Research communication is an essential component of research-informed practice. Challenge 5 is researching how to communicate research on early mathematical learning effectively to teachers and other educational practitioners, aiming to ensure that research findings lead to positive, real-world change.
- We have developed a framework encompassing the communication and implementation of research. This has drawn together different factors that may influence the likelihood that research is successfully implemented into practice. Our framework highlights questions around six stages to enable researchers to consider practitioners’ needs and expectations for applying research in the real world.
- Via interview and online surveys, we are gathering practitioners’ views on how research is typically communicated, to inform the development of effective research communication resources.
- We are also investigating the barriers to engaging with research perceived by teachers in primary schools and early years settings. This will help us understand how we might tailor research to different groups of practitioners.
- We are conducting a series of online studies assessing the factors that influence practitioners’ perceptions and interpretations of research. These are revealing the impact of different ways of communicating effect sizes and the uncertainty of findings on practitioners’ understanding, intention to use, and attitudes to research findings.
As the Centre’s work develops, these findings will be used to inform the development of new professional development activities and research communication resources based on the Centre’s research findings.