ETF Practitioner Research Conference 2016: A Storify of the Day

Summer Conference: Tuesday 5th July 2016, Mary Ward House, London.

Dear Research Fellows and Exploratory Practitioners,

On Tuesday 5th July 2016 we will be co-hosting the annual Summer Conference with the Education and Training Foundation at Mary Ward House, London.  To help us with the preparations for the event please fill in the eRegistration Form for you to fill in with details of your project  and how you will be presenting your research. Please be ready with a short abstract as the form will not allow you to save and edit later.

We are also hoping to invite guest speakers and practitioners from other ETF Funded projects to share research on the day.  Each year we aim to take photos of the event but it is not so easy to take photos of all the presenters and therefore if you take any photos it would be great if you could tag them as #ETFResearchConf16 on Twitter! To see some of the tweets and photos from last year search #ResearchConf15 or take a look at the Storify below.

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.

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