£50,000 research initiative launched across Yorkshire schools

Leeds Beckett University has announced plans to invest £50,000 into schools and nurseries across Yorkshire as part of a new collaborative research initiative.

The Carnegie School of Education at Leeds Beckett is offering the opportunity for all 1,096 of its partner schools and early years organisations across the county to apply for up for £10,000 of funding each to work with the university in researching critical areas of development within their individual setting or in collaboration with others.

Each school or nursery involved will be allocated a ‘researcher in residence’ from the Carnegie School of Education, who will advise on research methods, data collection and analysis.

The University is looking for the projects to cover a wide range of topics, including: innovative approaches to play or outdoor learning; teacher resilience and retention; the impact of new technology; family and community engagement; raising attainment for children from minority groups; and establishing professional learning communities for teachers.

The projects will run from January 2017 until January 2018, with the findings expected to be published by the Carnegie School of Education as part of a working paper series.

Professor Damien Page, Dean of the Carnegie School of Education, explained: “In the Carnegie School of Education, we know that real improvement within schools comes from teachers who think critically about the needs of the children they work with. As part of our strategy, we aim to support education partners in becoming research active: this fund will give schools and nurseries the resources to carry out their own research – with an academic from Leeds Beckett supporting them all the way – to find out what really works in the classroom.”