation into research more
thoroughly and thoughtfully.
• Evidence impact on schools, colleges, settings
with practitioners.
• Innovate in evidence collection, as well as
dissemination.
• Recognise that this is complex and messy.

10. The politics of impact evaluation
• Involve the central actors
• Challenge prescribed indicators
• Take a positive approach
• Share the learning.
These all also apply to practice
Source: Balloch & Taylor (2005)

11. Pupils with SEN statement, EHP Plan or SEN
support 2009-18 by region(%)
10
15
20
25
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
England NE EM WM LDN

12. Pupils with SEN statement, EHP Plan or SEN
support 2009-18 by WM LA (%)
10
15
20
25
30
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018

13. Pupils with SEN statement, EHP Plan or SEN
support 2009-18 by WM LA(%)
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
Shropshire 16.9 18.1 17.8 17.2 16.8 16.4 13.8 12.4 12.5 12.9
Telford and Wrekin 16.2 17.1 17.1 16.4 15.3 14.9 13.7 12.4 12.3 13.0
Walsall 19.4 19.9 20.2 19.9 20.1 19.3 14.2 13.8 13.9 14.5
Warwickshire 20.1 19.6 19.1 18.9 18.4 17.4 14.6 14.4 14.5 14.7
Worcestershire 21.7 22.2 22.2 20.7 18.8 18.6 16.4 16.8 16.7 15.0
Dudley 20.6 21.4 21.7 21.3 20.3 20.2 17.3 15.8 15.3 15.4
Wolverhampton 19.6 19.7 19.5 18.2 17.6 16.1 14.6 14.5 14.9 15.5
Birmingham 22.9 23.5 22.6 22.3 21.7 21.0 16.7 15.6 15.6 16.0
Solihull 22.4 23.3 23.6 22.4 20.5 19.2 17.3 16.9 16.7 16.7
Coventry 21.6 22.6 21.7 21.2 20.5 19.5 17.1 16.8 16.8 16.7
Sandwell 19.1 20.8 20.3 19.9 19.6 18.7 17.4 16.4 16.5 16.8
Stoke-on-Trent 26.0 26.1 24.3 23.5 22.6 21.2 16.1 15.5 16.1 16.9
Staffordshire 22.5 23.7 22.7 22.8 21.4 19.9 18.7 18.6 18.5 18.7
Herefordshire 22.5 22.9 22.6 21.5 21.6 21.0 18.4 17.9 18.3 18.9

14. The complexity of evaluation
Source: Jolley (2014)
Complex initiatives ‘have to be judged in relation to the full range of outcomes they are
pursuing […] and the complex pathways from actions to outcomes’ (Cummings et al, 2011: 89)

15. Having impacts
Practice: hard to evidence - needs time to
embed.
Policy: DfE, local authorities – potentially faster
but may be temporary.
Research: books/articles - takes time to
accumulate.
Social media: fast but superficial?

16. Anecdotes are OK
‘Anecdote is the singular of data’
(Dorling, 2001)

17. Get the language right
Phrase Meaning
Of great theoretical and practical
importance...
Interesting to me
Three of the samples were chosen for
detailed study...
The results on the others didn't make
sense and were ignored
Typical results are shown... The best results are shown
It is believed that, it is suggested that, it
may be that...
I think
It is generally believed that... A couple of other guys think so too
It is to be hoped that this work will
stimulate further work in the field...
This paper is not very good, but neither
are any of the others on this miserable
subject
Source: Graham (1957)

18. Research to practice to research
Need to:
• Build research and evaluation into practice
more thoroughly and thoughtfully.
• Evidence impact on schools, colleges, settings
with researchers.
• Innovate in evidence collection, as well as
communication, in schools, colleges etc.
• Recognise that this is complex and messy.

19. Example: consortia & team around
school research
Data analysis across all primary consortia and
secondaries
Interviews with:
• 16 headteachers and 22 SENCOs in 7 of 14 consortia
• 4 outreach/support service providers
• 14 Educational psychologists (focus group)
• 4 members of group of secondaries
• Safeguarding Officer, secondary
• Senior School Improvement Officer for Collaboration and
Networking
• CEO, Learning Partnership

20. Mediating factors (enablers)
• Establishing shared values/focus
’You have to deliver a model which is flexible enough to be able to
keep people onside, still want to know what’s happening
everywhere else, but work in a way which works well for those
children’ (HT)
• Developing high levels of trust, mutual
knowledge and challenge
‘That had to negotiated quite hard’ (HT)
• Peer support
• Processes which encourage and extend
professional dialogue and allow access to
‘external’ expertise: ‘There’s a real, real knowledge base
among the SENCOs and the heads’ (EP).

21. Moderating factors (barriers)
• Varying levels of engagement (blame)
• Communication and (lack of) transparency
• Pressure on schools and SENCos
‘Things that wouldn’t traditionally have been our remit, we’re
now taking on board’ (SENCo)
• Lack of clarity around referral processes and
lack of alignment with wider support
programme(s)
‘Intervention needs to be speedier and early intervention is
not early enough’. (HT)

22. Longer term impacts
• Sense of collective responsibility for children
across the consortium: ‘Now, because everyone’s
working together, there’s more understanding about more
complex needs so the children are being referred who have a
greater need’ (EP) leading to:
• Better coordinated and more consistent support:
‘The expectations are greater now and we are more aware of
what we need and what we’re getting’ (HT)
• Better relationships with outreach and support
providers: ‘It demystifies SEN’ (SENCO)
• Effectiveness of School Family Support Service –
key mediating role for children with complex
needs and new forms of collaboration.

23. Implications
• Need for better sharing (information and
practice) to support collaboration
• More decentralisation
• Draw on untapped community capacity.

24. Towards a radical education
‘Radicalism [is] a set of aspirations that stretch beyond
the reach of innovation to imagine and enact a future
that rests of very different assumptions and values.’
This radicalism ‘sees educational change as a key aspect
(or component) of radical social change.’
(Fielding & Moss, 2011)
‘The three Rs of children’s use of their environment are
resourcefulness, responsibility and reciprocity.’
(Ward, 1995)

25. References
Ball, S. J. (2011). Attempting a theory of untidiness: An interview with Stephen J. Ball. Studia
Paedagogica, 16(2), 2–12.
Balloch, S. and Taylor, D. (2005) What the politics of evaluation implies, in Taylor & Balloch (eds.) The
Politics of Evaluation: Participation and policy implementation. Bristol: Polity. 249-253.
Biesta, G. Filippakon, O. Wainwright. E. and Aldridge, D. (2019) Why educational research should not
just solve problems, but should cause them as well, British Educational Research Journal, 45,1, 1-4.
Cummings, C., Dyson, A. and Todd, L. (2011) Beyond the School Gates: Can Full Service and Extended
Schools Overcome Disadvantage. London: Routledge
Dorling, D. (2001) Anecdote is the singular of data, Environment and Planning A, 33, 1335-1369.
Fielding, M. and Moss, P. (2011) Radical Education and the Common School. London: Routledge.
Graham, C.D. (1957) A glossary for research reports, Metal Progress, 71(5), 75-76.
Holmes, E. (1911) What Is and What Might Be: A Study of Education in General and Elementary
Education in Particular. London: Constable & Co.
Jolley, G. (2014). Evaluating complex community-based health promotion: Addressing the challenges,
Evaluation and program planning, 45, 71-81.
Research England (2018) Draft Guidance on Submissions. Bristol: Research England.
Ward, C. (1995) Talking Schools: Ten lectures by Colin Ward. London: Freedom Press.
Wrigley, T. (2018) The power of ‘evidence’: Reliable science or a set of blunt tools? British Educational
Research Journal, 44,3,, 359-378.