Improvement questions

Some of the improvement questions asked in 2018-19:

• Can a valid, reliable and robust scale be developed to measure wellbeing in families in Scotland?
• What psychological factors are present in the development of mathematics?
• Does the implementation and evaluation of the Numicon approach + numeracy language enrichment in 3 Challenge School improve numeracy attainment outcomes for children within SIMD 1 and 2?
• Will introducing a nurturing approach whole-school lead to more young people being included in mainstream school throughout their secondary education?
• How can teachers use metacognitive knowledge to enhance children’s ability to solve problems in numeracy during the First level of Curriculum for Excellence?

About this research

Background

The National Action Enquiry Programme for Educational Psychologists is supported by Education Scotland, the Association of Scottish Principal Educational Psychologists (ASPEP) and the British Psychological Society (BPS): Scottish Division of Educational Psychology (SDEP) to carry out research which will help to inform priorities for Scottish education.

Why was this done?

The need for an evidence informed approach is supported by OECD, EEF and National Improvement Framework key documents. Educational psychologists are well placed to inform this research base on Scotland's children as research and development is one of their core functions / roles.

What was done?

Educational psychologists from across Scotland have undertaken research considering the excellence and equity agenda set forward by the Scottish Government. The focus for the 2018-19 programme has been closing the poverty-related attainment gap and or achieving excellence and equity for all related to numeracy, literacy, health and wellbeing. This could be across any stage of learning as educational psychologists work with children from ages 0-25. Fifteen local authorities and one Regional Improvement Collaborative (RIC) took this opportunity to be involved.

The programme was launched in January 2018 in Glasgow, with a further symposium in Stirling in December 2018 which was supported by Education Scotland to allow psychologists to share practice and offer supportive challenge for each other.

Throughout 2018-19, the research was undertaken and/ or written by the educational psychologists which has culminated in a 800-1000 word report for practitioners and leaders in education and is accessible through the National improvement Hub.

Please note that the research findings from each paper are representative of the findings and research from author/s and/ or local authorities.

What was the impact?

This year (2018-19), 23 research papers have been produced and quality assured by the profession on closing the poverty-related attainment gap and achieving equity and excellence for all. The impact of the research is detailed within each paper. The Regional Improvement Collaborative paper is of particular note as it involved collaboration across four authorities which culminated in recommendations for development of the numeracy workstream for the Forth Valley Regional Improvement Collaborative.

The research written for this national programme continues to be developed by educational psychologists within their own services. Therefore, more detailed information on the research aims to be available on each educational psychological services website or available on request from the authors.

Action reports

The action enquiry papers this year are researching:
(Please note that some papers are relevant to more than one category):

Numeracy:

• PDF file: What is the impact on attachment style of numeracy development? (489 KB)
  Clackmannanshire
• PDF file: Bridging the gaps in numeracy attainment (624 KB)
  Falkirk
• PDF file: Psychological factors in promoting numeracy (746 KB)
  Forth Valley and West Lothian Regional Improvement Collaborative
• PDF file: Promoting numeracy pedagogy and parental engagement to improve numeracy skills in vulnerable learners (372 KB)
  South Ayrshire
• PDF file: Developing numeracy pedagogy to improve numeracy attainment for pupils with Additional Support Needs (ASN) (416 KB)
  South Ayrshire
• PDF file: Developing numeracy pedagogy to improve numeracy attainment and motivation for all (538 KB)
  South Ayrshire
• PDF file: Numeracy and metacognition (334 KB)
  Stirling
• PDF file: Factors underpinning numeracy skills development: a pupil voice project (370 KB)
  West Lothian

Literacy:

• PDF file: Focus of learner feedback: a small scale research study using teacher feedback approaches to further promote writing progression in two P4 classes (438 KB)
  North Ayrshire
• PDF file: Developing an alternative P1 literacy approach to support struggling early readers (324 KB)
  North Lanarkshire

Health and wellbeing:

• PDF file: 'Technology Talks?' Using an electronic wellbeing tool to increase young people's engagement and voice to inform more effective planning for their wellbeing (443 KB)
  Aberdeen City
• PDF file: The Family Wellbeing Scale: The development of a scale to measure family wellbeing (phase 2) (718 KB)
  East Renfrewshire
• PDF file: Implementation of 'How Nurturing is Our School?' – a pilot study of an initiative designed by Fife Council EPS (387 KB)
  Fife
• PDF file: Use of support and development group approach to aid schools in implementing Restorative Approaches (327 KB)
  Glasgow
• PDF file: Early Years FAIAR for the future: an attachment based parenting programme for secondary schools (334 KB)
  South Lanarkshire
• PDF file: Small scale study exploring school attendance within an identified ASD population (457 KB)
  Stirling
• PDF file: Evaluating the impact of whole-school nurture principles training in a West Dunbartonshire Secondary School (392 KB)
  West Dunbartonshire
• PDF file: An evaluation of the implementation and effectiveness of 'Elephant's Tea Party' in a local authority mainstream secondary school (363 KB)
  West Dunbartonshire
• PDF file: Using the Friends for Life CBT programme to target pupils vulnerable to secondary school transition (357 KB)
  West Dunbartonshire
• PDF file: A collaborative strength based intervention promoting resilience through solution oriented approaches (307 KB)
  West Dunbartonshire

Engaging parents:

• PDF file: The Family Wellbeing Scale: The development of a scale to measure family wellbeing (phase 2) (718 KB)
  East Renfrewshire
• PDF file: Evaluating parental engagement dimensions: the development of a Renfrewshire toolkit (372 KB)
  Renfrewshire
• PDF file: Promoting numeracy pedagogy and parental engagement to improve numeracy skills in vulnerable learners (372 KB)
  South Ayrshire

Children and young people's views:

• PDF file: 'Technology Talks?' Using an electronic wellbeing tool to increase young people's engagement and voice to inform more effective planning for their wellbeing (443 KB)
  Aberdeen City
• PDF file: Explorations of factors that mediate the poverty related attainment gap, pupil views (331KB)
  Glasgow
• PDF file: Factors underpinning numeracy skills development: a pupil voice project (370 KB)
  West Lothian

Forth Valley and West Lothian Regional Improvement Collaborative joint approach:

Each Educational Psychology Services from Forth Valley and West Lothian Regional Improvement Collaborative each researched an aspect on numeracy which was relevant to their local authority. A paper was then progressed which analysed common psychological factors identified within each of these projects. These papers can be found below:

• PDF file: Psychological factors in promoting numeracy (746 KB)
  Forth Valley and West Lothian Regional Improvement Collaborative
• PDF file: What is the impact on attachment style of numeracy development? (489 KB)
  Clackmannanshire
• PDF file: Bridging the gaps in numeracy attainment (624 KB)
  Falkirk
• PDF file: Numeracy and metacognition (334 KB)
  Stirling
• PDF file: Factors underpinning numeracy skills development: a pupil voice project (370 KB)
  West Lothian

About the author(s)

All of the researchers are educational psychologists working in local authority educational psychology services.

Related research/reading

The literature reviews in each of the summary reports will provide useful reading materials and references for specific research papers which will assist you in your own research and teaching.

Disclaimer

The findings and recommendations from the research and development project are those of the authors and not necessarily those of Education Scotland.