Podcast Episode 3 (transcript)

3: A Guide for Writing Practitioner Articles, with Professor Gary Beauchamp and Dr Kevin Smith

Professor Gary Beauchamp and Dr Kevin Smith answer frequently-asked-questions on writing and submitting practitioner articles, including:

• Who can submit a practitioner article?

• What topics can a practitioner article cover?

• How should an article be structured?

• How do I submit an article?

• What happens after I submit an article?

GB: Hello and welcome to the Wales Journal of Education podcast. I’m Professor Gary Beauchamp, one of the editors of the Wales Journal of Education. In this episode, I’ll be talking to our editor for practitioner articles, Dr Kevin Smith, a senior lecturer at Cardiff University’s School of Social Sciences. This will be a special episode in which we discuss the practitioner strand of the journal to answer frequently-asked-questions on writing and submitting articles. This strand is an exciting opportunity to publish and share practitioner research that engages with the current educational landscape in Wales. If you’re interested in submitting an article, we hope this discussion will be a helpful resource for you. Kevin, thanks for joining us for this podcast.

KS: Thank you, Gary. I’m happy to be here.

GB: First, perhaps the hard question. Why should an already busy educator spend time on writing and publishing an article for the Wales Journal of Education?

KS: That’s a good question, because we’re all pressed for time. For me, and from the position of the journal, we believe that this kind of work will help teachers think about their practice more carefully, more critically, more systematically, help them focus their thinking and their ideas about their teaching, and it’s an excellent opportunity for them to disseminate that knowledge to a wider audience, not only people here in Wales but also to an international audience.

GB: What are the similarities and differences between the academic article, shall we call them, that are published in a volume of the journal, and the practitioner articles?

KS: The practitioner articles stand apart from the academic articles in that they’re a briefer word count, about 5,000 words or so, and what we’re asking for, in the practitioner strand, is articles that are focused on classroom practice. That can include a variety of perspectives. The academic articles might be a longer article. They might be engaging in more sophisticated forms of research, different kinds of theoretical approaches etc. So, for the practitioner strand, it’s not just that we’re asking for articles from practitioners, although we would like practitioners to send us their work, but we’re also asking for an emphasis on the practicalities of the classroom.

GB: What about the things that are similar between the two types of article?

KS: I think what stands out for me, first and foremost, is that although we’ve created these two different strands, we’re both very concerned about rigour, about credibility and validity, about the transferability of the research. This is high-quality research, and we’re looking to develop research capacity in both the academic strands and the practitioner strands for the people who submit here in Wales, but also that we can create interesting and compelling conversations for people to read from our wider audience.

GB: Thanks, Kevin. Just to say also, we will accept, I would imagine, articles from practitioners wherever they are in the world, rather than just Wales.

KS: Absolutely, absolutely.

GB: The other thing which is similar, which we will return to at the end, is about the peer review process, which we’ll explain and discuss a little bit more near the end of this podcast. Can we move now to who can submit a practitioner article?

KS: We invite submissions from colleagues who are interested in investigating the practical dimensions of education. This group might include educators in primary, secondary, further and higher education settings, as well as people working outside of the classroom, such as members of middle tier organisations. In Wales, for instance, that might mean folks from school consortia, LEAs, Estyn etc.

GB: And what topics can these practitioner articles cover?

KS: Rather than focusing on topics or suggesting topics, I think it might be wise to discuss the kind of work that we can expect from people. For example, we’re happy to receive submissions of descriptive research, such as detailed accounts of innovative practice, or empirical research, which might include action research led by practitioners or close-to-practice research that’s more of a collaboration between practitioners and educational researchers. This work can be quantitative, qualitative or have mixed methods in their approach. The submissions might focus on findings derived from case studies, experiments and surveys as well as narrative and autobiographical research, just to give a few examples. Additionally, we’re interested in receiving submissions that are theoretical or conceptual in nature, which might include discussions of methodological issues, and important issues and phenomena practitioners experience. We’re also happy to receive discussions about some of the core assumptions of educational research, educational policy and even book reviews.

GB: The structure of the article is explained in detail on the website. But it would be useful, I think, to talk through the broad types of sections that would be in each article. We’ve deliberately tried to put the structure there so that it’s clearer for people to write to, but equally, it might be worth running through the key features that we’d expect in an article.

KS: The structure will depend slightly on the kind of article that’s being submitted. But every submission should include an abstract which establishes context, discusses what the article adds and what are the implications of those findings. Again, the word count is roughly about 5,000 words. The references, the way that the literature should be cited and the references included, are also included are also on the website. Essentially, we could say that there should be an introduction, a review of the literature, a presentation of methods , including a discussion of ethical concerns, a presentation of findings and a discussion of those findings, with a conclusion. I always like a conclusion that ends with answering the question, “Well, so what?” At the end of an article, if someone didn’t know what the implications or any recommendations were, then we haven’t quite achieved what we hoped to achieve. A little piece of advice I always give people is, in the conclusion, try to think about that. If someone was asking you “So what?”, how would you answer that question?

GB: So, Kevin, could you just tell us very briefly about the balance of the word count within each of these section headings? They’re all important, but which are perhaps more important than others? Where should they focus their energy, basically?

KS: A good rule of thumb is to save room for your discussion. The purpose of the introduction is really to establish context and to bring people into your understanding of the reasons and motivations for your research, then you would move into the literature review. The literature review is a survey of what’s out there. In reviewing the literature that’s associated with your particular topic, you generally form more focused and discrete questions that help you answer the original question that you had in mind, so that might be a little bit bigger. Methods can be again concise, but the important thing in a methods section is that it includes a very transparent, detailed and accurate account of what actually happened in producing the findings that you have, especially those ethical concerns. But again, in very broad terms – and I almost shudder to do this – but I might say 40% in the first parts of the paper, the introduction, the literature review and the methods, and then 60% in the findings, discussion and conclusion.

GB: How do you feel about the inclusion of tables, charts, figures and so on?

KS: People should feel encouraged to include those kinds of things within their submissions, but not to rely too heavily on them or not to include too many of them, or especially not to repeat any of them. If it’s necessary or if it provides some kind of compelling perspective on what’s being presented in the article, then great, please include them.

GB: And just a little aside, as someone who reviews articles, make sure you refer to the figure or the table in the text, and that it doesn’t just stand alone. A little thought. How do you go about submitting an article?

KS: There are discrete instructions on the website that walk you through the process. If you went to the Wales Journal of Education website, you click on the practitioner strand section at the top of the page. It’ll then walk you through the general expectations, then there’s a button at the bottom of the page to submit your article. That will walk you through the process. There will also be an e-mail address listed on the page where you can write to the editor for some general questions.

GB: What happens after you submit the article? I think this may be a process which is probably unknown to quite a lot of people. They might hear the term peer review and so on, but perhaps we could explain what the process is and what it actually means in real terms?

KS: Sure. After an article is submitted, an editor will read the work and assign reviewers for a double-blind review. This means that the identity of both the author and the reviewers are anonymous. The reviewers will read the paper, provide feedback and make suggestions to the author and the editor about the work, as well as recommendations for publication. Based on the reviews, the editor then decides to accept or reject the paper. In some cases, the paper is rejected outright. In others, the paper is rejected but the author has the option to re-submit after addressing the comments from the reviewers and the editor. If the paper is accepted, it can be accepted without further edits – which is rare, but it happens. It can be accepted with minor edits, which means that the author needs to address those issues raised by the editor, or editor and reviewers, or it might be accepted with major edits which means that more substantial work is required before the paper is accepted, but it’s still accepted.

GB: I think, as an editorial team, we feel that the peer review is a supportive process. It’s not meant to pick holes in people, it’s meant to identify strengths and weaknesses in the work. But I think it’s worth saying that we would expect people generally to specifically respond to what the reviewers have raised and tell us how they’ve addressed it. Is that fair?

KS: Absolutely. Sometimes – at least in academic circles – when we publish our work, there’s always the dreaded reviewer number 2, who’s viewed as this extra critical voice. Our approach is that we want the research to be scrutinised for quality, we want it to be high-quality research, but we also want people to recognise and understand that this is a collaborative process. It's not about weeding people out, it’s about ensuring that what comes into the journal and what’s disseminated to the public is high-quality research, it’s reliable, it’s trustworthy, it’s representative of what actually happened during the process of conducting the research, and that it’s an invitation, really, for others to read that work and say, I think I’m ready to do something like this, then they can also submit their work.

GB: I think it’s worth saying here as well that when people submit what we call academic articles, there is often a finite limit to the number of articles that can appear in an issue or a volume. With the practitioner issues, because they are available on the website, there is literally no limit. We can publish anything that meets the threshold for standard criteria.

KS: That’s right, and I think that’s one of the exciting aspects about this practitioner strand of the journal. It can grow, it can create a community and a network of people who are engaged in high-quality research focused on the practicalities of the classroom.

GB: Where would a practitioner article be read, and by who? In other words, who’s going to read these articles? Who are they aimed at and whereabouts, in the world come to that, could they be read?

KS: Again, because the focus is on the practical dimensions of education, anyone who’s interested in what actually happens in the classroom or within the school. We talk about the practical. It reminds me of Joseph Schwab, who wrote an article in 1969 in which he was talking about the curriculum field. He brought up three ideas – the practical, the quasi-practical and the eclectic. The practical, for him, is concerned with basically defensible decisions, choices and actions that educators make when preparing the curriculum, when thinking about their pedagogy, when interacting with the people in their classrooms and the people in their schools. It’s these kinds of considerations that we’re hoping people will write about and think about. This means that your work could be read by parents, colleagues, teachers, school board members, other academic venues, professors, senior lecturers. Anyone involved in these kinds of discussions and concerns would have an opportunity to read this, because this, as you mentioned earlier, is not just a journal for Wales. It’s a journal from Wales, for the world, so you can expect your work to be read all over the world. Again, because we’re talking about a practitioner strand, and I say practitioners – I’m not suggesting only teachers, I’m suggesting that anyone involved in schools, involved in the practicalities of teaching and learning, who are concerned – again, this could be members of middle tier organisations, academics, educators from a variety of educational settings. It’s not really about the individual, it’s about the work that’s submitted.

GB: Thanks for clarifying that. Thanks for listening. If there’s anything else you’d like to ask, please don’t hesitate to contact us using the form on the website. All articles are published Open Access, in English and Welsh. There is no fees to pay to submit them, and there is no deadline. We’ll be publishing practitioner articles throughout the year. This also means, as Kevin implied just now, it’s free to download. Anybody in the world can download your work, so you get published with a DOI, which we’re happy to explain more about, if anybody wants to know later on. It’s freely available for anybody in the world to download and cite in their own work. Thanks to Kevin for joining me today.

KS: Diolch, Gary. Thank you.

GB: Croeso. To listen to all episodes of the Wales Journal of Education podcast, you can subscribe in your podcast app or listen on our website. Thanks again for listening.