Description

A practitioner-led research project supported by staff in the department has won the 2008 BERA (British Educational Research Association)/SAGE award for "'research into practice" for 16+ learners'.

The project was carried out by Broadway, a leading charity supporting homeless people across London. The project was developed under Round Two of the ESF/DIUS-funded National Research and Development Centre's Practitioner-Led Research Initiative delivered by Lancaster University.

Practitioner researchers, supported by Broadway's internal Research Team, looked at what the key soft outcomes of learning were for homeless and vulnerable adults, and developed a measurement tool for these. The project also looked at links between these outcomes and the national curricula for literacy, numeracy and ESOL, and determined how the outcomes monitoring could be integrated into Individual Learning Plans. The project team used an action research approach, which ensured that learners' experiences of the tool, and its integration into service delivery, were central to the research.

Related story

To read more about Broadway and to download their winning action research report go to

http://broadway.jamkit.com/Aboutus/LatestNews/ResearchwinsBERAsageAward

For details of other reports produced by the Practitioner-Led Research Initiative, go to http://www.nrdc.org.uk/content.asp?CategoryID=512 or contact Mary Hamilton or Paul Davies in the Department of Educational Research.

BERA/SAGE 2008 Awards at http://www.bera.ac.uk/news/newsdetail.php?id=151

Lancaster Literacy Research Centre http://www.literacy.lancs.ac.uk/what/teachers.htm