Seminar
Structured Tinkering : improving teaching through practitioner research
Professor Deborah Eyre
Visiting Senior Research Fellow, University of Oxford
Vice-President World Council for Gifted and Talented Children
Deborah Eyre is Visiting Senior Research Fellow at the University of Oxford, Professor of Education at the University of Warwick and Vice President of the World Council for Gifted and Talented Children (WCGTC). A widely published academic working in the fields of gifted education and education policy she is a policy adviser to UK government and adviser a number of governments in the Far East, Middle East and Europe. Professor Eyre serves on the Board of the UK Teacher Development Agency (TDA) which is responsible for teacher training and CPD across England and also the National College for School Leadership (NCSL) which trains School Principals and other school leaders. She was recently appointed as strategy adviser to King Abdulaziz and His Companions Foundation for Giftedness and Creativity, Saudi Arabia, to the Advisory Board of the Centre for Talented Youth, Johns’ Hopkins’ University, Baltimore, USA, as Trustee of the Inspiring Futures Foundation (IF), Deborah and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.
Abstract
This seminar will consider the concept of ‘Structured Tinkering’, a systematic approach to improving teaching through the modification of existing practice using the practitioner research methodologies. This kind of approach enables teachers in schools and higher education to reflect systematically on their practice with a view to bringing about beneficial change. Whilst this approach can be used in any workplace, this particular seminar will draw on examples of helping teachers to improve their classroom practice in order to meet the needs of gifted and talented pupils. The approach encourages individual teachers to determine the areas and methodologies for improvement. It foregrounds the role of the teacher as researcher and provides them with the skills to engage in critical reflection and systematic data collection so as to make informed choices on behalf of their class or department.
18 Feb 09, Wednesday
1 to 2 pm
B4-LP-12
Organized by the EPCL Department