The National Teacher Research Panel was set up about 15 years ago by CUREE supported by a group of national education agencies most of which no longer exist. It had three main goals:
- To ensure that all research in education takes account of the teacher perspective
- To ensure a higher profile for research and evidence informed practice in government, academic and practitioner communities
- To increase the number of teachers engaged in and with the full spectrum of research activity.
Over the several years of its existence, the Panel, supported by its expert advisers in CUREE, has helped and encouraged dozens of teachers and school leaders to do high quality but practical research. The Panel also helped them report their findings succinctly, in plain English and focused on relevance to other practitioners. This is one such example of that work.
Bilingualism is an important yet under-researched field of study. Ofsted (2005) defined advanced bilingual learners as: 'pupils who have had all or most of their school education in the UK and whose oral proficiency in English is usually indistinguishable from that of pupils with English as a first language but whose writing may still show distinctive features related to their language background'.
A pilot project set up in January 2004, aimed to increase 'the confidence and expertise of mainstream primary teachers in meeting the needs of advanced bilingual learners and also raising the attainment of bilingual learners'. As the pilot developed it grew to include less advanced bilingual learners too. The pilot aimed to improve attainment of all these learners in literacy and numeracy, and to promote effective pedagogy and practice for pupils with English as an additional language. The pilot was set up by the Primary National Strategy (PNS) in partnership with the Ethnic Minority Achievement (EMA) Unit within the DfES in seven local authorities (LAs).
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