FARNBOROUGH Sixth Form College has become one of two  in the country to be specially recognised as a research institution.

The award was given at the Learning and Skills Improvement Service (LSIS) annual research conference held in London.

The award has been created by a group, led by the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER), to underline the importance of putting research at the heart of good teaching practice in schools and colleges.

The research project at Farnborough is led by David Godfrey, assistant director of personalised learning.

He said: “Every year, we support the subject tutors to undertake research projects with the intention of improving teaching and learning across the college.”

Mr Godfrey, who carried out research in education at Brunel University and has published his findings widely, said
he encouraged a research-based approach to teaching.

Tutors whose projects are selected for support funding undertake their research, attend extra research meetings and discuss their findings at a June conference held at the college, attended by colleagues from many other institutions.

"Enthusiasm and passion"

All the reports are posted on the college’s website and published in the in-house journal, and many have been taken up by national publications, such as the NFER’s Practical Research for Education.

Mr Godfrey said: “Farnborough’s approach has been particularly praised for the sustainable, embedded way in which teachers are encouraged to carry out action research.

“The model established at the Sixth Form College has been studied by Ofsted and LSIS and is celebrated in the national web-based resource, Excellence Gateway, as an example of good practice for others in the sector.”

In a citation at the awards ceremony in London, Alison Lawson, principal research strategist at NFER, said: “Farnborough’s excellent application demonstrated a thorough commitment to research across the whole college, with involvement of a large number of staff.

“Their enthusiasm and passion for improving learning and teaching through research was clear and they well deserve the award.”

Farnborough principal Dr John Guy said: “The college always seeks to improve as a learning institution and it is a great honour that the research approach led by David Godfrey has received such national recognition.”