Stories and Statistics: Describing a Mixed Method Study of Effective Classroom Practice

The Effective Classroom Practice project aimed to identify key factors that contribute to effective teaching in primary and secondary phases of schooling in different socioeconomic contexts. This article addresses the ways in which qualitative and quantitative approaches were combined within an integrated design to provide a comprehensive methodology for the research purposes. Strategies for the study are discussed, followed by the challenges of combining complex statistics with individual stories, particularly in relation to the ongoing iteration between these different data sets, and issues of validity and reliability. The findings shed new light on the meanings and measurement of teachers’ effective classroom practice and the complex nature of, and relationships with, professional life phase, teacher identities, and school context.

Teachers’ Constructs Of Effective Classroom Practice: Variations Across Career Phases.

This paper outlines a theoretical framework which offers an explanation of the complexity of how teachers define their effectiveness in relation to their classroom practice. The research from which this framework emerged was a two-year, mixed method study of 81 primary and secondary school teachers. The use of repertory grid interviews combined with a number of other methods is unique in a study of teachers’ practice and, from the elicited constructs, seven key themes emerged. These themes, analysed in relation to three broad career phases, indicate a number of issues important for teachers as they transfer from early-to-late career.

Senior Managers’ Perspectives of Leading and Managing Effective, Sustainable and Successful Partnerships

Formal and informal partnerships have become key features of education policy and practice in many countries and managing such collaborative arrangements is an important dimension of the role(s) of leaders of educational organizations. Recent research has shown both the tensions and conflict that can develop in partnerships as well as the opportunities and benefits of partnership working for organizations and individuals. This article focuses on the characteristics of partnerships that contribute to their effectiveness, sustainability and success, filling a gap in the literature on educational partnerships. The research data emanate from a qualitative study of partnership working in England. The study used a grounded approach and inductively linked characteristics of partnerships found in the partnership literature with empirical data from a case study of a subregional partnership of education and training organizations. This combined evidence is used to conceptualize partnership as a continuum of weak to strong forms of partnership and to develop a table of characteristics which underpin such partnerships. The findings reveal the extent to which trust, networks, norms and values support effective, sustained and successful partnerships. These characteristics are differentiated and may fluctuate during the lifecourse of a partnership but remain fundamental features of partnership working and significantly contribute to the strength and effectiveness of partnerships.