|
This proposal will evaluate the impact of key national policy levers (e.g. funding, targets and inspection) on teaching, learning and assessment (TLA) e.g. learner outcomes and motivation in the new Learning and Skills System (LSS).
The LSS brings together for the first time all post-16 education and training (except HE) under 1 organisation - the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) with its 47 local LSCs.
This system has been described as the Government's post-16 'learning revolution' and needs to be subjected to independent, critical scrutiny.
The research will last for 3.25 years and will be conducted by 2 teams of researchers, 1 in the North East and 1 in London, each working with 2 local LSCs and partner organisations.
We will explore how the LSC's policy levers and rhetoric about TLA e.g. 'learning to learn', 'best practice' affect practice in 3 areas - 14-19 provision, basic skills provision and work-based learning.
The project uses the over-arching theory of a 'policy trajectory' to study policy and practice at macro, meso and micro levels, where we will conduct 83 policy interviews.
Findings will be compared with national and European policies and literatures on post-16 TLA in order to illuminate 'best practice' and improve policy and the quality of learning.
The research primarily employs a case-study approach in 4 local LSCs involving 100 one-day visits to 24 sites.
Relevant organisational, local, regional and national statistics will provide a strong quantitative analysis of learning outcomes.
The last 15 months of the project will focus on analysis, testing of emergent findings and dissemination.
Throughout the project the teams will build research capacity among partners through the open, democratic sharing of expertise and new knowledge to ensure that outcomes last beyond the life of the research.
At the heart of this project are the interactions between policy and learning outcomes, between the policy interviews and the visits to the learning sites.
|
