INFORMATION LETTER AND CONSENT FORM FOR PRINCIPALS
School of Education
Edith Cowan University
270 Joondalup Drive
Joondalup WA 6027
Quality talk: Talk for thinking, reading and writing
Dear Principal
Edith Cowan University and the Association of Independent Schools WA (AISWA) are collaborating in a project which AISWA has funded to improve the teaching of literacy in our primary schools. The research team is comprised of Emeritus Professor Judith Rivalland (consultant), Pat Kershaw (AISWA) and me, Pru Smith (ECU). The project aims to draw on the expertise of some of the best teachers in our schools to investigate ways of supporting middle and upper primary students to develop their oral language repertoire (functions and structures of oral language) as a way to support them to learn, think about and interpret more complex written texts. The project is recruiting teachers from seven AISWA schools to participate in this study and your school was nominated by Pat Kershaw from AISWA. I would like to invite two teachers from Years 3-6 to participate in this project and seek your consent for your school’s participation in this research study.
The project will involve action-research based research and development in which teachers will work with researchers to investigate their professional practice and to develop strategies to support students to develop those more complex uses of language that are needed to support reading and thinking in the middle and upper years of schooling. We believe that the project will provide a rich professional learning experience for participating teachers.
The research process will use two cycles of professional development, data collection and feedback. At the initial professional learning day, the teachers will participate in professional learning about oral language development and plan oral language activities for a small group of students. Subsequently, they will return to their schools to implement and record their delivery of the planned activities, and they will transcribe and analyse parts of the discourse as a way to investigate their own practice.On the second professional learning day, the teachers will share and evaluate the findings from their analysis of transcripts of the oral language activities they implemented; and then they will plan a second series of oral language activities to try out again with their students. On the final professional learning day, the teachers will share the findings from the analysis of their second set of transcripts and work with the researchers to develop some findings for the project. The teachers will also be asked to implement the PAT-R comprehension test at the start and end of the professional learning intervention with the small group of students that they choose to work with. This data will be used by the teachers as a benchmark assessment to give some idea about the impact of their practice on their students reading capacity and they will use de-identified data to share the outcomes of these assessments with the professional learning community.
Research data will be collected from: the teachers’ reflections; the de-identified transcriptions of small group discourse that teachers use to analyse their practice; the de-identified results of PAT-R comprehension assessments completed by students; documented findings that were developed from the teachers’ professional learning conversations; the teachers’ reports of their reflections and findings.
We don’t anticipate any risks for your teachers or their students other than the anxiety the teachers might feel about recording their own practice. However, the teachers are at liberty to choose those parts of their recorded lessons that they wish to analyse and to share with the professional learning community. The transcripts that they analyse and choose to share will inform professional learning discussions and will also be used to develop findings for the project.
Any research data will be de-identified and treated confidentially, will be stored under lock and key and will only be accessed by members of the research team. After five years any research data will be destroyed.
Separate information letters and consent forms will be sent to the teachers. No teacher, school or student will be indentified in any research reports. Your school, the teacher and students are free to choose not to participate in this study without affecting relationships with ECU or the research team.
The project will provide teachers with three days of professional learning and funding will be provided for relief teachers.
I am happy to discuss any questions you may have about the project and you may contact me, Pru Smith, by phone on 6304 5234 or by email using . This project has been approved by the Human Research Ethics Committee at Edith Cowan University and has met the policy requirements of the Department of Education and Training. If you have any concerns about the project or would like to talk to an independent person, you may contact the Research Ethics Officer at:
Human Research Ethics Office
Edith Cowan University
270 Joondalup Drive
JOONDALUP 6027 WA
Phone: (08) 6304 2170
Email:
If you are happy for your school to participate in this study, could you please sign the consent form attached to this information letter and return it to me. Please note that your school is free to withdraw from the study at any time and any data collected will be destroyed.
Regards
Pru Smith
Chief Investigator: Quality talk: Talk for thinking, reading and writing
Edith Cowan University
W: 6304 5234
PRINCIPAL CONSENT FORM
Project title:Quality talk: Talk for thinking, reading and writing
- I have read this document and understand the aims, procedures, and risks of this project, as described within it.
- For any questions I may have had, I have taken up the invitation to ask those questions, and I am satisfied with the answers I received.
- I am willing for my schoolto become involved in the research project, as described.
- I understand that participation in the project is entirely voluntarily.
- I understand that my schoolis free to withdraw its participation at any time, without affecting the relationship with the research team or Edith Cowan University.
- I understand that research findings will be reported to AISWA and at academic conferences and in journal articles, provided that the participants or the school are not named.
- I understand that my schoolwill be provided with a copy of the findings from this research upon its completion.
Name of Principal (printed):
Name of School
Signature: / Date:
Please return the signed consent form to Pru Smith at Edith Cowan University by:
- fax number 6304 5850
- email to:
- mail to: Pru Smith, School of Education, Edith Cowan University, 270 Joondalup Drive, JOONDALUP WA 6027