Form RDF to PHD: Guest Lecture by Sam Broadhead, Leeds College of Art

Past RDF Participant and now PHD candidate Sam Broadhead kindly visited our Exploratory Project Residential last week to talk to our practitioner researchers.  It was wonderful to hear how practitioner research has empowered Sam to pursue her PHD and what she has learnt along her journey.  We would like to congratulate Sam on her achievements since her time with us as Research Fellow and thank her for giving her time to talk about her experience.

We have attached her PowerPoint below in case you would like to look back over what she discussed- it may prove inspiration for your own projects.  Sam has made her email available on her PowerPoint if anyone has any questions, we are sure she would be happy to answer them for you.

Welcome Exploratory maths and English Project Practitioners 2015/16!

We would like to extend a warm welcome to our Exploratory maths and English Project Practitioners who we met for the first time at the Marriott Hotel last week.  We had a fantastic first residential and thoroughly enjoyed getting to know you all.

We have uploaded the residential PowerPoint and BERA Guidelines for your reference.  Over the course of the year we will continue to upload any residential materials, news, or useful reading to this site to help you work on your projects.  We hope by creating this area we will be able to create a community of research-active practitioners where the most up to date ideas, discussions and research can be shared.  We have already started uploading the research posters from last year's practitioners and would love to host yours on here once your projects have been completed.

If there is anything in particular you would like to share on the site please contact suncett@sunderland.ac.uk and one of the team can help you.

Welcome to RDF 2015/16!

We would like to take this opportunity to welcome you to the SUNCETT/Education and Training Foundation Research Development Fellowship 15/16 and hope that you are looking forward to attending our first Residential Event on the 4th November.

The Residentials are opportunities for you to meet other practitioners in our field and share best practice. We aim to inspire a sense of community among our colleagues in the interest of working together to further research that can make substantial and long-lasting impacts upon the Further Adult and Vocational Education sector.

The SUNCETT team is dedicated to supporting you in the development and refinement of your research. At the first Residential Event you will be allocated a Research Mentor who will assist you on your journey through the programme. They will help you identify potential links and possible synergies between your project, other RDF projects and relevant research and literature.

We look forward to meeting you and hope that together we can make a real difference in identifying methods for the improvement of practice.

Programme for Residential 1 (may be subject to change) 4th-6th November 2015

Reflections Upon a Journey: Bally Kaur reflects upon her year as a Research Development Fellow

I applied for the Research Development Fellowship with some apprehension. The kind of apprehension that surrounds some of us who have doubted more than believed that we need to do something differently if things are to change. I am talking here about courage and this ironically, was my research focus.

As a teacher educator, I was intrigued and adamant about character building. Anything related to Bloom’s affective domain, runs the risk of being a bit woolly. However, on completing the initial application form, I found myself being prompted to give shape and form to my ideas. This was challenging. I was being confronted with looking critically at a research proposal and then taking it through to concisely written objectives, primary and secondary research and some indication of the impact it would have. The following months would chisel and refine this initial proposal and point me into reading and avenues that were both unknown and provocative.

I arrived at the first residential with some naïve expectation of being trained and delivered to. I was wrong. The purpose was clear; this was genuinely a time in which I was to engage wholly with my research and the wider context which informed it.

There were many poignant strands to this experience; the opportunity to partake in professional discussions without judgement, having a research mentor and above all, the space to stop, check in and authentically reflect upon the research focus. Having to consciously consider what my educational values were, gave me a sense of ownership that was in many ways, overwhelming.  Being immersed in a practical dialogue about pedagogy was both a privilege and challenge. Why? Because we don’t talk about teaching and learning. Talking truthfully can be risky. The residential workshops made me aware of this and more importantly, encouraged confidence and active responsibility about my practice.

The input from the SUNCETT team and guest speakers modelled approaches rooted in authenticity, professionalism and democracy. For me, it served as an opportunity to reflect upon how I operated as a professional in the sector and what informed this.

Practitioners presented an updated version of their research and its progress during each residential workshop. This taught us something about the different stages of a research journey and that it is both normal and acceptable to change, adapt, modify or scrap what doesn’t work.  It also prepared us for the ETF Research Conference in July 2015.

The ETF Research Conference celebrated and critiqued the place of research in the education and training sector. Research topics were diverse and whilst these were both personal to individuals, they were made very public. In many ways, this encapsulated the strength and grit needed to question practice and the status quo. I found that at moments, I reverted back to the initial hesitation about my research only to find myself amongst immensely supportive colleagues who were interested in my thinking and findings. There were times when – as human nature dictates – I found myself comparing myself to others and admiring the choice of background slides, the delivery and the presentation of research. There was no one presentation that stood out as the ‘right way.’ This was important in highlighting that our experiences, values and research as practitioners is diverse and has its own worth.

Above everything, the RDF gave me the push that I needed to move beyond my comfort zone and walk on unknown territory knowing that this was a necessary part of the process.

By Bally Kaur

RDF Participant 2014/15

ETF Summer Conference: Feedback

Dear Current RDF Students,

ETF has asked that you kindly send them some feedback about your experience at the conference.  It really helps ETF and the SUNCETT team plan and improve the conference for the following year so we would be really grateful if you could fill this in by the 17th July.

All feedback is good feedback, so any suggestions of how to do things differently would be extremely helpful.  If there is no room on the form below, please send us some suggestions via email: suncett@sunderland.ac.uk 

ETF Feedback questionnaire link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/ETF_research_conference_2015

Watch this Space! RDF 2015-16

The Education and Training Foundation will soon be publishing application forms for RDF 15/16 on their website.  We are looking forward to another vibrant year of practitioner-led-research and hope that the current and past RDF participants spread the word to their fellow colleagues about the programme.  We have had some fantastic research projects this year which were disseminated at the EFT Summer Conference in London and we hope to share some of their hard work on this blog (coming soon).

For more information please see the ETF website: http://www.et-foundation.co.uk/supporting/research/practitioner-research-support/

Mary Ward House: ETF Summer Conference 2015

The SUNCETT Team would like to thank those of you who have agreed to present your work at the upcoming ETF Summer Conference in July. The progress you have made in your research over the past year has been impressive and goes a long way in demonstrating the power and potential of practitioner research conducted by the sector, for the sector.

Below are a series of guidelines that we ask you to keep in mind whilst preparing your presentation:

· You will be placed in a workshop that best matches the theme of your research.
· Each workshop will have three projects being presented and will run for 1 hour.
· The length of your presentation should be 15 minutes.
· You will have an additional 5 minutes after your presentation for Q+A.
· These timings will have to be strictly adhered to in order to give everybody in the workshop a chance to present.
· You can choose to present your work in whatever fashion you feel most comfortable with, although a PowerPoint may be the easiest method.
· It would also be extremely helpful if you could email me the most up to date title of your project so that I can update our records.


Please do not hesitate to contact either the team if you require any further information or assistance.
We look forward to seeing you at the conference on the 7th July!




For more information please visit the ETF website: http://www.et-foundation.co.uk/news/research-from-the-coalface-is-the-focus-of-the-etf-research-conference/

Book Launch Success!

On Wednesday 20th May the SUNCETT team hosted the launch of their newly published Reflective Teaching in Further, Adult and Vocational Education books at the National Glass Centre.

With inspirational speeches from David Russel from the ETF, Frank Coffied and Andrew Pollard the evening got off to an empowering start. It was great to see so many of our RDF participants there to support the team, as well as distinguished colleagues from the University.

We hope that you enjoyed the event and would like to extend our thanks for all the hard work that you have put into your research projects this year. We look forward to seeing you at Mary Ward House in July.