Ethics lies at the heart of any research projects, and never more so than when research engages with members of the public, especially when working with school students and teachers. Accessing written texts from school students —both in the UK and abroad—requires informed consent from teachers, students, and, if the students are under 16, their parents/guardians as well.
Reaching large numbers of teachers, students and parents/guardians and asking them to read information sheets and sign consent forms can be a daunting task. Teachers frequently have excessive workloads, parents may be unaware of the project, and teenagers can usually think of more enjoyable ways of spending their free time than reading up on the finer points of research ethics!
Fortunately, there are several techniques which teachers and researchers are using to overcome this challenge and collect informed consent.
For example, to encourage participation from subject teachers, it can be helpful to:
- Highlight the benefits of participation, such as:
- Access to ‘Teacher Area’ on the Disciplinary Literacy website where we’ll be sharing teaching materials and resources
- Opportunities to co-create teaching resources with the BAWESS research team.
To encourage the involvement of students, we suggest making the consent process as accessible as possible by:
- Presenting QR codes linked to consent and information documents in assemblies
- Sharing QR these codes in class and reviewing the Participant Information Sheet together.
And to obtain the support of parents and guardians, schools and researchers can:
- Share QR codes during registration at the start of term
- Use existing school communication channels (e.g. parental portal)
- Offer parents a Q&A session with a member of the BAWESS research team
- Showcase positive outcomes to encourage participation, share similar research that has been conducted previously.
Mike Griffiths, Deputy Headteacher, Clarendon Academy, Trowbridge used these techniques, leading to the collection of over 500 consenting participants for the BAWESS project in just a few days – 400 students, 166 parents/guardians and 24 teachers. Congratulations Mike and all at Clarendon Academy, you’re our official informed consent champions!
The BAWESS team is always ready to assist with any aspect of the consent and data collection process. This includes online training sessions, in-person visits to schools to collect data, and the possibility of providing supply teacher cover to free up time for staff to participate in the project.
If your school is not yet participating in the BAWESS project and you would like to sign up, or just find out more information without any obligation to get further involved, please:
- Visit our university website: Disciplinary literacy & corpus-based pedagogy: The BAWESS project
- Email our team at: bawess@bath.ac.uk
- Sign up with your school’s details here.
