Funded by the Economic and Social Science Research Council, 2002-2003

1. Teachers’ real-world information literacy: a study of school teachers’ use of research information in support of their own reflective evidence-informed practice Funded by the Economic and Social Science Research Council, 2002-2003 Dorothy Williams & Louisa Coles

2. Background: aims, context, questions • Methods used • Findings • Conclusions/Implications for librarians

3. Aim • To examine teachers’ current practice, attitudes and skills in relation to the effective use of research information in their professional practice. Research information: the published output of a planned piece of research – i.e. information relating to “external” (other people’s) research

4. Dual context • Information literacy • Evidence-informed practice/ research-based teaching

5. Information literacy • Research has focussed largely on • students (school and HE), pedagogies and the role of libraries • information seeking behaviour in professional groups; • conceptions of information literacy amongst academics • We know relatively little about teachers’ own confidence, abilities and strategies as information finders and users • Previous research in UK in 90s (Best, 1990; Wilson, 1997) suggested teachers were not confident information users – is this an ongoing issue?

6. Use of research information is part of reflective, evidence-informed practice • Stenhouse: the research-based teacher is not only an action-researcher but also someone who tests out the application of other people’s research findings in their own classroom • Cordingley (1999): “need to see the activity of interpreting evidence developed by others as a high status activity which is central to reflective practice” • Various UK information initiatives (by teacher professional bodies and government) are actively promoting better online access to research reports, digests and systematic reviews – EPPI-centre; GTC Research of the Month website; DfES Research Informed Practice Site • Lack of teacher take-up of research findings has been the subject of much previous research, but not from information literacy perspective

7. Qs: in the context of evidence-informed teaching • How confident do teachers feel about finding and using information (general and research-specific) in their own professional learning? • What strategies do they employ and how does this compare with traditional definitions of information literacy? • What are teachers’ attitudes towards finding and using “external” research information?

8. Mixed methodology • Surveys : 3000 teachers, 500 head-teachers, 250 school librarians, 49 Schools Library Services (SLS), 100 Education Authority (EA) Advisers in Scotland, England, and Wales – low teacher response • In-depth scenario interviews with 28 teachers, probing research information strategies used in relation to a) development of subject area; b) development of teaching strategies • 4 group exercises, with 2-6 teachers, probing teachers’ approaches to evaluation of quality of research information • Online discussion forum: reflection/refinement of key findings

9. Barriers to use of research Five of top 6 barriers (out of 35) were information related: • Lack of time to find and read • Lack of information about what is available • Relevant information is not compiled in one place • Lack of easy access • The amount of research is overwhelming • Lack of research information in the school library

10. Information literacy • Teachers report relatively high levels of confidence in information literacy • They were more confident in finding general subject information than searching for research or professional opinion

11. Confidence in finding information

12. Confidence in information literacy General information 100 Research Information 91.9 88.9 85 81.1 79.3 80 67.1 60.9 59 57.5 56.3 60 percentage of teachers indicating 'confident' or 'very confident' 40 20 0 identifying & locating info evaluating & organising & communicating & defining info need selecting synthesising presenting aspects of information literacy

13. Relationship between information literacy and other factors • Attitude/Involvement in Research: those who have been involved in research are more likely to be confident in research IL (p < 0.001). • Sector: Nursery and primary teachers less likely to be highly confident in general IL or research IL than those in the secondary sector (p < 0.01). • Subject: Maths teachers less confident than others in research IL (p < 0.05); teachers of social and environmental subjects more confident than others (p < 0.01) about their general IL (not echoed in relation to research IL).

14. Sources used • Teachers confidence in research information literacy is based on use of a limited range of research sources (similar to range of general information sources teachers cited in relation to professional development in 1997 study) • Reliance on informal sources; readily accessible sources; not necessarily the most reliable sources for research evidence • Libraries in bottom half of sources used.

16. Information literacy categories • Information confident/active – have developed/are aware of successful information strategies; encouraged to find/use research information by school/HT ethos • Information aware/passive – do not follow the course of action they would recommend to others; knowingly accept compromise; expect others to do it for them - expectation that head teachers and Education Authorities should take responsibility; discouraged by school ethos • Lack information skills/knowledge – experience problems in finding, evaluating and/or synthesising information

17. Aware/passive • “I don’t really discriminate, anything that’s available, it’s quite a narrow range of material….and sometimes it’s out of date as well….” (s Principal Subject Teacher) • “You talk to people in your own school......but you get a very limited view….the danger is there that the person you’ve asked has asked someone else in the same school and it gets very in-bred…” (s Teacher) • “…when you actually looked at the size of the sample studied it was really not valid, so small. And so I do check that out, but I don’t really get into it. I like a bit of a life.” (p Head Teacher) • “Somebody else can sift through the data, we need the conclusions” (s Principal Subject Teacher) • “I think people like to be spoon fed. If it’s there, they’ll look at it and they’re interested in it. But they wouldn’t go looking for it. That’s a huge leap…” (p Head Teacher) • “I would expect that the management would be able to provide me with any background information or ways of accessing that information” (p Teacher) • “If it’s in school and if it lands on your lap then fine, I’ll read it, but I couldn’t put a lot of effort into it”

18. Lack information skills/knowledge • “sometimes I feel it’s just a needle in a haystack kind of thing….” (n Teacher) • Internet – “just hit or miss” “just potter about” (p Teacher) ; ”sort of clicking fairly aimlessly about on the web”(p Head Teacher) • “I’d be really hard pressed to tell the difference between a good piece of research and a not so good piece…” (p Head Teacher) • “I found it really hard…because it was like so abstract, and you had to do a lot of work to make it relevant to practice and experience” (p Head Teacher) • “it wasn’t specific enough for me as to how to adapt it to your practice” (s Teacher) • Concerns about information overload

19. Conclusions • Relatively closed world – information is gleaned from colleagues and people who are known and trusted • Lack of time and lack of ready access in one place are seen as major barriers: Internet/web is breaking through some of the barriers but some are not confident in their ability to search/evaluate • Teachers are not pro-active information seekers in relation to changing professional practice

20. Conclusions • Relatively confident about finding and using general information but less confident about research info • Less confident in synthesising, organising and communicating information – yet this is fundamental to professional learning, to “the knowledge creating school” (Hargreaves, 1999) • Real-world information literacy is based on a pragmatic acceptance of what’s provided, even if known to be limited in scope or quality, rather than a desire to search out, evaluate, synthesise the most valid/highest quality info

21. Implications? • Information literacy in teacher education (initial and in-service): • need for greater focus on finding and using information in professional learning (not just as classroom activity or academic/HE); • more focus on effective use of sources likely to be accessible in professional life – e.g. internet/web and people • For school librarians: • scope to solve some of the time/accessibility problems which discourage professional information seeking/use by teachers (proactive approach, use of intranet, collaboration between librarians and education authorities, some reprioritisation) • information literacy in schools – more emphasis on information and learning, less on library • Implications for information literacy development in pupils?

22. Further information • Project website: http://www.rgu.ac.uk/abs/research/page.cfm?pge=8785 • Contains a link to the project report on the ESRC’s REGARD database • Contact: d.williams@rgu.ac.uk