University Practice Settings

Working closely to collaborate on promoting research, developing pedagogy and enhancing the learners’ experience
University Practice Settings

University Practice Settings (UPS) are the group of settings with which the Institute work most closely to collaborate on promoting research, developing pedagogy and enhancing the learners’ experience.

The UPS group includes a variety of education settings such as alternative, special education and mainstream education and we actively promote a diverse range to match our research expertise and student interests.

University of Plymouth Practice Settings:

  • are engaged in research and development projects, working with staff from the Plymouth Institute of Education
  • have a wealth of expertise and experience in working with future teachers, mentoring and educational professional development
  • are committed to the idea of professionals collaborating to improve children’s educational experience.

Read our publication on Researchers in Residence, part of our UPS practice.

Researchers in practice

An important part of developing the University Practice Schools partnerships will be developing research projects within the partnership schools. 

These could be any kind of project, devised between school and University of Plymouth staff and then undertaken within the school. 

Previous and ongoing projects, for instance, include:

  • investigating pupil engagement with maths
  • developing and evaluating staff peer observation cycles
  • developing children’s capacity as researchers
  • understanding children’s attitudes about travelling to and from school.
The aim for these and future projects is for benefits to accrue to both the school and the University of Plymouth; the school gains greater understanding about one particular aspect of school life, and University of Plymouth staff aim for a joint publication at the end of the academic year.

Senior Research Fellows Jan Georgeson and Rowena Passy, will be the point of contact for any Plymouth Institute of Education staff member who is planning to undertake a research project in any partnership school. This will enable us to keep track of current and planned projects, and to offer support for any part of the research that may be required. All research that plans a published output needs to have University of Plymouth ethical clearance, for instance, and we can help with this, including when to submit your application! Once the research has begun, we will be very happy to discuss your project at any time during the year. 

Many UPS projects are linked to the Plymouth Institute of Education Research Nodes:

University of Plymouth Researcher-in-Residence Project: Year One Report (2016-17)

UPS Researchers

University Practice Settings