ERRR #058. Sam Sims on What makes effective Professional Development

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Sam Sims is a quantitative education researcher interested in teachers and education policy. He works at University College London’s Institute of Education, where he lectures on policy analysis and evaluation. He's also a researcher at Education DataLab and co-author with Becky Allen of the book, The Teacher Gap. But today we’re talking about two very exciting reports that Sam has led over the last couple of years that dives into what it is that makes effective professional learning.

What makes an effective professional learning program is a huge question and sits at the heart of the knowledge that we as a profession need in order to continue to improve teaching and learning. I’m super excited about this research that Sam and his colleagues have done, with the support of the Education Endowment Foundation, because I really think that it represents a significant improvement in our collective understanding of what makes PD work. The main report that we’re discussing today, which is released on the same day that this podcast goes live is entitled, What are the characteristics of effective teacher professional development? A systematic review and meta-analysis.

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The Mechanisms

Links/resources mentioned in the show

• The report: Review identifying the characteristics of more effective professional development
  
• ERRR episode with Adrian Simpson critiquing meta-analyses

Twitter recommendations

• Heather Hill (link to come)
• Harry Fletcher-Wood
• Ollie
• Centre for Ed Policy & Equalising Opportunities

Books

• The Genetic Lottery: Why DNA Matters for Social Equality
• The WEIRDest People in the World: How the West Became Psychologically Peculiar and Particularly Prosperous

Currently excited about

• Experimenters in teacher PD using simulators!!! ← Julia Cohen at Virginia University : ) 

• Also see Ollie's book: Cognitive Load Theory in Action
  • Australia: Get a signed copy here
  • UK – John Catt Publishing UK
  • US – John Catt US
  • Or from anywhere on Amazon

This episode of the ERRR Podcast is brought to you by John Catt Educational. Use this link along with the code provided within the podcast to get 30% off all books from John Catt Educational! https://www.johncattbookshop.com/books/errr

Listen to all past episodes of the ERRR podcast here.