Neil Burton

Doing your education research project

PART ONE: THINK BEFORE YOU DO The Place of Research Within the Classroom and School Analysing the Context in Order to Ask the Right Questions Reviewing Existing Theories and Findings PART TWO: GATHERING EVIDENCE: WHAT EVIDENCE, WHO FROM, AND HOW TO COLLECT IT Models of Research Identifying Sources Documentation: Examining Existing Evidence Observing: Individuals, Groups and Environments Direct Questioning: Surveys and Questionnaires A Cyclical Model of Research: Action Research PART THREE: MAKING SENSE OF THE OUTCOMES Collating and Reporting Qualitative Evidence Collating and Presenting Quantitative Evidence Qualitative Data Analysis Quantitative Data Analysis Drawing Conclusions and Making Recommendations Developing Academic Skills

Motivation, stress and learning support assistants: an examination of staff perceptions at a rural secondary school

The context of this study is an ‘improving’ 11–18 secondary school in a small English market town, where the role of Learning Support Assistants (LSAs) is being developed as prime supporters of the renewed emphasis on improving teaching and learning processes. National initiatives, including the teachers’ workload agreement and national remodelling of schools, have also led to the reconsideration and redefinition of their role. The aim is to advise the school leadership of LSAs’ perceptions of motivation and stress with regard to current and possible future elements of their role. An analysis of the outcomes of this research will be made using a conceptual framework constructed from theories of motivation, stress and teamwork derived from an educational context. The main findings suggest that the senior management team needs to raise the self-esteem of LSAs through career development opportunities, clarity and consistency of role definition, raising awareness of the role within and beyond the school and professionalisation of the salary structure which includes time allowance for training and administrative duties.

Managing LSAs: an evaluation of the use of learning support assistants in an urban primary school

The multi‐tasking of classroom or learning support assistants (LSAs) is a well‐established phenomenon in English primary schools. As their roles have become better defined and specifically funded an element of role specialism has become essential. However, the management and direction of LSAs does not always appear to be clearly or effectively structured. Evidence collected from a small urban English lower school (4–9 years old) shows that job descriptions can be inaccurate and management structures ambiguous. Whilst senior management is able to visualize the ideal, lack of effective communication results in inefficient and arbitrary management of LSAs by teaching staff. The lack of a clear line‐management structure and ownership issues concerning the tasks performed are identified as the key barriers to improving the situation.

An ideal `type'? — the characteristics of effective school principals as perceived by aspiring principals both from within education and those from an alternate career path:

Campbell suggests that “there is an expectation that head teachers will be leaders, managers and professionals” (1999). But what is the balance between those characteristics? Traditionally, aspiring school principals emerge from the profession by developing the necessary organisational and leadership skills contextually. It is expected that they will already possess a secure and deep understanding of the educational focus of the role and will have been developing and practising the managerial and leadership aspects as they progressed through the management hierarchy. The work of Schneider (2004) offers the possibility of an alternative route to school leadership. Working with retired military officers in Israel, Schneider has developed a programme to ‘fast-track’ potential candidates to the role of school principals.

Beacon School Leadership: nurturing success?

In many respects this establishes why school effectiveness is at the heart of education policy and also how it is to be tackled, through the leadership of schools, but it does not show what needs to be done.The use of national ‘league tables’, based on a limited range of criteria, have identified clear and measurable targets for schools to work towards – excellence through competition.The pathways leading to success are diverse and often casespecific. Generic features of these approaches that have contributed towards the success of schools have been identified and analysed by various researchers in the recent past, examples of these being: