This VLOG focusses on how we can make research and evidence-informed practices more accessible. It highlights the importance of Body Image in PE, it discusses how innovations can be sustained and questions the quality within school sport partnerships. It has guest speakers, including Professor David Kirk, Dr Charlotte Kerner and Dr Helen Ives. The VLOG is drawn from the developing new practices event in recognition of Dr Eileen Alexander’s significant investments to physical education and research. The three areas of research discussed in this VLOG were all funded by Eileen Alexander.
Physical Education & Sport VLOGs 
Pertinent theme here that certainly resonates with me having transitioned from secondary teaching to HE in the last 15 months. Had I been aware of the volume and quality of research during my time teaching I would certainly have made greater use of it.
That said two things immediately spring to mind; accessibility and time. Twitter has helped with the accessibility issue to a degree, but filtering through timelines is a bit like catching fish, if the link has passed I probably wouldn’t catch it unless it was tweeted in the previous 6-12 hours. Also how many schools have access to online databases or subscribe to journal publications?
Time is clearly going to be challenge too, between the day-to-day rigours of lessons, meetings, fixtures, parent phone calls etc I rarely had the time to read a book for pleasure let alone professional development. How many head teachers would put a research period into staff timetables?
It would be a great study to liaise with current PE teachers as to how we could facilitate greater engagement. I think the analogies made by David Kirk certainly ring true.
Thanks for the thought provoking VLOG Vicky, keep up the good work.
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Agree with Twitter, its great, but you do also miss key tweets/information. Do you have lists? While this doesn’t overcome it in full I have a lists for different topics that allow me to filter the content to specific people which has proven to be quite useful.
For me, I am not sure engaging with research necessarily means reading research articles – but perhaps having the time to engage with blogs, vlogs – with then the scope to access the full article if and when required would be good. I feel that it is sometimes the same in HE, while we are fortunate in some universities to have protected research time – the ‘bussiness’ of the week often limits the time we get to read research articles and particularly those that are out of our research area but could do a great deal to inform our practice. So for everyone I feel there is a need to develop new ways of accessing and reading research – perhaps this is something that is only getting started with the current developments in digital media?
Thanks for the comment
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As teachers do we engage in research or do we not? I would like to think most of us as teachers are involved in some form of evidence based practice, finding out what works in our context, through trial and error. However if research was more open to us, it could help us guide our practice, which is essential when we have limited time. And this is the crux of the matter; time. Without addressing teacher workload and giving ring fenced time to teachers to read and be involved with researchers at University on a regular basis real engagement will probably fail. Imagine if teachers were allowed one day off a week, to extend their subject knowledge, subject specific pedagogy or even better attend University and engage with researchers in meaningful and extended dialogue. Now that might have significant impact in improving practice and bringing the worlds of educational research and teaching together.
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This comment does highlight, perhaps, the narrow interpretation of research which may have unfortunately come across in the VLOG and thanks for highlighting this key point. Research can be developing new understandings of own practice through, for example, a process of reflection, observations, and changing based on the information learnt. I suppose the key is for the intersection of practitioner research and new knowledge that is brought into aid the development of practice. It would be a great idea to have one day a week off to engage with research, but as my previous comment to Jordan highlighted, I think we need to consider further how the messages about research are communicated. Perhaps developing small working groups/communities that even week once a term and then develop practice in between this time could be one idea. I am sure there are more but the key, for me, is to push the boundaries and see what works and what doesn’t
Thanks for this comment
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