APPLIED COACHING RESEARCH JOURNAL 2020 , Vol . 6
Book Review : What Does this Look Like in the Classroom ? Bridging the Gap Between Research and Practice
Book by : Carl Hendrick and Robin Macpherson
Reviewed by : Mark Scott
Although this is an education book , it asks questions that I often find myself pondering about coaching . Overall , the book tries to get teachers to engage with research in a meaningful way . As someone who recognises the value of research on coaching practice , I would argue there should be a responsibility on coaches to adopt a more researchinformed approach . I also wonder how we can get coaches to engage with research to inform their practice ?
The idea for the book came about through the authors asking the very question in the title – ‘ What does this research actually look like in the classroom ?’ Or , more specifically , ‘ Will this work with a group of eight year olds on a cold November morning in Liverpool ?’ The reality of this second statement strikes me when I think about coaches and their attitudes to research – they want to know what works when they are out there actually coaching , with the people they are coaching , in the conditions they are coaching in .
Back to the book . Carl and Robin seem to agree with this as they say for education research to have an impact where it matters most , it should be accessible , relevant and above all practicable . On this matter , they argue a key problem has been successful implementation of good quality research – how can we ensure the practical application matches what the research says ?
Historically , this has been an issue due to what the authors call an ‘ outside-in ’ model of research into effective teaching , as they claim teachers have been ‘ objects of study ’ in the research for what constitutes good practice . Indeed , that ' teachers have been given answers to questions they didn ’ t
ask and given solutions to problems that never existed '. This is another interesting point for me related to coaching – how well do we really seek out coaches ’ real problems or questions for starting points for coaching research and education ?
This brings us to the idea : linking up real teachers who have questions related to their existing practice with people who know the research in a given area . So that ’ s what they did – ask teachers to send in their questions , then put these questions into topic themes and ask two experts in that field to answer the questions with knowledge and practical examples . Each topic area makes up a chapter , which is introduced by either Carl or Robin , to set the scene with the key issues and debate .
I like a lot of the method employed . The author chapter introductions are great and are a 3-4 page mini-chapter worth reading alone as a summary of the topic , whether as an introduction to the material or a scene-setter . Two experts for each topic is also a masterstroke , as this allows a slightly different answer or opinion for each question . Being careful not to cause confusion , these different slants and views build on each other and give the reader chance to consider different sides to an argument . This is a good way to get readers to avoid the search for the ‘ silver bullet ’ and instead consider more reflectively on practices that have been shown to work and how they might be relevant in their context .
The book works really well as a tool that can be used as an ongoing learning resource . The bitesized chapter introductions mentioned above , and question and answer set-up , mean you can pick it up any time and dip in and out of one chapter or even
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