College’s action research work is featured in Routledge publication

“We wanted to remove the exclusivity and hierarchy of ‘research’ and open it up to all. For us, parity of esteem, equality and inclusivity was paramount, so staff from across the whole organisation knew that their voice and thinking mattered and whether you had five degrees or none, you have a place on our programme if you are curious.” Bryony Evett-Hackfort

The work of the teaching and learning team at Coleg Sir Gâr and Coleg Ceredigion has been recognised in a Routledge publication entitled Exploring Practitioner Research in Further Education Sharing Good Practice.

A whole chapter has been included in a section called ‘Models for Practitioner Research in FE’ that join other individual chapters from those involved with action research within further education.

The chapter’s title is called ‘Coleg Sir Gâr and Coleg Ceredigion: The evolution of our Culture of Curiosity,’ and it explores the evolution of action research from the college’s Pathways of Excellence and specifically gives an insight into the work of teaching staff Cath Roberts, Allan Laskey, Alex Huggett and Karl Sedgwick.

Written by Bryony Evett Hackfort, who is the college’s director of teaching, learning and education, the chapter explains how the team wanted to establish a genuine, teacher-led, action research culture at the college, driving curiosity to steer a deeper understanding of teaching and learning issues.

Action research activities carried out by staff, became known as the Culture of Curiosity, where staff were supported in researching an area of their interest within teaching and learning and exploring answers and how to address these issues.

This initiative started five years ago and it is continually developing, as further education does not stand still and is challenged by outside influences such as societal matters including the impact of food poverty on learner engagement - a subject that Coleg Sir Gâr lecturer Allan Laskey explored, that is included in the book. 

Bryony Evett Hackfort, director of Learning, Teaching and Technology said: “This publication is dedicated to championing the action research found in further education and we are delighted to be featured within it. 

“It was quickly clear from the outset that the scale of our Culture of Curiosity project was substantial and it was key to ensure that we did not rush this process. 

“Education moves fast, workload is immense, time is tight and funds are scarce.

“Hearing Sam Jones speak gave us the confidence to challenge the longstanding assumptions that ‘we,’ have about research, as in who can do it, who should do it, what does it look like, who should learn from it and how should it be presented?

“We wanted to remove the exclusivity and hierarchy of ‘research’ and open it up to all. For us, parity of esteem, equality and inclusivity was paramount, so staff from across the whole organisation knew that their voice and thinking mattered and whether you had five degrees or none, you have a place on our programme if you are curious.”

An example of the action research that has taken place at the college and is included in the book, includes the research of skills improvement lecturer, Allan Laskey, who explored the impact of food poverty on learner engagement. 

Analysing national data, creating focus groups and visiting other colleges, he presented his findings to senior leadership. He is now running a college cooking club that provides learners with free ingredients and a quick and easy recipe card.   “It’s not just about cheap food,” said Allan. “it’s about finding fresh, nutritious food and creating interesting meals within a budget. I’m really pleased with the uptake and feedback and it’s also helping to feed the families of students too, who may be struggling with the cost of living.” 

Alex Huggett, former head of Lifelong Learning, was inspired by the work of Rachel Arnold and her research work into Teach the Teacher. 

The initiative is a role-reversal for students and staff where tutors swap places with their students because often, students who are resitting their GCSEs can experience low self-esteem when it comes to redoing a course that requires mandatory rather than optional participation.

The learner is often skilled and enthused by their main area of study but their GCSE teacher doesn’t get a chance to see this side of them, so the tutor is taken to the learner’s area of study and the learner teaches them their skills. 

Alex has since been exploring all areas of the college including maintaining equine stables, cooking for the college training restaurant and plastering a wall. Her research has led to six more lecturers taking up the methodology. 

The pandemic brought its own problems and this included the education sector’s response to it.

Coleg Sir Gâr lecturer Catherine Roberts, recognised that covid saw a monumental shift in how practitioners engage with students and moving from face-to-face to online learning brought up a whole new set of challenges. 

Exploring whether cameras should be on or off during online lectures was a question that led to more questions. The original college policy was to keep cameras on to assess engagement but Catherine questioned how engagement is actually measured when considering screen stress and anxiety in students who found learning online more challenging. 

Research concluded that physical presence in an online space was a simplistic way to measure engagement and that it could be measured in several other ways. Using real-time, online tools such as raise the hand function, Google chat, Jamboards and polls were a better indicator of student understanding and interaction in the session. Catherine published her research in the national publication ‘Intuition’(Roberts, 2021).

Karl Sedgewick’s action research was also driven by the pandemic where normally, students at the college’s Carmarthen School of Art would exhibit their end of year work across the whole of the art school, but covid meant that the traditional physical space wasn’t possible.

Using 3D scanning and 360 technologies, he developed a significant online exhibition space where in 2020, nearly 40,000 visitors viewed students work, exposing it to wider audience than before. 

This model was further developed and is used in current practice helping students to get their work seen on a national and international platform. 

The Culture of Curiosity programme culminates every year in an extremely vibrant and energetic Festival of Practice with plant and book swaps, live music, catering which also makes it unique in its fresh and informal approach.

Bryony Evett Hackfort added: “These research and publication achievements are only possible because of the amazing staff that have supported this programme over the last five years.”