Completed Projects

UCET Travel Scholarship

A UCET travel scholarship enabled Dr Vasiliki Tzibazi, whose teaching focuses on museum learning and on the theoretical and practical framework that underpins museum education, to visit the Bank Street College in New York which is one of the few institutions in the world that offers courses that focus entirely on the area of museum education. The specialised museum education courses complement the teacher education programme. During her visit she explored the theoretical framework and practice for the students' meaningful engagement in museum programs by attending seminars, interviewing staff/graduate teachers and observing museum education programmes for schoolchildren.

Teachers and TAs as Writers

The objective of the 3 phases of the Teachers and TAs as Writers project funded by the DCSF (now DfE) was to develop schools that could deliver high quality Continuing Professional Development in writing, through school-to-school training. The schools were to be underpinned by a model for training that would make an impact on visiting teachers, TAs, and their schools and raise attainment. Unique to this project was the involvement of TAs who accompanied their teacher to all project sessions. The key finding was that teaching schools can offer a much richer CPD experience for visitors, if the teachers have knowledge and experience of a training model such as the one developed.

For further information on Teachers and TAS as Writers

Student Associates Scheme

During the academic year 2010-2011 a cohort of 20 male students drawn from a range of Universities and degree subject backgrounds completed the SAS scheme.
All the targets that had previously been set by the TDA were met successfully met in that:

20 male students were to be recruited and there were 24 applicants
All students were to complete 15 days school experience and for the first year since the scheme began there were no 'dropouts' and all submitted good portfolios of evidence.
Fifteen students were to be placed in areas of deprivation and 16 students were eventually placed in schools within areas of deprivation.
Of the 20 students who completed the scheme 17 expressed a wish to pursue teaching as a career in the future with three changing from an initial consideration of secondary teaching into the primary phase.

Workshop: Early Modern Veterinary Beliefs and Practice in Europe c 1500 " 1800.

Funded by the European Science Foundation, this exploratory workshop of early modern scholars working across Europe showed that the field of veterinary medicine in the sixteenth, seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries was both widespread and dynamic.
The aims of the workshop were to:

evaluate the state of early modern veterinary research in Europe
share research on a multi-national level
establish a network of academics interested in early modern veterinary medicine
explore new directions for European-wide collaborative research projects

The workshop, convened by Dr Louise Curth, took place at West Downs in July 2011 and the participants were academics from across Europe working in a range of interdisciplinary areas linked to early modern animal health care.
The outputs were:

The creation of a new network of European academics working in the field of early modern veterinary medicine.
A subsequent bid for a large conference to be held in Sweden in the summer of 2013 entitled 'Livestock, Health and Disease in European Society and Culture c. 1300 " 1800'.

This is the next step before submitting a Network Bid, which will be headed by Dr Louise Curth.
Conference Papers to be published on the website of the World Association for the History of Veterinary Medicine.

Woodland Tales

Funded by the South East Gifted and Talented Regional Partnership, a Woodland Tales day enabled children from different Pyramid schools to meet, socialise and work together. Twenty four children attended from five local Primary schools. Evidence in the form of verbal reports from the children, feedback from the adults accompanying the visit and written evaluations suggest that the children found that writing outdoors was engaging and the woodland provided inspiration for their work. Students who accompanied the visit were able to observe off- site visit procedures, the power of storytelling, the value of providing time for the children to write without teacher intervention, an earth education approach and the importance of context within writing.

Values and the Secondary Classroom Teacher

This project gave the University an opportunity to establish a new relationship with the Gordon Cook Foundation, and build on existing work being undertaken in conjunction with the Comino Foundation. In year one of the study, an up to date literature review on values work in secondary schools was undertaken to provide useful scaffolding to further this project. The key focus for the first year was the trialling of an approach which would enable schools to explore their values on a one-to-one, a group, and whole school basis, to further define the values that underpin professional life and how to work with them. Discussions with teachers and senior managers took place where the centrality of values, and the relationships that influence these values, were the focus within and between different schools. These discussions formed the basis for a report to participating schools and funding Foundations at the end of Year One.

Year Two of the research brought participating schools together to enable them to meet at a conference and share their different perspectives, including their successes and challenges, of working with values as individuals and school communities.

Then additional funding from the Gordon Cook Foundation was granted to further develop the relationship established with one local secondary school by undertaking a collaborative practitioner enquiry with teachers in this school. The Aspirations Index research tool was used to gather data from the school with a view to developing the research approach into a replicable research tool that goes beyond data collection to application in school communities enabling the building of new collaborative research relationships with other academic institutions to build the body of knowledge and understanding in the field of personal values and education.

Sunley, R. and Locke, R. (in progress " accepted for publication June 2012) Educational Professionals' Values: Voices from Secondary Schools in England Educational Research

Sunley, R. and Locke, R. (2012) Exploring UK secondary teachers' professional values: an overview of the literature since 2000 Educational Research 52(4) pp. 409-425

Local4Global

This project consisted of two levels of funding from DfID's Local4Global London and South East regional strategy to integrate the global dimension in formal sector education. Funding for Level 1 (Strategic Level Meetings with ITE institutions) was used to develop an action plan in cooperation with the Hampshire Development Education Centre (DEC). Funding for Level 2 (Institution focused CPD and course development) was used for a range of activities including curriculum development in the area of global citizenship and training Faculty staff and trainees.

Reflecting on the Value of Museum Learning in Teacher Education

The chief aim of this project was to develop capacity within Teacher Education programmes to work more systematically with museums and archives to support student teachers' learning and to raise aspirations in relation to the potential of learning opportunities on museums and archives. In 2006-2007, the Museum Libraries and Archives (MLA) Council worked with the University of Winchester on workforce development in schools, museums and archives. It acted as a pilot study to provide an informed and skilled multidisciplinary team who would then work with teacher trainees and teachers during the summer 2007 and beyond. The project involved professionals from different educational contexts in examining and sharing their own professional practices in order to identify, share and develop skills in promoting children's learning and evaluating impact.
This pilot aimed to support cross-fertilization and understanding of the learning opportunities within museums/archives and ITE facilities to understand both specific links with curriculum learning in museum/archive settings as well as professional learning. It was intended as a starting point to develop capacity within Initial Teacher Education programmes to work in a more systematic way within museum and archive venues.

Bringing Shakespeare to Life

This project examined children's attitudes to Shakespeare after being given the opportunity to explore a Shakespeare play through a theatre-based opportunity in junior-school.

Analytical research on children's attitudes to Shakespeare is scant. Searches on Ingenta and Ebsco have elicited no research literature on the attitudes that years six and eight pupils have towards Shakespeare. This project aimed to introduce primary school children to the significance of Shakespeare's work and language; to analyse the effect of introducing Shakespeare to pupils in year six; on their attitude in year seven/eight and aimed to involve students in the process of research as teaching becomes a masters level profession.

This research set out to examine pupils' attitudes towards Shakespeare at year 8 in the light of having or not having experienced as a whole year, the Play-in-a-Day experience. The approach adopted was essentially practical. It involved BA(Ed) students initiating their own ideas on how Shakespeare should be taught to children in an engaging manner.

In PHASE 1 follow up interviews were conducted with (1) year six children and (2) year eight children. Year six pupils were introduced to Shakespeare in their junior schools through a Play-in-a Day activity and a mixed ability group of them was interviewed to ascertain their reaction to and reflections on the experience. A sub-sample of these children were interviewed again to gauge their attitude to Shakespeare when they reached year eight in secondary school, the year in which pupils start their Shakespeare studies. A similar number of children from year eight who did not have the 'Play in a Day' experience in their junior schools were also be interviewed.

EYP Consultation for Dorset County Council

This was a consultation project exploring the reasons for reluctance from some providers of Early Years Care and Education in Dorset to engage with the move towards graduate leadership in the early years sector via the introduction of Early Years Professional Status (EYPS). EYPS is a central part of the Government's plan to improve children's developmental and well-being outcomes as part of the Every Child Matters agenda. The aim is that by 2010, every Children's Centre in the country will have an Early Years Professional in place (withtwo in more deprived areas) and by 2015, there will be an EYP in every private, independent and voluntary early years full day care setting. Local Authorities are charged with ensuring that such targets are reached and have funding to assist in the process.

The consultation involved the combined use of a postal survey, focus groups and in-depth telephone interviews. The evidence about barriers and concerns with regard to training and employing an EYP was gathered from the leaders and staff at full day care settings which were not currently engaging with plans towards EYPS in the four areas of Dorset. In the resulting report outlining barriers to engagement with EYPS, suggested action points were devised by the focus group participants and interviewees which they felt would facilitate future engagement.

Video-Conferencing and Teacher Education

This project extended research into the use of videoconferencing with Winchester partnership schools. Itwas the development of an on-going successful initiative introduced with TDA support in 2006-07. The project linked with two Partnership schools/settings to complement specialist subject module teaching in the University. The schools/settings in the project have recognised excellence in practice/advanced skills teachers to provide models of good practice for student/tutor discussion with the school/setting. The aimwas for all nominated subject specialist trainees in nominated subject areas to gain insights into subject pedagogies, the subject leader role and the dissemination of best practice within the region.The introduction of videoconferencing to Winchester ITT programmes in 2007-08 has resulted in significant development in academic and technical staff expertise in using videoconferencing with schools in the South East region. This bid provided an opportunity to consolidate and extend the substantial developments made by the Faculty with regional school partners, the South East Grid for Learning and the JaNet collaborative network and to research the use of video conferencing between school/settings and HE.

E-Portfolios and Teacher Education

This pilot project introduced e-portfolio software that links explicitly with the standards for teacher education in order to research teacher education students' engagement with e-portfolios in the school setting. The project built on a personal development model of a 'working' e-portfolio, associated with a personalised learning space in order to facilitate students in gathering together evidence across modules or learning outcomes and supporting them in taking a holistic view of their learning.

The project aims were to:

develop student's skills of enquiry, evaluation and synthesis, using e-portfolios as a tool to develop ways of managing pupil assessment,
develop programmes of study, dissemination of information and supporting colleagues through the use of e-portfolio software that links explicitly with the standards
collate the uses to which e-portfolios are put in the University and the school setting
analyse ways in which e-portfolios facilitate interaction between students and school staff
explore the views of students, school staff and ITT tutors on the usefulness of e-portfolios for supporting practice in school
explore the views of students, school staff and ITT tutors on the potential usefulness of e-portfolios for further professional development post ITT
explore the views of students, school staff and ITT tutors on possible barriers to the use of e-portfolios in the school setting
Supporting E-learning Communities in Initial Teacher Education
Funded by the Teacher Training Agency

This project extended current e-learning both in scope and audience within Initial Teacher Education. It developed strategies to extend e-learning discussion between staff and students, into the school placement context. It addressed the difficulties that both trainees and, to a lesser extent, school staff, have had in accessing electronic material from widely distributed sites. E-learning discussion impacts on standards by enabling sharing of good practice and strategies for addressing difficulties between several schools and between all stakeholders in the school partnership. The project adapted the current flexible PGCE sharing and supporting forum (a VLE based asynchronous discussion site) for use by undergraduate students, mentors and higher education staff.

The project fosters:

A virtual learning environment within which undergraduate trainees can engage in knowledge exchange and debate while on school placement
The establishment of e-learning communities consisting of Higher Education staff, mentors and trainees
Identification of further development needs if the environment is to be extended to other undergraduate trainees
E-learning communities able to support each other, engage in professional debate and feedback to us on course related issues, with the potential to enhance consistency of trainees' school-based experience

Returner Teacher Evaluation Project 2003-2008

Funded by the Training and Development Agency for Schools

This was a project initiated to investigate whether the Return to Teaching Courses, funded by the TDA (formerly TTA), are enabling teachers with QTS to successfully return to the classroom after a period of absence. In some cases this may have been for twenty years or more. The courses incorporated a balance between taught modules and at least ten days school based experience.

The remit of the evaluation was to:

assess the match of course content and teaching materials with the TDA course specification
assess the impact of tutor teaching, guidance and feedback during the course, and its effect on returners' confidence and skills
determine whether marketing and recruitment procedures attract participants who are eligible and close to making the decision to return to teaching
assess the quality of the school placement, including support from providers

The purpose of the evaluationwas to gather evidence on the impact of the training and on how it met participants' individual needs. The main findings indicated that the majority of courses provide good, balanced programmes that enable returning teachers to renew their professional skills in a safe and supportive environment.

Higher Education, the Arts and Schools (HEArts)

Funded by the Esme Fairbairn Foundation

The HEArts project engaged students with several art forms in a distinctively different way, using an innovative approach to teaching the arts. The project brought together higher education staff, practising and training artists, primary school teachers and students in designing, trialling and producing integrated arts teaching materials for use by initial teacher training providers and their schools. The project developed student teachers' skills and knowledge and those of children in art, music and drama, enabling them to make transdisciplinary connections, with the opportunity to implement these approaches in schools with children from diverse cultural backgrounds. Students and children worked alongside teachers and artists to develop a curious and imaginative approach to the arts and to learning.

Teachers and Young Children Exploring their Worlds Together

Funded by AstraZeneca Science Teaching Trust, £80,000

This project investigated how we can support teachers and young children as they explore and develop the ideas teachers and children bring to the Foundation Stage. The project built on previous research carried out in the Faculty of Education that demonstrates that young children are willing and able to communicate their early ideas in science given an appropriate, investigative context, opportunities to express their meaning, and if their diverse modes of communication are 'heard' and valued.

One strand of the project provided examples of early exploration in science, acknowledge and build upon children's previous experience and learning to plan for Early Years Science education. Imaginative, everyday contexts were identified to develop and extend children's science process and conceptual development.

A parallel strand supported the teachers as they document and analyse their practice to become more like the teachers they want to be. The project's approach was both distinctive and innovative in emphasising a 'child " adult' relationship

Countryside Learning

The Faculty of Education were awarded a contract with Hampshire Country Learning and the South East of England Development Agency (SEEDA) to investigate what is happening in outdoor learning across the South East of England. This followed the publication of the Outdoor Learning Manifesto by the DfES which reinforces the need for schools to get children outdoors and learn about the environment around them. The contract involved the Faculty of Education in talking to large numbers of outdoor learning providers in the South East to document what they are doing and what successes they have had.