"Teacher research is an intentional and systematic inquiry carried out by teachers with the goals of gaining insights into teaching and learning, becoming more reflective practitioners, effecting changes in the classroom or school, and improving the lives of children."
- Cochran-Smith & Lytle (1993; 1999) 

Within our school’s mission, lifelong learning is nurtured not just within our student body but also within our faculty. At Tanglin, we are proud of our community of passionate and talented professionals who actively engage in research and further learning so that we can improve the outcomes of the children we teach.

Through our rich professional development opportunities, such as the National Professional Qualification programmes for leaders and the Chartered Teaching Accreditation, and the support that is offered towards further education, there are a number of action research projects and lines of inquiry that are being carried out across the school that contribute to our strategic aims. Typically, the impact of some of these projects has been shared with the community through our CPD newsletter, the Tanglin EDU, where our faculty staff describes what they have been working on within their practice, what the research says to support their thinking, and what the impact has been on student outcomes.

The three pillars that underlie The Institute at Tanglin: Scholarship, Inquiry and Partnerships, offer many exciting opportunities for our community, especially around pursuing interests and lines of inquiry at greater depth. Creating a space where these ideas can be shared and discussed, not only with educators but with leading industry experts, is a key component of The Institute’s vision.

In November 2022, Tanglin held our first Faculty Research Forum through The Institute. It opened with a keynote speech from Charlie Park, the Vice President for Floorcare at Dyson, who is responsible for the development of the entire floorcare range across design and development sites in the UK and Southeast Asia. Charlie shared his experiences of how research is applied at Dyson, how it informs the decisions that he makes as part of his role, and how a similar approach could apply to research in education. From there, the group moved into breakout spaces, and a selection of colleagues from across the whole school presented their action research on a range of topics such as: Metacognitive Modelling in the Classroom; Learning to Learn; Integrating STEM; The Impact of Choice; Safeguarding in Sport, and Cognitive Load Theory. After each presentation, there was time for questions and rich discussions with several colleagues arranging times to meet again to connect on various topics and see how it could be applied in their subject or with the age range they teach.  

Through events like these, The Institute at Tanglin hopes to further promote the benefits of being research-informed educators. Not only will it serve the students we teach as we become more reflective on our practice and the choices we make in the classroom, but through sharing our experiences of applying new thinking, we can deepen our professional relationships with colleagues from across our school and the international community.