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GNCRT Award - Research Award 2008

About The Award

The Graham Nuthall Classroom Research Trust Research Award is in honour of the outstanding contributions Emeritus Professor Graham Nuthall has made through his research and scholarship to our understanding of learning and teaching. His research has focused on the experiences of individual students and how these experiences shape student learning. He has provided the international community of researchers, scholars and practitioners with a deeper appreciation and understanding of the significant and often very subtle classroom interactions which influence learning.

The Award is available to teachers, researchers and research students. It is intended to facilitate and support classroom-based research to further our understanding of learning and teaching in the early childhood, primary and secondary education sectors. The research supported by the Award will reflect the research approach to studying classroom contexts and interactions that Professor Nuthall has used in his Project on Learning.

The Award is also available to postgraduate students with research experience who are interested in short-term projects to publish from Professor Nuthall’s extensive collection of video-taped, audio-taped and written sources of classroom data.

The Award carries a value of up to $10,000. If a practising teacher wins the award they are eligible to apply for leave with pay for up to one term from their employing school Board as the Award is recognised by the Ministry of Education as a ‘Prestigious Award’.

The recipient of the Award will conduct the research under the auspices of the Trust located in the College of Education, University of Canterbury.
Further details regarding the Award, and the way in which applications are to be made, are given below.

The deadline for applications for the 2008 Award is 7 July 2008.

Graham Nuthall Classroom Research Trust Award now a Prestigious Award

The Minister of Education approved the granting of prestigious status to the Graham Nuthall Classroom Research Trust Award. As a prestigious award, a practising teacher who is the recipient of the award may be granted leave with pay for up to a term by their employing board, with the Ministry of Education meeting the relief costs of a replacement relieving teacher.

To have the Graham Nuthall Classroom Research Trust Award granted prestigious status is not only fitting in terms of Professor Nuthall's outstanding contribution to classroom - based research, but also necessary to allow practicing teachers to seek leave with pay for up to a term to engage in research.

The benefits of being able to do so, particularly for a practicing teacher, to his or her school, and to the education community in general are unquestionably immense, and offer the opportunity to strengthen and deepen the desired alignment between evidence-based research and teaching practices.

Research Opportunity for 2009

In 2009 there may be an opportunity for someone to work on the Project on Learning ddatabase with an experienced visiting academic. Next year's research award may differ from previous years to take advantage of that opportunity.

Previous Recipients of the Award

Award for 2006

The board made an exceptional decision to grant two Awards in 2006, one to Fleur Harris and the other to Jae Major.

Fleur Harris’s project is an exploration into how Maori children respond to literacy based language assessments for narratives and phonological awareness, in ways that consider their lived experiences and cultural practices; how their responses reflect the current understanding and construction of the Maori child’s identity as a learner in the classroom and their learning needs; and the possibilities for alternative discourses about how Maori children can be constructed as learners in their educational contexts.

Jae Major’s project investigates the processes by which the identities of culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) children in the primary mainstream classroom are constructed. This includes the ways in which these children position themselves and how they are positioned by other children and the teacher. The study uses Bourdieu’s notions of habitus, capital and field as a framework to explore the role of language, interaction and power relations in the process of identity construction.

Awards for 2004/5

Two applicants shared the Graham Nuthall Classroom Trust Award for 2004 and 2005. They were Dr Christine Rietveld and Michelle Clarke.

 Dr Rietveld’s research begins from the premise that experiencing inclusion as a valued participant is essential for optimal social and academic learning. The research using case study methodology aims to investigate how 3-year old children with and without Down Syndrome experience inclusion as they start preschool and several months after their entry. The study focuses not only on the children's experiences, but also on the immediate and distal contexts impacting on those experiences. It will therefore involve interviews with teachers, parents, the child's classmates and other relevant others.

Michelle Clarke is looking at children’s understandings of what reading ‘is’: exploring how this develops during the first year at school. She writes:

 "This study has developed through the weaving together of two of my passions – reading and children’s learning. Children’s understanding of what reading ‘is’ (the processes involved, who reads, why people read, how you learn to read, whether reading is the same across contexts and activities etc) is influenced by a number of factors. This study provides the opportunity to explore some of those factors present in the classroom that may not be evident to adults, including teachers, and may not be typically articulated by children. It challenges us to take a child’s perspective – through recordings of the classroom experiences of two children and what they have shared during interviews. The data gathered raises a number of questions about adult interpretations, and expectations, of children’s experiences during literacy related activities. For while reading activities are ‘visible’, how children negotiate their way through classroom life is often less so, yet this underpins what is learned

2003 Inaugural Recipient

The inaugural recipient was Ms Anna Johnstone of the Christchurch College of Education. Ms Johnstone used the award to look at the informal and formal feedback, interactions and conversations within the classroom between the teacher and students regarding writing.

 At the presentation of the Award Professor Nuthall said

 “I am delighted that the award has been established to research the realities of education rather than the theory. I have been committed in my own work to furthering classroom-based research and the purpose of the fund deals directly with students and their learning experiences.”

Information for the Guidance of Applicants

Type of Projects

Applicants for the Award need to describe a specific research project. Applications will be judged primarily in terms of the relevance and importance of the proposed project to the context of learning and teaching within the classroom. The projects may involve collecting new data about learning and teaching or may involve analysing video-tapes of classroom interactions that have already been collected through Professor Nuthall’s own research.

Assistance Provided

The recipient of the Award will be provided with office space within the College of Education at the University with secretarial support, and computer and printing services as required. University staff will provide advice and assistance in setting up the research project and analysing the data, and advice during the preparation of the final report.

The University will make available data collecting equipment, such as video recorders, lapel microphones, audio-recorders, and transcribing machines.

In return, the recipient will be required to keep to the timetable that has been agreed to, submit a finished report by the agreed completion date, and make a presentation of the research findings at a function of the Trust.

The Selection Process

The Selection Committee will meet within a fortnight of the closing date for applications. Short-listed applicants may be asked to attend a short interview. Generally, one award per year will be made although the Trust reserves the right to invite a researcher to take up the Award in the absence of any suitable applications.

To Submit Your Application

Applications should be made using the GNCRT Research Award Application Form Coversheet and should contain all the information detailed under Sections I and II set out in the Guidelines for Preparing an Application. Applications should be sent to:

Melanie Johns
Graham Nuthall Classroom Research Trust Award
School of Educational Studies and Human Development
College of Education
University of Canterbury
P.O. Box 4800
Christchurch


Applications close on July 7 2008.

Ms Anna Johnstone and Emeritus Professor Graham Nuthall enjoy a celebratory lunch at the Staff Club.