A digital library for post-16 educators

An increasing number of sixth form staff are actively engaged in research projects and inquiry work, whether as individuals or as part of a whole-department or whole-college initiatives. Yet many of these projects stay within the college community, where others can’t learn from them. Meanwhile, there is a real paucity of academic research specific to the 16-19 phase of education, and those searching for evidence to inform their practice often have to make do with research conducted on either much younger students in schools or older learners in universities.  

The SFCA has been supporting a group of sixth form leaders and teachers to work with Hughes Hall College at Cambridge University in setting up a dedicated 16-19 space for research conducted in sixth form colleges by sixth form college staff in the ‘Camtree’ online library. We hope that establishing a 16-19 space on the Camtree site will enable teachers and staff across the sector to submit their own practitioner research and have it published in a series of collections based around shared subjects and themes. Staff working post-16 will then be able to browse the reports for inspiration. In time, we also plan to broaden the type of content available on Camtree to include audio and video content.  

What is Camtree?

Camtree is a “new global platform for close-to-practice research in education. Its mission is to support, promote and publish ‘close-to-practice’ educational research by educators to improve teaching and lead to better outcomes for learners worldwide.”  Working with Camtree, our aim is to create an online learning community by and for the sixth form sector. 

As an open-access global knowledge network, Camtree will enable Sixth Form staff to begin showcasing the wealth of innovation and inquiry work which is happening across colleges. It will hopefully inspire increasing numbers of educators to conduct research into their own practice and serve as a resource for college educators looking to incorporate insights from peer-reviewed research into their practice. Teachers' research reports are peer-reviewed before publication in the Camtree Digital Library, which is free of charge to individual educators. The SFCA research network includes a number of college staff already fully trained as peer reviewers and continues to support colleagues who are keen to become peer reviewers. 

Current examples of practitioner research in colleges

All student facing staff at Richard Huish College have been collectively carrying out research and inquiry into their practice over the past few years and sharing their findings and innovations through their journal and annual marketplace event. More recently, a number of teachers have written up their research for publication on Camtree, with their work and reflections being viewed by hundreds of people all over the world.

Examples include:

• Pedagogy or Andragogy? An exploration into teaching and learning in the sixth form sector and implications for curriculum
• Establishing retrieval practice as a learning culture in A Level sociology
• The use of real-life context in GCSE maths resit lessons
• To what extent is the use of flipped learning in A level biology suitable for students with lower prior attainment?
• Using principles of cognitive science as a framework for retrieval practice in A level psychology

Over in North London, staff at Capital City College (formerly City and Islington Sixth Form College) have been carrying out research and inquiry within the college’s Teaching and Learning Community (TLC). Where working within a peer-led, teacher-driven, egalitarian community of practice has provided fertile ground for experimentation, innovation and risk-taking, a subject discussed in a previous blog.

Since 2021, their TLC has been engaged in an ongoing action research project, Writing to Learn, alongside academic-researchers at Goldsmiths University. Staff involved reflect that this work has formed part of their ongoing professional development and has enabled them to share ideas, strategies and reflections in a trusting and supportive environment. Working collaboratively within a community of practice has helped staff to develop and learn together and alongside their students, developing a ground-up research culture driven from the classroom. Reflections on this work have been recently published in Impact, the journal for the Chartered College of Teaching, ensuring their work reaches a wider community of practitioner-researchers and leaders.

Next steps for the Capital City College researchers involve writing up a submission for Camtree, drawing on interviews conducted with teachers who have been trialling Writing to Learn strategies in their classrooms and for their own professional development. Staff researchers reflect that the process of analysing their data, drawing out themes, and writing up their research in an appropriately academic style has been important for their development as practitioner-researchers. They are grateful for the opportunity to try and publish this work and are excited about the chance to disseminate their findings within the wider Camtree community.

Becoming a peer reviewer

As part of the growing connections with Camtree, a number of sixth form college staff have also taken up the opportunity to train as peer reviewers. They have found this to be an excellent form of continuous professional development, both in terms of the training provided and the ongoing opportunity to connect with colleagues and to read, learn and draw inspiration from the range of practitioner research taking place across the UK and internationally. It has also served as a useful reminder that, as educators, we have a range of skills at our disposal that can be transferable to different settings. 

Peer reviewing is not dissimilar to marking. However, there’s less of it and, whilst reviewing a 5000-word report can be time-consuming, it’s a completely different experience to wading through a mountain of (AI-generated?) essays ready to be returned first thing Monday morning. For supervisors of the EPQ, peer reviewing also helps develop the critical engagement needed to supervise a student research project. Crucially, this is stimulating work, putting teachers back in touch with their professionalism and reminding us that the craft that we are continually developing requires high levels of skill, competence and expertise. Overall, engagement with Camtree so far has been incredibly positive and the TLC group at Capital City College encourage colleagues to join them in this growing learning community.

Camtree provides an open and inclusive opportunity to engage with colleagues both within and beyond our own institutions, working together and learning from each other. Being part of Camtree gives us the chance to flourish, both individually and collectively, contributing to an expanding and expansive community of practice driven by teachers. Through Camtree, we work together towards reaffirming our professional identity as practitioner-researchers committed to reflective practice and a love of inquiry-based learning.

Interested in finding out more or getting involved?

The SFCA and Huish Centre are hosting an introductory webinar about the post-16 Camtree community on Tuesday 25^th November 4.30-5.30pm 

If you are interested in:

• Finding out more about the 16-19 digital community on Camtree
• Writing up your own research or inquiry work for publication on the site 
• Exploring alternative formats in which to share and publish inquiry work on Camtree
• Getting support in developing practitioner research in your college 
• Becoming a peer reviewer for Camtree
• Understanding the potential and impact of teacher research on student outcomes and experiences

Register for the webinar here - see you there!

Emma is principal of Richard Huish College in Somerset and Debbie is a teacher of history and politics at Capital CIty College Sixth Form in London. Both have been instrumental in setting up the Camtree site and leading the push towards practitioner research in sixth form colleges.