The OTLA 8 (English, ESOL and Essential Digital Skills) Action Research Programme

The OTLA (English, ESOL and Essential Digital Skills) programme was delivered by ccConsultancy in partnership with That Reading Thing, NATECLA and Skills Digital. This was the 8th phase of OTLA projects we delivered on behalf of the Education and Training Foundation and funded by the Department for Education. This was the 5th OTLA phase that we were involved in as delivery partners.

Fifteen clusters researched new approaches for teaching English, ESOL and Essential Digital Skills (EDS) in the post-16 sector and focused upon driving professional development for staff through encouraging practitioners to use action research to explore and integrate those approaches into teaching, learning and assessment.

You can now download all the reports from the Excellence Gateway’s Practitioner Research + Evidence Portal (PREP).

Helen Hewlett
- The Weekly Read – City of Liverpool College.
- Thinking Aloud – South Essex College of Further and Higher Education.
- Enhancing two-way feedback – York Learning: City of York Council.
Lynne Taylerson
- Using simulations to build essential digital skills in prison learning – NOVUS.
- English and digital tools in the prison classroom – NOVUS.
- Supporting vocational trainers in prisons to embed EDS in their courses – NOVUS.
Sue Southwood
- Read More – Write Better: walking in a writer’s shoes and understanding perspective – Macclesfield College.
- Thinking Folk – Newcastle City Learning.
- Arresting the digital tundra- a study in adult digital skills evolution – Northampton College.
Catriona Mowat
- Words and pictures: creative approaches to cross-curricular literacy – Leeds College of Building.
- How to create a ‘fast track’ L2 FS English curriculum model, with positive impact on attendance and achievement rates – North Lincolnshire Adult Education and Community Learning.
- Freewriting: a Key to Unlocking Our GCSE English Resit Learners – Preston College.
Dianne Robinson
- Developing Resilience through Prose Writing – Hull College.
- Improving writing through teaching grammar and style within the context of authentic texts – Leicester College.
- Mindset Over Mastery – Lincoln College.
Kirsty Powell
- Exploring digital approaches to reading and writing – Burton and South Derbyshire College.
- Developing reading in 16-18 year olds – College of West Anglia.
- Developing reading for pleasure – Suffolk New College.
Catherine McPartland
- Target setting to improve learning – Capel Manor College.
- Development of IT skills within the ESOL classroom – Darlington College.
- Developing High Level Vocabulary – Reaseheath College.

Lesley Littlewood
- Student-led strategies to motivate and engage lower-level GCSE English students – Chesterfield College.
- Tools for teaching (and how to spell them) – exploring English in vocational contexts – NOVUS.
- Unlocking potential in English – Strathmore College.
Cathy Clarkson (NATECLA Cluster)
- Improving writing for ESOL students stuck at Entry Level 3 – New College Durham.
- Introducing participatory ESOL approaches into volunteer-led, informal ESOL settings – SAVTE.
- Can ESOL pedagogy be applied to GCSE and Functional Skills delivery to develop responsive teaching and learning? – Buckinghamshire College Group.
Chloë Hynes (NATECLA cluster)
- ‘Teaching nuggets’: go-to resources for supporting ESOL and low-level literacy learners with digital skills – ACL Essex.
- Can language learning apps enhance the classroom experience for ESOL learners? – City of Bristol College.
- Supporting the Essential Digital Skills of ESOL and low-level English students – Islington Community Learning.
Emily Bryson (NATECLA cluster)
- Supporting second language learners in vocational courses – The Oldham College.
- Flipgrid for ESOL language development – Hopwood Hall.
Catherine Grey
- Supporting learners to develop their kn1owledge of digital terminology – Barnsley Adult Skills and Community Learning.
- Peer to Peer Fusion Skills Project – Haringey Adult Learning Service.
- Bridging the Gap – Westminster Adult Education Service.
Sheran Johnson
- Using digital readers to engage and build confidence in reading – Blackburn College.
- Targeting support for ESOL learners on vocational programmes – Boston College.
- Supporting learner ownership and the formulation of authentic goals – ELATT.
Sonia Thomas
- Improving feedback for assessments – Basingstoke College of Technology.
- Task-Based Learning – City Lit.
- Motivating Learners with Creative Writing – Myerscough College.

Seeing the wood and the trees: the contributions of OTLA 8 practitioners towards the growth and development of action research in further education (Editorial)

Dr Vicky Butterby and Claire Collins

OTLA programme manager and programme director.

#OTLA over bamboo forest looking up to the sky

Sharing and Celebration Event 2022

Event Landing Page

You can also read the final event curated programme.

Cultivating professional change through action research (Editorial)

Dr Andy Convery

Research and Professional Development Lead

Action Research Posters

Exhibited at the NATECLA Conference, 2022.

OTLA 8 (English, ESOL + EDS)

The OTLA 8 (English, ESOL and Essential Digital Skills) Action Research Programme

Helen Hewlett

Lynne Taylerson

Sue Southwood

Catriona Mowat

Dianne Robinson

Kirsty Powell

Catherine McPartland

Lesley Littlewood

Cathy Clarkson (NATECLA Cluster)

Chloë Hynes (NATECLA cluster)

Emily Bryson (NATECLA cluster)

Catherine Grey

Sheran Johnson

Sonia Thomas

Seeing the wood and the trees: the contributions of OTLA 8 practitioners towards the growth and development of action research in further education (Editorial)

Dr Vicky Butterby and Claire Collins

Sharing and Celebration Event 2022

Cultivating professional change through action research (Editorial)

Dr Andy Convery

Action Research Posters

Our collective (+ reflective) action research tree

Interesting links

Pages

Categories

Archive