Dr Timothy Scott
Research Principal
Dr Timothy Scott
Tim has held various leadership roles in schools in Australia and abroad for the past 24 years, alongside teaching history and modern languages. He is currently Research Principal at the Barker Institute, the school-based educational research centre at Barker College, a Pre-K to Year 12 coeducational, boarding school in Sydney, Australia. His research interests include intercultural and interlingual learning and teaching, refugee education, and the role of student voice in improving educational practice. Tim believes embedding research informed practice has become increasingly important and is the mark of contemporary schools, empowering their teachers as experts and enabling their learners to thrive. He is one of the lead researchers for the Barker Institute’s ongoing, decade-long longitudinal study, the Barker Journey. Concurrently with his educational research responsibilities, Tim teaches History and Global Studies at Barker. Tim’s PhD investigated socio-political influences on contemporary German conceptions of history and archaeology.
Explore Resources by Dr Timothy Scott
The Barker Junior School Journey: Report on Year 3-6 from 2019-2022
The Barker Journey longitudinal study has now completed its fourth year. The subjects of the study are a group of students who celebrated the conclusion of their primary schooling in 2022. The significance of this milestone was underlined by the current Barker Journey cohort also being the first fully coeducational …
The Barker Journey – Year 7, 2023 Nurturing Learning Relationships
This paper presents the results of the fifth year of the Barker Journey project, tracking a group of students on their ten-year educational journey culminating with Year 12 in 2028. Now in Year 7, some of these students first participated in this research in Year 3 as the first coeducational …
The Barker Journey - Year 6 2022 - Community and Belonging
This paper reports on the fourth year of following the Barker Junior School Journey of the cohort of Barker students graduating Year 12 in 2028. In Term 3 of 2022, 150 Year 6 students of Barker College completed a survey, and semi-structured interviews were conducted with 29 of these students. …
The untended garden: Reflections on designing and implementing a teaching and learning framework within a coeducational, international school context
The focus of this paper is to reflect on the development of a quality teaching and learning framework within a coeducational, international school context. Using an international school based in Germany, and its partnerships with other German national schools, this paper will posit that for the successful development of a …
The Barker Journey - Year 5 2021: The experiences of 'digital natives' in a digital classroom
This paper reports on the third year of interviews with the cohort of Barker College students graduating Year 12 in 2028. 28 Year 5 students participated in online interviews from their homes during a 14-week period of at-home learning required through government management of the COVID-19 pandemic. Specific findings relevant …
My two blankets: Considering the importance of using home languages in today’s classroom in support of student learning and wellbeing
This paper considers the importance of home languages in the classrooms of today and tomorrow. In an increasingly multilingual world, especially in a city with 43% of the population born overseas (Mackay 2018), it is not possible to assume that a student’s first language is English. Acknowledging the place of …
Towards a pedagogy for radical hope: Developing a whole school approach to refugee education
This monograph, a supplementary addition to the 2023 Barker Institute Journal Learning in Practice, is presents a literature-informed, whole-school approach to refugee education.
The Barker Journey - Year 8, 2024 Looking to Flourish in an Evolving Educational Landscape
This study, part six of the ongoing Barker Journey longitudinal project, explores the perspectives of the Barker Journey cohort, now in Year 8, on their learning environment, values, and evolving educational experiences. Findings reveal that (1) students see kindness, respect, and inclusivity as foundational values shaping their identity and fostering …
Pedagogical Translanguaging in Refugee Education: Bridging Cultures, Languages and Learning
This article explores the transformative potential of pedagogical translanguaging in refugee education, focusing on its ability to address the potential academic, social, and emotional challenges faced by students of refugee experience. Pedagogical translanguaging is a process that employs students’ entire linguistic repertoires, validating their identities, bridging language gaps, and fostering …
The Transformative Power of Teacher-Researchers in Education
My colleague and I are currently preparing to head overseas for several weeks to present at a conference, visit schools, and continue our work in school-based educational research. As a result, I’m finding myself contemplating how, in an increasingly interconnected world, education must navigate complexity, addressing challenges that extend beyond …
Reflections from an editor
One of the greatest joys of close-to-practice educational research work is being able to collaborate with, and celebrate the extraordinary talents and capabilities of, colleagues.
Term 3... and that’s a wrap!
(Or four highlights from a very active term)
The Barker Journey - Year 8, 2024: What to expect?
One of the features of the annual Learning in Practice journal for the past six years has been the article providing an update on the Barker Journey, our ongoing, decade-long longitudinal study about student perspectives on learning, teaching, and schooling.
For the Love of Research
School is out. Classrooms are empty. Students are now on holidays. For educators, this pause in the school year offers more than just a break—it is a chance to reconnect with the deeper currents of thought that sometimes get lost in the relentless pace of the term.
On “In-Between” Conversations
After three weeks abroad—attending and presenting at the ECIS Leadership Conference in Stuttgart, visiting a German international school, and spending time as a Visiting Scholar at Leysin American School in Switzerland—I find myself reflecting not just on the scheduled events that constituted this busy itinerary but on the spaces between …
What is school-based educational research?
The first blog post of 2025 "goes back to basics". It tackles a phrase that is very much at the centre of what we do: school-based educational research. What is it? School-based research places the voices of students, teachers, and school communities at the heart of academic inquiry. More importantly, …
Quietly Radical: The Power of Disciplinary Difference in Educational Research
Exploring the unexpected synergy of two disciplines in the pursuit of deeper educational insight.
What Is Translanguaging, and Why Does It Matter?
Translanguaging is more than just using multiple languages in education; it’s a dynamic way of engaging learners’ full linguistic repertoires. This post explores the concept and its transformative potential in classrooms, particularly through the lens of ongoing research at the Barker Institute and its application at Marri Mittigar, Barker’s special …
Behind the Scenes of Learning in Practice: Celebrating Excellence Through Collaboration
In a post late last year, I shared that one of the best things I get to do in my role at the Barker Institute is to work with others in research. It is a privilege and a joy to work alongside with educational leaders, policy makers, or practitioners to …
Learning and Belonging: Lessons from Teaching History at Marri Mittigar
Over the past year I have had the privilege of teaching History at Marri Mittigar, Barker’s school-within-a-school for students from a refugee background. This experience has been one of the most rewarding of my career, offering profound lessons not only about History as a subject but also about the role …