Gatekeeper draft

 Dear MAT NAME/PERSON,

I am Helen Wilson, a second year part-time PHD student. As part of my research at the University of Worcester I am planning a piece of research titled ‘Educating the next generation to be inclusive future citizens of the digital society’.

Subject to approval by The University of Worcester Research Ethics Committee, the overall aim of the study will be to develop and pilot the teaching of digital accessibility awareness education within the upper Key Stage 2 classroom. It should be noted that this will not involve any technical knowledge or software skills, but will instead refer to the basic concepts regarding barriers in digital content and simple tips that anyone could understand and apply to make content more inclusive. All teacher participants will be fully trained as part of the research process. This training and their subsequent development will form part of the research itself.

I am writing to ask for permission to recruit to this study within the Windsor Academy Trust. This would involve you helping to distribute information to eligible potential participants, who in turn will then be asked to contact me directly if they are interested in participating.

For teacher participants, taking part will involve:

• An initial semi-structured interview to explore their current knowledge surrounding inclusive digital content
• The piloting and refinement of an exemplar lesson (aimed at an appropriate level) and the observation of pupil learning
• A semi-structured interview at the end of the study to reflect on the process of piloting the lesson and the development of their knowledge 

A draft timetable is enclosed for further details about the research intentions and the time commitment necessary.

I am hoping to recruit three to six teacher participants per school across three schools. Ideally I would prefer teachers who have experience of teaching pupils at upper Key Stage 2 in either year 5 or 6. Pupils from year 5 or 6 will also need to be recruited as participants for the intervention lessons being taught.

All data provided by participants will be processed to ensure full confidentiality. No real names, or names of organisations will be used in any research outputs. During the research, the data will be stored on the university’s secure platform that will be protected by two-factor authentication. The only people who may be given access to this data drive will be PHD supervisors or a research moderator, but only on a read only non download basis where guidance is requested by the researcher. Once the research theses and publications have been completed any interview or focus group data will be fully deleted. 

I expect the findings of the research to be written up as part of my PHD thesis, as well contribute to associated academic papers and conference presentations for the wider education research community. Any outputs generated such as lesson plans, learning materials or resources will be shared with participants and with the teaching community via an open Creative Commons license, meaning any teacher can freely access, use and build upon the materials to benefit education and the future teaching of digital accessibility awareness. 

Before the project commences, I need to know whether you would be willing, in principle, to be involved. This will allow me to obtain approval for this research study from the University Research Ethics Committee. I would be grateful if  you could email me back directly on this student email address to confirm, in principle, if you are willing to assist and be involved in the recruitment of this research project.

Thank you for your consideration 

 

Yours sincerely 

Helen Wilson (PHD Student)

University of Worcester