In this assignment you will focus on both designing and critically evaluating a dissemination strategy for a study examining the educational experiences of ‘looked after’ young people. The qualitative research used participatory methods to explore the challenges faced by the young people and the barriers that inhibited their sense of belonging within their schooling.

You are provided with a reference to an external source reporting this research: Jones et al. (2020) and you need to use this article which you can locate and access using the search skills you developed in TMA 03. Use the OU Library search facility to first find the journal title, then use the information in the reference to navigate to the correct volume and issue to locate the article. Once you have located the article, download a copy to your own computer and read it.

The TMA task asks you to design and critically evaluate an appropriate dissemination strategy for the research project by Jones et al. (2020). As you read the article, make a note of aspects of the research and research findings you consider should be disseminated to the research community and also to others who might be interested in this research study. You should pay particular attention to dissemination strategies for the young people who took part in the research and how you might present the data to them in an informative, useful and ethical way. As you read, note other factors that you think may be of interest or relevance, for example, you may wish to read the research findings and recommendations in some detail and consider whether these are specific to the location, or the age group, where and with whom the research was undertaken or whether they might have relevance elsewhere. Ask yourself:

Why does research matter?
Who are the audiences for the research? (Be clear the research can be important and relevant in all kinds of different ways to a range of different audiences.)
Who would be interested in the research findings and how they might be made aware of them? Here it is important to consider the role of the young people who took part in the research and how (or if) the findings should be disseminated to them.
You should also keep in mind the ethics of dissemination. If you are disseminating widely, how will you ensure anonymity? If you are disseminating to a small part , how would you ensure confidentiality?
Before starting your TMA, you are advised to review your notes from Section 2 of Unit 22. Take time to consider who the potential audiences are for this study, which findings are relevant to which audience(s) and how might each audience be reached.