Posted: July 27th, 2015

To investigate how the governing body of a school is involved in monitoring a school development plan.

1.
500 words Introduction
• an overarching statement about the purpose of the assignment and relevance of the topic
• a brief background to provide a context for the chosen problem/theme/research
• specific questions or aims of the project
• a description of the structure of the assignment
2 – 1500 words Literature review relevant to the selected substantive area
• Use a literature review to explore what has been discovered previously which might be relevant to your research. You might examine what theories or concepts have evolved and will almost certainly wish to use these to define the key concept of your work, for example, quality or governance or accountability. It may also be relevant to look at previous findings from research which investigated an area related to your own.
• In structuring the literature review you may want to take a thematic approach, adopting a particular focus for each subsection, or a chronological approach looking at how a theory or concept has evolved over time. For example, there are several competing approaches to assuring quality, each of which you might wish to cover in subsection. In relation to accountability, you may wish to adopt a chronological approach, charting how accountability systems have been devised and implemented in a particular phase of education in a particular nation.
• The key point is that this is a critical literature review which does not just describe the literature in question but analyses it, comparing, contrasting, critiquing and in a final summary stating the key ideas which are relevant to the research.
4. 500 words Justification of the methodology used
• Briefly review the literature on interviews and justify why an interview can generate relevant data for your study. Explain what kind of interview is being piloted, how the interview questions were designed, how it will help explore the issues being explored, and how you intend to analyse the data. Justify the selection of the respondent to pilot your interview.
• Consider the ethical implications of your study.
5. 1000 words Findings and discussion
• Present and discuss the findings. Apply some of the actual interview material, where appropriate, to illustrate the respondent’s perspectives.
• What has been learned and what are the implications of your analysis for key organisational processes?
6. 500 words Conclusion
• As this is a pilot, comment on the adequacy of the methodology. Did the interview work well in generating useful data? Was the analytical process effective? Could either be improved? In moving forward to a full study, what might you develop on the basis of your experience of the pilot? What might this study lead to for potential future research in this area?