Learning Teams

Action Research Learning Team

Presented and led by Shirley Clarke M.Ed, Hon.Doc. and Dr. Angela Evans (Child and Adolescent Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist, previously CAMHS and SENDCo)

Aims of the Project

• To form a learning team of a maximum of 28 teachers as action researchers, with an expectation that they will experiment with the strategies learnt in-between the project days and feedback their findings
• To update teachers on recent, significant research findings which underpin the theme of reducing anxiety
• To support teachers in reviewing and modifying existing practices and developing their professional confidence and expertise in the field so that they can eventually lead others as a result of their learning
• To share and celebrate achievement
• Through their feedback details being published on Shirley’s website, to enable a wider range of teachers and children to benefit from the learning and impact of the work of the team

Details of the Project

Day 1

• input and discussion — the current context for children, with data from leading research; understanding all the emotions; projection and containment; strategies for extreme emotions; integrating discussions about difficult emotions through the curriculum and texts; managing your own emotions; raising pupil self-efficacy; a case study child.

Day 2

• am: feedback from teachers
• pm: input and discussion — explicit links with formative assessment strategies; a new case study child; leading development throughout the school; containment in the classroom and the school.

Day 3

• am: feedback from teachers
• pm: showcase for 70 guests — input for one hour by Shirley and Angela then teacher group presentations of their findings.

Participant commitment

• 2/3 participants per school: SENDCOs/class teachers who have a keen interest in mental health issues in education, have a high enough status in the school to be able to lead development, and are willing to embark on research in their settings.
• Participants should be prepared to commit to every day of the course and to arrive promptly and stay for the entire day. This project is not suitable for different people to attend the different days, nor for job share or other part time teachers.
• Participants will be expected to do some reading in-between the days and to make notes in their ‘learning journals’ about their findings in the classroom.
• Participants need to commit to meet for the twilight sessions in-between the days.
• Participants will be expected to participate in the final “showcase”
• Teachers should expect to lead future staff development.

Coordinator’s commitment

• Teachers meet with Shirley Clarke and Dr. Evans on 3 days over a year from 9am till 3.30pm.
• Coordinators will provide each participant with a ‘learning journal’ (any large hardback book)
• The success of the project is enhanced by the absolute support of the school leaders in each school.
• The coordinator needs to meet for a twilight session with the team to check progress in-between Days 1 and 2 and 2 and 3.
• Teachers must attend all 3 meeting days, unless there are dire circumstances. If there are clashes with school events, please try to rearrange these rather than have the teacher miss out on a day. Each day is highly significant, as it is through teachers’ feedback on Days 2 and 3 that much appears to be learnt. Day 1 is equally important, as it consists of the initial input and discussion which sets the teachers off.
• Teachers are deliberately chosen in pairs to provide support for one another throughout the project. If funding allows, any extra time for these teachers to watch each other teach, meet or work together in a classroom will be invaluable.
• Teachers will be asked not to begin in-service training with teachers during the project, but instead to simply report back, at staff meetings, a brief summary of what they have experimented with and the impact this has had on pupils’ mental health and subsequent learning capacity so far. In this way, interest and readiness is built up while the teachers are developing their expertise. By the end of the project they will be confident to lead others, often by demonstration, and school staff will be motivated by what they have heard in the report back sessions.