Why should researchers and educators be concerned about strengthening the relationship between practice and research?

Queensmill School has an established tradition and commitment to research and development (R&D), including the leadership of R&D for the West London Teaching Alliance and membership of the Pan London Autism Schools Network-Research PLASN-R; a collaboration of senior school leaders and university researchers who together generate ideas for the design, implementation and dissemination of research projects.

In September 2013 we set up a Research and Development Board to lead and monitor relevant R&D activities in school. The membership of the Board includes our R&D Coordinator, a class teacher, a teaching assistant, one parent representative, a research intern and an external R&D university consultant. The board publishes a termly newsletter for parents and staff to keep them up to date with research activities at school and to provide a summary of recent studies published in research journals. You can download copies of our newsletters using the links on the left of the page. 

Eleonora Sher

Research & Development Coordinator

Board Members

Eleonora Sher, Research Assistant and R&D Board Coordinator 

Laura Crane, External Research Consultant

Freddie Adu, Head Teacher

Aymeline Bel, Early Years Lead and Admissions

Andrew Nowak, Deputy Head Representative

Amy-Rose McClean, Speech and Language Therapist Representative

Elise Robinson, Drama Lead Representative

Olivia Belhouse, Teacher Representative

Linda Dolben, Parent Representative

What we do

External Research

Internal Research

Professional Training

Parent Workshops

Why research in schools?

Firstly, teaching and learning in the 21st century is a complex process. Educators have a significant responsibility for preparing young people academically, socially and emotionally for a rapidly changing society with respect to employment, housing, relationships, parenthood and civic responsibility. Therefore, the education of children and young people can only benefit from the greater harnessing and implementation of tactic (knowledge gained from personal experience) and explicit (knowledge that is easy to articulate, write down and share) knowledge that educators and researchers have to offer. 

Secondly, a tenuous link between research and practice threatens to impoverish teaching and learning in education in higher education (HE) if lecturers and researchers lack an informed current understanding of the reality within which educators in schools work.

Finally, participating in research can be both professionally and personally rewarding for educators. Queensmill School has an established tradition and commitment to research and development, including the leadership of R&D for the West London teaching Alliance and membership of the Pan London Autism Schools Network – Research PLASN-R; a collaboration of senior school leaders and university researchers who together generate ideas for the design, implementation and dissemination of research projects.

"Inspiring to see that staff are really committed to being at the cutting edge of new ideas. My experience of representing the parental perspective at the Board has been a very interesting and positive one. I feel strongly that the research school participates in should have tangible benefits for our community of autistic children and their families and this is at the heart of the Board’s approach."
Parent rep
"Fantastic working with all the Queensmill staff and pupils. A real joy. We really appreciate Queensmill supporting our project. The staff were beyond helpful and super involved. Their dedication to research based practice and values shows across the whole school."
Researcher
"The impact on the whole school as a whole has been very positive. I do believe that as long as I will be working in that field, I will continue referring to research, participate in research projects as it is the only way to offer the best to autistic people and their families."
Teacher Rep

Latest Projects

A selection of research summaries and publications