ABSTRACT
One practical, sociable way schools and teachers have addressed the problem of assimilating research is to form a journal club. Beth Greville-Giddings is a research lead and teaching assistant in Nottingham, UK, who has become an ambassador for educational research journal clubs. There are many ways teachers can access research, but the elephant in the room that must be addressed is workload. The Research Lead can connect the school to the greater world of educational research, while simultaneously acting as a filter. Research requires expertise, experience and care to carry out precisely, and the teacher or school that pursues self-guided, amateur research can easily fall prey to every bias and preconception they are attempting to escape. Many teachers have found low-hanging fruit in the study and use of the latest ideas from cognitive psychology. Teachers should seek out good quality summaries, original research or even headline data, depending on the time available to them.
