Since 1987, I have been involved in research that has had a focus on understanding what difference educational approaches and innovations can make to learner outcomes, including their achievement, life opportunities and wellbeing. From 1987 to 2002 my work at the Scottish Council for Research in Education (SCRE), an independent research centre, entailed research that was largely evaluative to inform local and national educational policy and practice. The objectives and values of SCRE included a commitment to using research and knowledge to improve educational practice in partnership with teachers, local authority/ district officers and government. Indeed, SCRE had been established in 1926 by local authorities to help underpin education practice and thinking with appropriate research evidence.
The SCRE Centre merged with School of Education (SoE) at the University of Glasgow in 2002 and later ceased to exist as a unit. However, since 2013, with the establishment of the Robert Owen Centre for Educational Change (ROC), led by Prof. Chris Chapman, many of the aims of the SCRE Centre have been reinvigorated. Key to this activity has been developing a model of collaborative action research within our Network for Social and Educational Equity.
I am currently part of a team of university researchers in this Centre work who as critical friends to support practitioners and others in the educational community to develop enquiry-informed practice to improve the lives of learners and their communities.