Action research as CPD

Sam Alvarez is a Fellow of the Institute for Learning and a course leader at Sussex Downs College in A-level accounting, economics, business studies and law. Here Sam shares her experience in undertaking a small-scale action research project into effective assessment for effective learning and explains how the outcomes have helped learners at the college, as well as contributing to her own CPD.

Our experience is that new A-level accounting students fresh from secondary school often lack the analytic and evaluative skills needed in classroom and exam situations. To address this issue, and the need for tutors to improve their understanding of how to evaluate and develop their own formative assessment strategies, I conducted a small-scale investigation into approaches that could be used most effectively to help the A-level accounting students become more effective, independent and critical learners.

The college's flexible approach to professional development meant that I was able to work with a cross-campus team of full and part-time staff on this project, as part of my continuing professional development (CPD) and theirs. The research was funded through an IfL Hewett/Driver action research bursary, and I was mentored by the college's professional development manager, John Webber. I also benefited from the support of Derek Betts at IfL, who was my 'critical friend'.

What is action research?

Action research involves undertaking a reflective process to improve your own teaching and learning. It is a collaborative process requiring systematic research, analysis and observation, as well as self-evaluation, resulting in an action that improves to professional practice.

Allan Feldman (Feldman, 2002, p. 240) explains that action research can help to develop a professional community, illuminate the power of relationships in educational situations, and help people recognise their own expertise

Assessment strategies

Reciprocal teaching was one of the assessment strategies that proved effective in developing independent and critical learners. This is an instructional procedure designed to enhance students’ understanding of writing. It typically involves:

• a dialogue between students and teachers, each taking turn to lead the dialogue
• reciprocal interactions where one person acts in response to the other
• structured dialogue using four strategies: questioning, summarising, clarifying and predicting.

Recording debates between students using digital flip camcorders was another strategy we found beneficial in developing learning. These recordings provided evidence of the learners' analytic and evaluative skills, which they could later look back at and reflect on. Students were encouraged to consider how they could transfer these skills to their other subjects and other assessment methods, such as exam-style written assignments.

Challenges, impact and outcomes

Patience and perseverance were key to the success of this project. At first, students and teachers were opposed to the idea. Students were initially reluctant to take more responsibility for assessing and developing their own learning. Teachers were wary at the outset of the extra work they perceived would be involved in carrying out research. Other teachers at the college have now seen the benefits of my research and are keen to conduct some research of their own.

As a result of this project, my own teaching and assessment strategies have improved and we have witnessed a sustained improvement in grades over two years.

The project’s outcomes have also had an impact for colleagues and students, including:

• Helping both students and teachers gain a better understanding of formative assessment and how it can be used to develop the analytic and evaluative skills needed in A-level studies
• Using action research as part of our CPD to address the needs of our students and teaching teams was found to be far more engaging, reflective and rewarding than attending a workshop
• A college-wide approach to action research as CPD gives teachers the creative freedom to research what is important to them and to their learners
• It has created a supportive environment within the college, where teachers can approach their projects in their own time and in their own way
• We achieved 100 per cent pass rate in the January 2010 A2 exams and saw an increase in A to C grades in business studies.

Feedback from learners

These are some of the comments I received from the AS accounting students involved in the pilot research:

“I thought I knew what I was doing until I had to mark my own or someone else’s work. I knew what the question was about and I knew what the mark scheme was looking for but trying to assess the work to say if it was good, excellent or not very good was really difficult.” (Jon-Paul).

"Having the model answer helped me to improve my work ... The model answer gave more meaning to the mark scheme ...” (James)

“From looking at model answers I now know that to analyse in accounting means to discuss the possible causes and knock-on effects of certain financial information.” (Ria)

Further research

With the support of John Webber, I subsequently conducted further research into formative assessment and delivered a paper entitled Assessing Grey Matters (Joint Practice Development of Everyday Work in the Classroom) at the LSIS-IfL Research Development Fellowship Conference on 31 March 2010 at the University of Warwick.

I am now a research mentor at the college and recently received two lots of funding from the Learning and Skills Improvement Service (LSIS) to further my research at Sussex Downs College. I am extending my research to include cross-college learners, and am also going to mentor my peers in action research.

Sam’s recommendations for effective CPD

• Encourage and get involved in dialogue between teachers and learners about effective learning.
• Minimise staff workshops, which are often ineffective, and enable teachers to have more ownership of their CPD.
• Support collaboration between practitioners to enhance development of their own strategies.  Emphasise joint (and equal) practice creation rather than on the sharing of good practice.