Special educational needs (SEN) focused research and development awards

We have awarded a number of small scale research and development awards with a dedicated SEN focus.

These awards have been designed to support the development of the SEN knowledge base in ITT by encouraging innovative, exploratory and developmental research. These projects intend, in addition, to build research capacity and to encourage collaboration in research in teacher education.

Although relatively small (under £18,000), these projects are important because they deal with current and emerging issues for teacher educators and serve as exploratory or pilot studies for larger scale research. Once completed, these research reports will be made available via the TTRB.

The reports commissioned in 2004 were valued at under £10,000 and covered a wide range of topics including: multiple placements, subject knowledge and creativity. View all previously completed R&D award reports via the TTRB - round one awards and round two awards.

SEN portal

The TTRB has recently launched a new SEN portal, which is available at www.sen.ttrb.ac.uk. Targeted for all involved in teacher training the site aims to support the development of effective practice in relation to pupils and young people experiencing barriers to learning and aims to raise the ability of future teachers in the teaching and understanding of SEN. The site is populated with a range of resources, including reviews of Teachers TV programmes relating to SEN. It also provides access to the 1978 Warnock report as a searchable online resource for the first time. 

Find out more

To find out more visit the SEN portal at www.sen.ttrb.ac.uk or the TTRB at www.ttrb.ac.uk and register to receive updates about the site, a termly newsletter, and access to the E-librarian service. You can also read about the start up conference that launched the SEN research and development awards.

Other research within the TDA

The Strategy for TDA Applied Research sets out how the TDA Strategy Directorate will enhance the Agency’s evidence base and its use of evidence over the 2007-2010 period. In particular how the Strategic Research Team will:

• undertake research to assess the TDA’s performance against strategic performance indicators
• ensure that research quality at directorate level is consistently high
• ensure that the TDA evidence is enlarged, managed and communicated effectively
• encourage the uptake of research within the TDA, and
• ensure that the TDA evidence base uses data from other countries so as to set the performance and practice of the UK in context.

Contact us at research@tda.gov.uk.

The TDA has also historically funded a number of systematic literature reviews as part of the TDA’s ongoing ITT research strategy.

These reviews helped to identify effective ITT practices and relevant research and highlight gaps in professional knowledge relevant to the teachers’ training.  Managed by the EPPI-Centre to ensure transparency and quality these reviews consolidated existing ITT evidence.  Search the final reports by subject area, title or review date on the EPPI-Centre website or access the TDA funded resources via the TTRB.