Tim Cain

• PhD
• Professor (Full) at Edge Hill University

Despite numerous efforts to align educational practice more closely with findings from educational research, there is little clarity about how educational practitioners can, in principle, use research. We propose a conceptualisation based on how research can contribute to practitioners’ thinking: specifically, our framework proposes that research c...

Teacher recruitment and retention is an international challenge. In England the government have reported that more teachers leave before retirement age than five years ago, 30% within five years and schools are finding it difficult to fill posts with quality teachers . This paper evaluates the contribution of the research-informed RETAIN Early Care...

Teaching Music Differently explores what music teachers do and why. It offers insightful analysis of eight in-depth studies of teachers in a range of settings - the early years, a special school, primary and secondary schools, a college, a prison, a conservatoire and a community choir - and demonstrates that pedagogy is not simply the delivery of a...

Although there are policy calls for educational research to discover ‘what works’ and thereby inform decision making directly, the research literature argues instead for research to have a ‘conceptual’ impact on practice. Empirical studies also suggest that, when teachers use research, their use is conceptual; research influences the content and th...

In a context in which local authority support has been largely removed from schools in England, this article examines the needs of early career teachers (ECTs) in English schools and colleges, the extent to which these needs are met through professional development activities and the nature of that professional development. Quantitative and qualita...

How to be Good: behaviour management policies in 36 secondary schools Through the analysis of a representative sample of schools’ behaviour management policies, we argue that there is a philosophical and tangible tension between the competing views on what ought to be the motivation and rationale for schools to promote good behaviour in England. Ou...

In this paper, I argue that the movement for research utilisation in education can be seen as part of an attempt to alter the foundations on which teachers base their decisions, replacing liberal values with which teaching has been associated, with the values of ‘what works’. I review the empirical literature around teachers’ use of research to asc...

Internationally, efforts are being made for educational practice to be research-informed on the grounds that schoolteachers will implement what research shows will ‘work’. However, teachers do not necessarily accept research findings; sometimes they contest them. This article considers teachers’ contestation in two empirical studies, using the conc...

The Musical Experience: Rethinking Music teaching and Learning edited by Janet R. Barrett and Peter R. Webster. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014. 343 pp., paperback. £23.99. ISBN: 978–0199363049 - Volume 33 Issue 2 - TIM CAIN

In a climate where, it is claimed, children now spend very little time out of doors because adults fear for their safety and impose a ‘zero risk childhood’ on them, Forest School aims to offer learners the opportunity to take ‘supported risks’. This study investigated perceptions of risk associated with the outdoors, held by children, their parents...

Recent policy statements have urged greater use of research to guide teaching, with some commentators calling for a ‘revolution’ in evidence-based practice. Scholarly literature suggests that research can influence policy and practice in ‘instrumental’, ‘conceptual’ or ‘strategic’ ways. This paper analyses data from two studies in English comprehen...

Despite the increased interest in research impact, there is very little empirical evidence that educational research can inform practice directly, and furthermore, a body of literature which suggests that this is, in principle, impossible. This paper reports on a study in which secondary school teachers were given research findings about teaching g...

Recent public discussions of curriculum and pedagogy that have accompanied the English National Curriculum review have been structured around clichéd dichotomies that generate more heat than light and that, as Robin Alexander has argued, reduce complex educational debates to oppositional and incompatible slogans. This paper begins by exploring the...

This review article draws on published reports of teachers’ practitioner research in the field of music education, in order to posit a typology. Teachers’ practitioner research is categorized as either experimental, interpretative, action research, self-study or philosophical writing, with many studies containing elements of two or more types. Each...

In a culture of performativity, action research offers teachers an opportunity to step back and reflect on their practice. This paper reports on a collaborative project carried out between a university and a secondary school in England, in which the university staff supported an action research project within the school. Five school teachers volunt...

Informal pedagogies are a subject of debate in music education, and there is some evidence of teachers abandoning formal pedagogies in favour of informal ones. This article presents a case of one teacher's formal pedagogy and theorises it by comparing it with a case of informal pedagogy. The comparison reveals affordances of formal pedagogies which...

This article considers some paradigms of educational research, and their relation to teachers’ action research in their classrooms or studios. The positivist/scientific paradigm and the interpretive/naturalist paradigm are examined, with reference to two cases of music teachers’ action research studies. These studies are found to be flawed because...

This article presents an action research study into how trainee music teachers in England use a structured discussion process called ‘Collegial Consultation’ to learn about teaching. The research shows that, in Collegial Consultation, trainees learn from each other by offering several solutions to a problem, offering reasons for their ideas, trying...

Teachers’ classroom‐based action research is sometimes misunderstood by those who undertake it and support it, in three respects. First, it is wrongly assumed to fall into either positivist or interpretive paradigms (or perhaps a mixture of both) or to be critical. Second, there is little understanding as to why action research is necessarily self‐...

This report details an intervention study that I undertook with a group of students and their teacher in a Secondary school in England. 14-15 year old students were systematically taught several strategies for improving their listening skills, including using computers. Pre- and post- tests show a marked increase in scores. However, qualitative dat...

Although action research is widely acknowledged to have benefits in terms of improving practice and professional development, its ability to generate new knowledge, and hence its status as research, is debatable. Indeed, there are questions as to whether it can be called ‘proper’ research. This article draws on the Southampton Music Action Research...

Whilst educational action research is not unknown in Croatia, its use is not widespread. In part, this might be because action research assumes a high level of autonomy for practitioner–researchers, and a constructivist view of knowledge, neither of which are traditional characteristics of the Croatian system. This article reports on a capacity bui...

Music Education with Digital Technology edited by FinneyJohn & BurnardPamela. London: Continuum, 2009. 240 pp., hardback, £24.99. ISBN: 9780826420718 - Volume 26 Issue 3 - TIM CAIN

In 2001, Maguire published the findings from a survey of the perceptions and experiences of secondary school trainee teachers of adult–adult bullying. The current paper reports on a study which aimed to compare the incidence and nature of bullying of postgraduate trainees in another English teacher training institution with the experiences of those...

This review explores ways in which the mentors of trainee teachers can use research as a means of questioning, understanding and improving their own practices. The first part presents an overview of empirical and theoretical research into mentoring relationships. The second part presents four ways in which mentors might engage with this literature:...

In 2001, Maguire published the findings from a survey of the perceptions and experiences of secondary school trainee teachers of adult–adult bullying. The current paper reports on a study which aimed to compare the incidence and nature of bullying of postgraduate trainees in another English teacher training institution with the experiences of those...

This review article discusses the use of action research in music education and its potential for producing knowledge and improving practice. The discussion is situated in an analysis of action research studies in music education. The review demonstrates that action research in music education focuses on a wide variety of subject matter, integrates...

The theoretical position that underpins this study is that it is possible for practitioners to undertake ethically-informed research into their own practice whilst also changing that practice, through the process of action research. In this process, practitioners (such as teachers) operate a series of flexible cycles, deciding what is worth researc...

The book is designed to assist trainee teachers in undertaking an M-Level PGCE. The chapter deals with: The different types of research and the roles they play in professional development; The impact of research on the development of educational theories; The evolution of learning theory and its impact on practice; Approaches to researching your ow...

This article explores the theoretical concepts of ‘apprenticeship’ and ‘reflection’ in Initial Teacher Education music mentoring. It presents two case studies of Secondary music mentoring and relates these to the theoretical concepts. The article argues that a more integrated view of music mentoring might be provided with reference to Kolb's (1984)...

Full terms and conditions of use: http://www.informaworld.com/terms-and-conditions-of-access.pdf This article maybe used for research, teaching and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, re-distribution, re-selling, loan or sub-licensing, systematic supply or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. Th...

This article explores the purpose of research in music education. It finds that research, a) describes and documents innovative practice, b) challenges taken-for-granted perceptions, c) generates or expands big ideas and d) provokes thought.

Learning to Teach Music in the Secondary School is intended to support student-teachers, newly qualified teachers and more experienced music teachers in their professional development. Topics covered include: -the place of music in the curriculum -the nature of musical learning -planning, managing and assessing musical learning -school examinations...

Piagetian stage theory suggests that thinking becomes more abstract as people move through developmental stages. It can therefore be assumed that trainee teachers do not need to be actively involved in classroom activities, such as learning songs, but can instead learn about learning songs in a more theoretical way. In this research 146 trainee tea...

This article examines a change in the procedures for developing beginning teachers’ (trainees) subject knowledge on a music teacher training course. The change, provoked by the response of an extraordinary trainee, prompts the author to ask, ‘to what extent are changes in teachers’ practice provoked by extraordinary learners?’ and, ‘how might such...

This article examines a change in the procedures for developing trainees’ subject knowledge on a music Professional Graduate Certificate in Education course. The change, provoked by the response of an extraordinary trainee, prompts the author to ask “to what extent are changes in teachers’ practice provoked by extraordinary learners?” and “how migh...

Este artículo examina un cambio en los procedimientos para mejorar el conocimiento de la asignatura en los estudiantes en un programa de formación inicial del profesorado de música. El cambio, provocado por la respuesta de un estudiante extraordinario, lleva al autor a preguntar “¿hasta qué punto los cambios en las prácticas docentes están provocad...

This article examines a change in the procedures for developing trainees ' subject knowledge on a music Professional Graduate Certificate in Education course. The change, provoked by the response of an extraordinary trainee, prompts the author to ask "to what extent are changes in teachers' practice provoked by extraordinary learners?" and "how mig...

In this short article I present a case for developing a new theory of music education, arguing that advances in music technology have undermined some of the most basic conceptual frameworks we currently possess. I describe some problems that might make the development of a new theory difficult and suggest some ways in which they might be overcome....

Sounds in Space, Sounds in Time by Richard Vella. London: Boosey & Hawkes, 2000. 238 pp, £24.99, paperback with CD - - Volume 21 Issue 2 - TIM CAIN

Learning to Teach Music in the Secondary School: A Companion to School Experience edited by Chris Philpott. London: RoutledgeFalmer, 2001. 288 pp, £16.99, paperback. - - Volume 19 Issue 2 - Tim Cain

One of three papers at the UKCMET Conference 1989 in the session on In-Service Education and Training. The author draws upon his experience of INSET courses in one academic year, and concludes that the provision is often piecemeal and crisis-led. He discusses an in-service course which he found particularly useful, and attempts to identify the feat...

This article is an attempt to explore what we Secondary School Music Teachers should do in our music lessons. To illuminate this problem the author postulates two rôles which he believes many music teachers adopt more or less whole-heartedly: the ‘Instructor’, who passes on a body of received skills, information and perhaps values; and the ‘Enabler...