The current research sought to explore the utility of the Assessment for Intervention (AFI) model in bridging the gap between assessment and intervention, through the conceptual lens of Bio-Ecological Systems Theory (BEST) and Social Constructivist Theory (SCT). AFI is a five-stage assessment model that aims to provide useful and evidence-based…

STEM teacher shortage remains a serious problem in secondary education in many European countries, despite many interventions and many research studies over the last decades. The observation that past interventions and research outcomes have not significantly contributed to reduce teacher shortage implies that places to effectively intervene in…

This article presents an approach to use complex adaptive systems thinking to construct a theory of change to plan and evaluate transformational interventions. The article draws on the concepts of domains, scales, agents, and emergence to build a model of the system targeted by the intervention, to identify the chains of causality driving the…

This paper describes a new leadership coaching model that was delivered as part of Manchester city region's delivery of the Department for Education's Early Outcomes Fund. The coaching model explicitly paralleled the relational practices that are increasingly shaping early intervention policy and practice. Goodwin's theory of professional vision…

Despite a wide body of literature on the importance of program theory and the need to tackle complexity to improve international development programming, the use of program theory to underpin interventions aimed at facilitating change in complex systems remains a challenge for many program practitioners. The actor-based change framework offers a…

This study examines how lower secondary school students understand the circulatory system, using the structure-behavior-function (SBF) framework for conceptual representation. It evaluates the progress of students' understanding after interventions with two different teaching approaches, one using a biology textbook supported by augmented reality…

This exploratory paper seeks to shed light on the methodological challenges of education systems research. There is growing consensus that interventions to improve learning outcomes must be designed and studied as part of a broader system of education, and that learning outcomes are affected by a complex web of dynamics involving different inputs,…

This collection summarises reflections from a group of Department for International Development (DFID) education advisers, spanning a number of different contexts and aspects of the topic of education projects that are working at scale to improve learning outcomes. In the first contribution, Gibbs shares a case study of an approach used to track…

Educational aspirations are an important predictor of academic outcomes. While there has been considerable research on educational aspirations in the West, there has been little research in East Asia, and the investigation of factors influencing adolescent aspirations has been neglected, particularly in rural areas. Drawing on ecological systems…

There is a growing body of action research on school improvement and development. Many of these studies have found the use of critical friendship valuable in relation to teachers' or principals' practice. Yet, little attention has been paid to critical friendship at the school district level. This study explores how a superintendent and three…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to give practical insights into the systemic approach to organizational learning "triple loop learning" (TLL; introduced in Part I) by reflecting on a facilitated research-and-intervention undertaken in South Africa as part of the "500 Schools Project". Design/methodology/approach: The…

To improve teaching and learning outcomes, teachers and head teachers need whole-system support to build professionalism and enhance their practice. Roles at the middle tier of education systems, or those professionals working between the school and central level, offer unique capacities to facilitate collaboration, broker knowledge, scale…

Background: Cyberbullying is a significant problem for young people and secondary schools are the main institutions expected to address it. School anti-bullying measures have only modestly reduced the problem to date. Purpose: This study aimed to examine the perspectives of members within the school community regarding their actions to reduce…

To develop the mathematical discourse of an elementary classroom, I designed an action research project around an intervention of Open Space Technology (OST). Guided by the theoretical perspective of complexity thinking, OST principles created a 'space' or a new structure for learning, where participants self-organized according to interests and…

One of the most recent developments in the field of L2 motivation is the construct of Directed Motivational Currents (DMCs). This novel motivational conceptualisation is characterised by its energising capacity to promote and sustain action in a multitude of contexts whenever an individual is determined to attain a goal/vision he or she regards as…