School Education

Pete Boyd: School Education Publications

My current collaborative research and development projects with expert school teachers are focused on dialogic teaching, using the learning power of classroom talk, and mastery approaches in mathematics, changing teacher mindset and strategies to support high expectations and challenge for all students. I am currently focused on two related issues, on developing a ‘material-dialogic’ approach to teaching and on the potential of dialogic teaching to create classroom experiences of respect – autonomy, competence and relatedness – for students who have experienced sustained social disadvantage. I am interested in consultancy work as a research mentor for lesson study and action research based projects with teachers.

My publications focused on school education, including papers, chapters, books and some open access re-usable handouts are listed below. A recent chapter ‘Learning Teaching in School’ (2022) offers beginning teachers ten tools for workplace learning to help them to thrive rather than merely survive.

Pete Boyd (2022) Learning Teaching’ in School. In Hilary Cooper & Sally Elton-Chalcraft (Eds.) Professional Studies in Primary Education (4th Edition). London: Sage.

This is the interim report for the funding body, the actual research gets more into the nitty gritty but is still in progress with the teacher researchers:

Boyd, P. & Russell, I. (2019) Pursuing respect, relatedness and powerful learning through material dialogic teaching. Interim project report, LED Research Centre, University of Cumbria. Available at http://insight.cumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/5177/

I seem to be a lone voice in developing a critique of the concept of ‘powerful knowledge’ which I believe is flawed, at least in the way it is being applied by others:

Boyd, P. (2019) Knowledge and Ways of Knowing. Impact 6. Chartered College of Teaching. Available to members at: https://impact.chartered.college/article/knowledge-and-ways-of-knowing/

Boyd, P. & Curtis, L.(2019) Instructional Leadership of Schools: Dilemmas for professional inquiry in high accountability contexts in Joanna Madalińska-Michalak (Ed.) Teacher Leadership. Warsaw: Fundacja Rozwoju Systemu Edukacji, Seria Naukowa, 330-352.

Increasingly I am focusing on material dialogic teaching as part of my work with Andy Ash on mastery approaches to teaching mathematics, the next two papers report on this project and our paper in progress will have an explicit focus on material dialogic teaching:

Boyd, P. & Ash, A. (2018) Mastery Mathematics: Changing teacher beliefs around in-class grouping and mindset. Teaching and Teacher Education, 75: 214-223. Available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0742051X1731274X

Boyd, P. & Ash, A. (2018) Teachers framing exploratory learning within a text-book based Singapore Maths mastery approach. Teacher Educator Advancement Network Journal 10(1): 62-73. Available at: https://ojs.cumbria.ac.uk/index.php/TEAN/article/view/442

I am committed to supporting teachers to develop research-informed practice through professional inquiry – viewing teacher learning as ‘interplay’ between Public Knowledge (theory & research) and Practical Wisdom (teachers’ evaluative judgments within their setting):

Boyd, P. & White, E.(2017) Teacher and Teacher Educator Professional Inquiry in an Age of Accountability. In Pete Boyd and Agnieszka Szplit (Eds.) Teachers and Teacher Educators Learning Through Inquiry: International Perspectives. Available at https://goo.gl/RtPwQ5

My first engagement with dialogic teaching used the ‘sustained shared thinking’ framework in early years settings:

Boyd, P. & Leslie, P. with Teacher Researchers from North Liverpool Teaching Alliance (2015) Learning Conversations Teacher Toolkit: developing practice in early years through practitioner inquiry. Liverpool: Everton Nursery School and Family Centre. The full toolkit is available from the Surestart Centre http://www.evertonnurseryschoolandfamilycentre.org/

Boyd, P. (2014)Learning Conversations:teacher researchers evaluating dialogic strategies in early years settings. International Journal of Early Years Education, 22 (4), 441-456. Available open access online at http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09669760.2014.968532#.Voz4HvmLRdg

My advanced reader for beginning teachers, ‘Learning Teaching’, written with Barry Hymer and Karen Lockney, captures my commitment to professional inquiry and the importance of teachers’ practical wisdom in developing research-informed practice:

Boyd, P., Hymer, B. & Lockney, K.(2015) Learning Teaching: becoming an inspirational teacher. Critical Publishing. one chapter, Abstract Versus Concrete, is available open access at: http://insight.cumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/1953/1/Boyd_LearningTeachingBecoming.pdf

My chapter in this core text for student teachers focuses on 7 tools for workplace learning and is available open access:

Boyd, P. (2014) Learning Teaching in School. In Hilary Cooper (Ed.) Professional Studies in Primary Education (2nd Edition). London: Sage. Available at: http://insight.cumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/3373/

My first published research project was informed by my experience of being a school-based mentor for student teachers. To some extent it predicted the shift towards school-based teacher education because it was critical of the partnerships then in place:

Boyd, P. (2002)  Rose-Tinted Reflection? The Benefits for Teachers of Initial Teacher Education in Secondary Schools.  Journal of In-Service Education.  Vol. 28 No. 2 p.203-217.

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