Hughes Hall education centre shares international best practice in teaching research
The Cambridge Teacher Research Exchange, Camtree, is a global platform for close-to-practice research in education. Part of Hughes Hall’s innovation initiative, the Bridge, and integrated into the College’s digital education initiative, DEFI, Camtree draws on high-quality research from around the world to support educators in carrying out inquiries to improve learning in their own classrooms and organisations.
Launched in November 2022, the Camtree team builds the pedagogic and technical foundations to change the way teachers and teaching research is supported and shared and were delighted to welcome Norwegian educationalists to Hughes Hall last month to explore best practice.
Pete Dudley, CEO (far left) and Patrick Carmichael, Managing Director, (far right) are joined by Camtree colleagues, Maria McElroy and Alison Twiner; with visitors from Norway’s Sandnes Kommune, Randi, Kjetil, Kaise, Morten, Hege, Gro Elin and Lise.
Camtree’s mission is to:
- Support, publish and share high-quality practitioner research amongst a growing international Camtree community
- Provide training for research-led improvement and leadership in schools, higher education and other settings
- Systematically review and update the Camtree database and publish research findings and reports
- Host bespoke Camtree services online for school systems and governments worldwide
Making this a reality involves working closely with increasing numbers of groups engaged with practitioner research in their areas, enabling Camtree to expand and create a globally-accessible community, as well as diverse learning and library spaces and interfaces that are meaningful for the range of practitioners they are intended to support.
Dr Alison Twiner, Camtree Research Associate, said: “One group that have been working with us closely are the Sandnes Kommune, based in Stavanger, Norway. So when they asked if they could visit us at Hughes we jumped at the chance! On 11th May we combined time to talk and to listen with reviewing existing practices and discussing ideas for what could be possible. As the group already have links with Oracy Cambridge, we were thrilled that Neil Mercer could also join us for the visit.”
Whilst on their two-day trip to Cambridge the school leaders also visited two Suffolk schools who are taking a similar approach and focus – using research lesson study to explore embedding oracy in their curriculum – whilst leveraging opportunities to observe practices and make connections.
“As Camtree is all about making connections – between communities of practitioners and lessons learned from practitioner inquiry – such visits and exchanges are something we are keen to support in the future, and we’re delighted that the Suffolk schools are looking to arrange a return visit to Norway!”
Further information
- Camtree is building on work led by Dr Pete Dudley and currently online at the lessonstudy.co.uk website. This site has examples of research lesson studies from around the UK, and you can also download the current version of the Lesson Study Handbook. There are also links to translations of the handbook and versions for Early Years practitioners, together with related resources about research lesson study and its role in school improvement.
- The Camtree Digital Library is currently under development and will be available from mid-2022. The Library will be based on the DSpace 7 digital repository and will be hosted by Atmire.
- Camtree is now open for registrations! Sign up now to receive the regular newsletter and other updates.
- If you would like to get involved and find our more, email: camtree@hughes.cam.ac.uk.
20.6.22
