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Interested in becoming one of Bradford's Research Champions or Fellows?

Working with Bradford's Centre for Applied Educational Research (CAER) will be leading the recruitment and development of 20 grant-funded Research Champions and 10 Research Fellows.

From September 2021, these positions will play an important role in making their schools more evidence-aware and research-engaged.

Both roles are part of the Bradford Opportunity Area's commitment to support Bradford as a City of Research, anchored to CAER, with the ultimate aim of improving pupil outcomes through evidence-informed decision-making.

Research Champions

Funds have been secured to support the recruitment, training and support of 20 teachers or other school staff as Research Champions. Schools will receive a grant of £3,537, broadly in line with the costs of a three-term TLR 2a (or an equivalent payment for non-teaching staff) with a contribution towards on-costs included within this grant payment. 

This is the second cohort we are recruiting, following the highly successful work of 30 Research Champions whose work will also continue into 2021/22.

These colleagues will be focusing on leading research-informed initiatives in their own school, but with an interest in wider work in Bradford.

Research Fellows

Funds have also been secured to support the recruitment, training and support of 10 teachers or other school staff as Research Fellows. Schools will receive a grant of a minimum £1,750 to fund five days of deployment to provide research support for a range of educational initiatives in Bradford, including those being led by CAER, Bradford Research School and providers of Initial Teacher Training and CPD. Our expectation is that there will be further significant funded opportunities to work as a Research Fellow both next year and in future years. 

This is the first cohort we are recruiting, which will additionally include 10 Research Fellows who will be drawn from our current Research Champion cohort. 

These colleagues will be focusing on leading research-informed wider educational initiatives in Bradford, but with an interest in enabling their own schools to become more research-engaged.

For both roles we are looking for colleagues who will:

  • Lead school engagement with research and evidence, acting as an advocate for its benefits
  • Contribute to a community of educational Research Champions and Research Fellows in Bradford
  • Disseminate research to teachers and other school staff and leaders in a logical, well-considered process to help develop school practice in teaching and learning
  • Encourage and support school engagement in research including participation in educational trials, and helping to support evidence-informed implementation

We seek expressions of interest from colleagues with experience of successful leadership of improvement initiatives at classroom or whole-school level, who are:

  • Passionate about leading school improvement at classroom level
  • Able to see the big picture of school improvement at a whole school level
  • Enthusiastic readers of research, at least in summary formats
  • Like to ask ‘why’ and challenge own thinking about teaching, learning and approaches to school improvement
  • Have the ability to influence others in order to develop practice
  • Confident in disseminating and presenting research, addressing misconceptions and challenging those who resist change with the support of school leaders
  • Able to develop a strong awareness of research, including that from the EEF, IEE and the Centre for Applied Educational Research

We anticipate the recruitment of colleagues currently working from across Bradford’s early years settings, nursery, primary, secondary, special and alternative provision schools. Full, mandatory training will be provided in later this year, followed by mandatory facilitated, half-termly network meetings. We will prioritise the recruitment of colleagues from schools and settings who have not been part of the Research Champions programme so far. 

To apply, write an email of approximately 500 words to christian.bunting@stedmundsbradford.org.uk applicants should tell us about their interest in research and evidence, their experience of leading successful evidence-informed initiatives at classroom or wider-school level and their reasons for applying for either or both roles. 

Applications need to be supported by an email of approximately 200 words from the Headteacher which would describe how the school would support the role, endorse the applicant’s candidacy, and guarantee attendance at training and network events.

The deadline to apply is Tuesday 4th May at 1pm.

There is an opportunity to find out more by attending a webinar, where you can also meet a current Research Champion and meet colleagues who have been leading the Research Champion programme.

To book a place on the webinar on Tuesday 27th April (3:30-4:30), to request further details about this initiative including an outline job description and personal specification by contacting Abi Traynor abigail.traynor@stedmundsbradford.org.uk.

The recruitment process will take place in May 2021 to allow Research Champions and Fellows to be in place for the start of the Autumn Term 2021.

For an informal discussion about the role, please contact Christian Bunting, 01274 494898 or by email christian.bunting@stedmundsbradford.org.uk