WEBSITES

The British Educational Research Association’s website is a key resource.

Its newly-revised list of ethical guidelines is an essential read for any researcher.

www.bera.ac.uk

The Research and Informed Practice Site (Trips) is aimed at teachers, governors and parents. Provides digests of the latest articles from educational research journals and links to related sites and resources.

www.standards.dfes.gov.ukresearch

Another DfES-funded site describes the work of the independent National Teacher Research Panel and provides summaries of research papers presented at its conferences.

www.standards.dfes.gov.ukntrp

The Eppi-Centre reviews research studies and provides digests of the findings. http:eppi.ioe.ac.ukEPPIWebhome.aspx

The Neighbourhood Renewal initiative summarises research into key educational issues in areas of deprivation. www.renewal.net

The Centre for the Use of Research and Evidence in Education provides links with specialised and general educational sites and a jargonbuster for teachers .

www.curee-paccts.com

The National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) provides summaries and full reports of studies conducted as part of its extensive programme.

www.nfer.ac.uk

The NFER project, Investigating the research-engaged school, ends in June next year. It is expected to result in a collection of case-study accounts written by participating local education authorities and schools. NFER will also produce materials to help schools assess the extent of their own engagement in research and identify areas for further improvement.

www.nfer.ac.ukitr

The Open University provides pointers to distance-learning support on research methods.

www.open.ac.uk

The Scottish Council for Research in Education publishes briefing papers and research reports. The research workshop pages are dedicated to supporting teacher-researchers and information on research. It also publishes a series of guides for teacher-researchers.www.scre.ac.uk

The National College for School Leadership site includes short descriptions of how teachers use research.

www.ncsl.org.ukindex.cfm?pageid=randd-activities-engaged-literature

Education-line is a database of conference papers and other literature supporting research, policy and practice. www.leeds.ac.ukeducol

Educational Action Research, an academic journal, publishes studies of interest to teacher-researchers.

www.triangle.co.ukearindex.htm

The Centre for Applied Research in Education at the University of East Anglia gives links to action-research projects, associations, publications and other resources.

www.uea.ac.ukcarewebsites.html

The Collaborative Action Research Network aims to do what its title says.

Its website gives details of research publications and conferences, and links to other sites.

www.did.stu.mmu.ac.ukcarn

The Educational Resources Information Center (Eric) based in the US looks at how to structure a research report and avoid common mistakes.

www.ericfacility.netericdigestsed435712.html

Another useful American site has links to a wide range of action research projects.

www.alliance.brown.edu

BOOKS

Practitioner Research for Teachers. By S Bartlett and D Burton. Paul Chapman (2004)

Practitioner Research for Professional Development in Education. By A Campbell, O McNamara and P Gilroy. Paul Chapman (2004)

Doing Research with Children. By Anne D Greig and Jayne. Taylor. Paul Chapman. (1998)

A Teacher’s Guide To Classroom Research. By D Hopkins. OU Press (2ed, 1993)

Research Methods in Health Care and Early Years. By K Hucker. Heinemann (2001)

So You Want to do Research! By I Lewis and P Munn. Scottish Council for Research In Education (2ed, 1997)

The Art of Action Research in the Classroom. By C Macintyre. David Fulton (2000)

Becoming an evidence-based practitioner. Edited by O McNamara. Routledge Falmer (2002)

Doing Educational Research. Edited by C Opie. Paul Chapman (2004)

An Introduction to Classroom Observation. By Ted Wragg. Routledge (2ed, 1999)

Reflective teaching: effective and research-based professional practice. By Andrew Pollard. Continuum (2002)

FUNDING

The Arts Council’s Creative Partnerships initiative is considering setting up a scheme to support creativity in teaching and learning which would build on the lessons of the BPRS programme. Some teacher unions support members who wish to conduct research. The NUT has funded investigations into thinking skills and is considering doing so again. The NASUWT provides grants to support members , including travel scholarships to the US.

The Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation funds research (pound;10,000 limit per application).

The Centre for British Teachers funds action research and, unlike many funding organisations, accepts unsolicited proposals. A full list of funding organisations, most of which make funding available only for commissioned or competitively tendered work, is available from the National Education Research Forum.www.nerf-uk.org

COURSES

Most universities offer courses on research methods. The OU runs one that is specifically focused on educational research as part of its masters programme. It provides an introduction to the main techniques used in educational research.

E-JOURNALS

The following give free access to the full text of peer-reviewed academic research papers:

The Australian Educational Researcher is the journal of the Australian Association for Research in Education. Published three times a year.

www.aare.edu.auaeraer.htm

Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood is a UK online journal published three times a year.

www.triangle.co.ukCIEC.

Early Childhood Research amp; Practice is sponsored by the Early Childhood and Parenting (ECAP) Collaborative at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Covers topics related to the development, care and education of children from birth to the age of eight. Published biannually.

http:ecrp.uiuc.edu

EdResearch Online is produced by the ACER Cunningham Library in Australia, which holds a large collection of educational research papers.

http:cunningham.acer.edu.audbtwwpdsampleedresearch.htm

The European Educational Research Journal is the official journal of the European Educational Research Association. Published four times a year.

www.triangle.co.ukEERJ

The Journal for Critical Education Policy Studies is produced by the Institute for Education Policy Studies, which describes itself as “an independent Radical Left Socialist Marxist institute for developing analysis of education policy”. Published twice a year. www.jceps.com

BULLETIN

The latest effort to bridge the gap between theory and classroom practice comes from the National Educational Research Forum (Nerf), which is about to pilot a bulletin that aims to turn research material into articles that are readable and useful for teachers. But this will be different from web-based digests of educational research .

“We are doing what a lot of people said can’t be done in that we are addressing the whole range of the educational world from nursery schools, through schools, colleges and universities that train teachers,” says Andrew Morris, programme director for Nerf.

The new bulletin will be different in another way, he adds. “The editorial content is not determined by the supply of research but by what focus groups and other sources tell us teachers want to know about.”

www.nerf-uk.org