Creating Connections: Policy Research and Practice

This was the title of a conference organised in Glasgow by Learning Connections, which I attended on Tuesday 29 April. For me the highlight of the day was a session in which three adult literacies practitioners gave presentations on the action research projects they had carried out as part of an online professional development course. What impressed me most about their presentations was that they spoke in a very confident and matter-of-fact way about the theory they had been using. What's more, their references to theory were woven into their discussion about some very practical issues connected with their work. One of them summed up their approach when she said 'We know better by doing and do better by knowing.' Another presenter described how he used to think of himself as an 'intuitive' teacher, but carrying out his research had convinced him that intuitions need to be examined and questioned, and that theory is a good tool for doing this. These teachers seemed to have made a very real connection between research and practice in literacies, one which they all felt would become an enduring aspect of their work.