Creating the future of improving teaching quality and student wellbeing through the dynamic approach to school improvement
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Cambridge
Department Name: Faculty of Education
Abstract
This project aims to consolidate the impact of my PhD through producing publications, developing networks, formulating funding proposals, and improving my research and professional skills.
The purposes of my PhD work are to identify levels of teaching quality based on the dynamic approach to school improvement (DASI) (Creemers, Kyriakides, & Antoniou, 2013), and to identify contextual factors that may be relevant to Taiwan to investigate teachers' authentic needs, and to provide tailored professional development programmes for teachers. Another purpose of this study is to investigate the relationships between teaching quality, teacher background characteristics and perceptions, student background characteristics, and student achievement.
To maximise the impact of my PhD research, I have designed a comprehensive communication, outreach and impact strategy that will engage a wide range of stakeholders. During the project I will submit at least two articles to influential journals, helping to establish a track record for my future career in academia. I will also give presentations at national and international conferences. Attending conferences will not only disseminate my work, but also provide the opportunity to network with academics and practitioners in similar fields or conducting related projects. In addition, I propose to deliver talks at the Cambridge Faculty of Education, Darwin College and the Cambridge Festival of Education, creating opportunities for me to meet practitioners and academics from different fields, bringing different approaches which can build into something greater and broaden my way of thinking in my field of study.
As is demonstrated by a review of recent literature, DASI has been applied to reducing bullying (e.g., Kyriakides & Creemers, 2013), but this model has not been used in preventing wellbeing problems and promoting wellbeing. Since bullying is cross-related to wellbeing, it can be argued that significant positive results could be produced through the use of DASI. In the next step of my PhD, I will conduct a pilot with primary school teachers in Cambridge to adapt strategies for promoting pupil's wellbeing according to DASI. The results of this pilot will be applied in my future British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowships project. I will deliver talks associated with my pilot to primary schools and the Blue Smile charity, disseminating my results and furthering their impact and encouraging future collaboration. I will also engage directly with the public during the project by participating in public events such as the Cambridge Science Festival. Social media such as blogs or magazines will be used to promote both my PhD research and the pilot to the public.
Furthermore, I plan to have a meeting with Dr Michelle Jayman at the University of West London to meet other internationally leading school wellbeing research teams. Through meeting them, I will have an opportunity to network with school wellbeing experts for future collaboration. This will also provide an opportunity for me to test my ideas regarding using DASI in improving student wellbeing.
I will also attend a number of quantitative and qualitative skills training courses and professional development training within the period of ESRC Postdoctoral Fellowships. These training courses will help me extend my expertise in quantitative and qualitative skills, and build the competence necessary to ensure my work has maximal impact. During the fellowship, I will also broaden my teaching and supervising experiences to prepare for my future career in academia.
When the project is completed, I will collect statistics and feedback forms from all the initiatives to produce a synthesised report on the impact of my research for presentation to the ESRC. Carrying out this project will greatly enhance my capabilities and academic career prospects, particularly regarding applying for grants or obtaining a position at a top UK university
The purposes of my PhD work are to identify levels of teaching quality based on the dynamic approach to school improvement (DASI) (Creemers, Kyriakides, & Antoniou, 2013), and to identify contextual factors that may be relevant to Taiwan to investigate teachers' authentic needs, and to provide tailored professional development programmes for teachers. Another purpose of this study is to investigate the relationships between teaching quality, teacher background characteristics and perceptions, student background characteristics, and student achievement.
To maximise the impact of my PhD research, I have designed a comprehensive communication, outreach and impact strategy that will engage a wide range of stakeholders. During the project I will submit at least two articles to influential journals, helping to establish a track record for my future career in academia. I will also give presentations at national and international conferences. Attending conferences will not only disseminate my work, but also provide the opportunity to network with academics and practitioners in similar fields or conducting related projects. In addition, I propose to deliver talks at the Cambridge Faculty of Education, Darwin College and the Cambridge Festival of Education, creating opportunities for me to meet practitioners and academics from different fields, bringing different approaches which can build into something greater and broaden my way of thinking in my field of study.
As is demonstrated by a review of recent literature, DASI has been applied to reducing bullying (e.g., Kyriakides & Creemers, 2013), but this model has not been used in preventing wellbeing problems and promoting wellbeing. Since bullying is cross-related to wellbeing, it can be argued that significant positive results could be produced through the use of DASI. In the next step of my PhD, I will conduct a pilot with primary school teachers in Cambridge to adapt strategies for promoting pupil's wellbeing according to DASI. The results of this pilot will be applied in my future British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowships project. I will deliver talks associated with my pilot to primary schools and the Blue Smile charity, disseminating my results and furthering their impact and encouraging future collaboration. I will also engage directly with the public during the project by participating in public events such as the Cambridge Science Festival. Social media such as blogs or magazines will be used to promote both my PhD research and the pilot to the public.
Furthermore, I plan to have a meeting with Dr Michelle Jayman at the University of West London to meet other internationally leading school wellbeing research teams. Through meeting them, I will have an opportunity to network with school wellbeing experts for future collaboration. This will also provide an opportunity for me to test my ideas regarding using DASI in improving student wellbeing.
I will also attend a number of quantitative and qualitative skills training courses and professional development training within the period of ESRC Postdoctoral Fellowships. These training courses will help me extend my expertise in quantitative and qualitative skills, and build the competence necessary to ensure my work has maximal impact. During the fellowship, I will also broaden my teaching and supervising experiences to prepare for my future career in academia.
When the project is completed, I will collect statistics and feedback forms from all the initiatives to produce a synthesised report on the impact of my research for presentation to the ESRC. Carrying out this project will greatly enhance my capabilities and academic career prospects, particularly regarding applying for grants or obtaining a position at a top UK university
People |
ORCID iD |
| Po Tsai (Principal Investigator / Fellow) |
Publications
Tsai P
(2021)
Teacher job satisfaction in Taiwan: making the connections with teacher attitudes, teacher self-efficacy and student achievement
in International Journal of Educational Management
| Description | The ESRC project consolidated my PhD findings by producing publications, as well as developing networks, further funding proposals, and improving my research and professional skills. During the ESRC project, I published a journal paper in the 'International Journal of Educational Management in May 2021. I have also submitted a journal paper to the 'Teacher Development' in April 2022. I delivered presentations related to my PhD thesis at the BERA (British Educational Research Association) Conference 2021, the ICSEI Virtual Congress 2022, and the EARLI SIG 18 Conference 2022. I have also delivered my work at large engagement events to non-academic audiences, exemplified by the Cambridge Festival 2021 and at the Virtual Tech meeting 2021. I published an academic blog focused on the improvement of student wellbeing in schools on the Cambridge Wellbeing & Inclusive Special Interest Group platform under the Cambridge Faculty of Education. I also developed a handbook and a wellbeing board game prototype based on DASI (Dynamic Approach to School Improvement) with primary schools and teachers in the UK. The aim of this handbook is to assist in the preparation and implementation processes of initiatives to promote student wellbeing in schools by the provision of concrete and specific guidelines to teachers and school leadership teams. The game prototype developed in this project concentrates on teacher-student relationships, which are included under DASI's "school policy on teaching" factor, which concerns teacher-student interaction and student-student interaction. Teachers and students can play this group-based wellbeing board game in the classroom to promote a positive teacher-student relationship, which in turn, improves students' wellbeing. By adding the principles of gamification to DASI, student engagement can be maximised, and consequently wellbeing outcomes will be improved. Additionally, I developed a grant proposal according to the resources developed in this project for the British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowships. |
| Exploitation Route | I developed a handbook and a wellbeing board game prototype based on the DASI (Dynamic Approach to School Improvement) with primary schools and teachers in the UK. The handbook developed in this project can be taken forward to assist schools in the preparation and implementation processes of applying DASI to improve student wellbeing and prevent student wellbeing problems. Specifically, this handbook provides guidelines for determining aims, content, target groups, and background information based on the relationships between DASI's factors at the school level and wellbeing in school settings. The group-based wellbeing board game prototype based on DASI can be used to promote positive teacher-student relationships, including improved teacher-student interaction and student-student interaction. By playing the wellbeing game created in this project in the classroom, teacher-student relationships can be enhanced, which in turn will improve students' wellbeing. |
| Sectors | Education,Healthcare |
| Description | During the fellowship, I delivered talks related to my PhD work at the Virtual Tech meeting 2021. Participants learnt about novel research findings, networked, and exchanged research and practical knowledge. I believe that building a network around this project is the most effective way to maximise its impact. The talk also allowed participants to engage with and potentially influence the practice of other actors. Throughout the duration of the fellowship, I gave presentations including those at the BERA Conference 2021 and the ICSEI Virtual Congress 2022. Attending these conferences not only disseminated my work but also provided the opportunity to network with academics, practitioners, and policy-makers in related fields. This allowed me to embed my research into the national and international impact-building activities of cognate projects, and to benefit knowledge, policy, and practice within and beyond the UK. In addition, I made a blog post on the Cambridge Wellbeing and Inclusive Special Interest Group platform and publicised these posts using my official Twitter account to disseminate my work to the public. I engaged directly with the public by participating in public events, exemplified by the Cambridge Festival 2021. This event attracted more than 50 participants, who were very interested in my ESRC project and were very willing to join my research in the future. A handbook and a wellbeing game prototype developed in this project can be used to help prevent student wellbeing problems and promote students' wellbeing according to DASI. These materials were developed through cooperation with diverse stakeholders, including wellbeing charities, schools, and game developers, and can be applied by these stakeholders in the future. This project maximised the impact of my PhD research and linked DASI (Dynamic Approach to School Improvement) with students' wellbeing. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2022 |
| Sector | Education,Healthcare |
| Impact Types | Societal,Policy & public services |
| Description | Blog post: Evidence-based tips for fostering student wellbeing in schools |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | I made a blog post related to student wellbeing on the Cambridge Wellbeing and Inclusive Special Interest Group platform. The title of this presentation is "Evidence-based tips for fostering student wellbeing in schools ". The blog post has a relatively high click-through rate and I received some good feedback from the readers. Through blog posts, I disseminated the results of the project to a broad audience of stakeholders, including academics, practitioners, parents, and policy-makers. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://cambridgewellbeingandinclusion.wordpress.com/2022/02/22/evidence-based-tips-for-fostering-st... |
| Description | Cambridge Festival: wellPlaying - The future of student wellbeing |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | The Cambridge Festival brings together the hugely popular Cambridge Science Festival and the Cambridge Festival of Ideas, attracting up to 30,000 visitors per year. By delivering a talk at the Festival, I reached a broad audience of stakeholders, including academics, parents, and professionals. Participants in this talk learned about novel research findings and improved their knowledge of wellbeing in schools. This was also a great opportunity for me to build a network around this project. For example, this talk stimulated schools' and teachers' interest in my project; therefore, they were very willing to join my research in the future. The talk also allows participants to engage with and potentially influences the practice of other actors. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://www.festival.cam.ac.uk/events/wellplaying-future-student-wellbeing?fbclid=IwAR18mMnhpHhkuWjW... |
| Description | Invited talk: Improving teaching - via a needs-based framework |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | The title of this talk is "Improving teaching - via a needs-based framework". There were more than 300 interested in the Facebook page. More than 50 participants attended the Virtual Tech Meeting 2021 hosted by the British teaching institution, which sparked questions and discussion afterward, and the institution reported huge interest in the talk. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://www.facebook.com/britishteachinginstitute |