You have been invited to download the Play Research App and take part in the research project entitled “The value of understanding authentic autistic play for successful inclusion of autistic pupils within a play-based curriculum in Scottish schools”
All teachers in Scotland are eligible to participate in the first stage of the app, and are encouraged to take part to gather a substantial number of teacher views.
Once you’ve downloaded the app you will be prompted to sign up to the app using Supabase authentication. Immediately prior to signing up you will get a copy of the participant information sheet on screen within the app and once you have signed the consent you will be able to sign up using your email address and password of your choosing, and begin immediately by logging into the app with these details. Everyone who logs in will be automatically assigned a secret ID, so from the very first login your information is completely anonymised and all the data that you provide is confidential.
When the app is opened for the first time the only section available is the button for the video survey so all participants who download the app and who meet the criteria within the participant information sheet will have to agree to complete the video survey. The survey contains 82 short clips of children at play. Each clip is a few seconds long and each screen has a five-point Likert scale and should be responded to honestly based on the extent of how much you agree or disagree that you would welcome that example of play within your class. This should take ten to fifteen minutes. It does not have to be in one go, and if you leave and come back you can start back where you left off. Once all the videos have been viewed and all the responses have been given you will be led to a next stage response page where the criteria for the next section will be detailed and you will be asked whether or not you meet this criteria.
The criteria for the next stage is that you have at least one autistic child in your class. If you do not meet this criteria you will be asked to exit the app via a feedback screen where there will be five stars for rating the app and a line for text comments regarding your experiences with the app and once you have submitted that feedback you can exit the app - you can log out and the app can be deleted from now on. If you choose not to delete the app, you can still log on but you will be unable to proceed further than that one ‘next stage response’ screen.
If you do meet the criteria for the next stage you have two options. The first option is that you can exit at this point and have no further involvement with the research or you can choose to move on to the next stage which is the professional learning stage. If you choose to exit the app the same thing will happen - you will go to a feedback screen with the five star rating and the text comment and the exit the screen. If you choose to move on to the next stage, once you have clicked confirm the next module will be released and the button will become available on the main screen of the app.
Each of the professional learning stages are contingent on the previous stage being completed and only one stage is released at a time. The professional learning zone has five modules and only the first of which is available to begin with. Each module has one training page which will contain either one or two training videos, depending on the module content. Once you have watched the video(s) you can move onto the next screen which is a short quiz that asks a question relevant to the video(s) that you have just watched. The multiple-choice responses must be correct in order for you to move onto the next section. This is not for the purposes of formal assessment; it is for the purposes of ensuring you have watched and understood the videos in order to progress to the next section, which builds on this content. Once you have completed the quiz question there is a section for critical reflection where you are encouraged to use Sharatt's “5 critical questions”. Once you have completed this you can go back to the professional learning zone, the next stage / module will have been released and you can repeat the process until all five modules are finished.
Once all the modules have been completed, you will be informed that you have completed the module and that you can move onto the next stage. You will also be informed that there is further information on the website where there is a private webpage that provides signposting to other courses and useful / recommended resources and also a handful of downloadable documents that could help further your learning in this area.
Once all the modules are completed the training videos will be reopened so you can refer back to the videos at any time during your critical reflection stage. You will be asked to upload a critical reflection into your diary uploads which will be stored in a unique folder for every participant on Supabase. This is an important part of your own professional learning, and needs to be self-directed, but it is requested that you submit at least once per week for the term of your engagement with the project. For consistency, the diary uploads must be either screenshots of work done on your devices or photographs taken of written work that will be uploaded as image files onto Supabase for data analysis. You will be unable to upload doc, docx, txt or pdf files. There won't be a limit on how many times you can do it over the course of a week, just a minimum of once a week.
At the end of the school term, in order to finalise the professional learning programme and receive your reward*, you will be invited to participate in a semi-structured interview via Zoom. You will no longer be required to upload your diary uploads from that point but the app will remain open to you for three months following completion of the programme and then the app will be removed from circulation. If you choose not to participate in the semi-structured interview you will be thanked for your time and there will be no further communication unless you request it. If you agree to a semi-structured interview at that point you will be invited to a Zoom interview and it will be up to you whether or not you choose to use your own names and personal identification during the Zoom call but it is highly recommended that you sign on to Zoom using your secret ID. Your secret ID will be accessible to you and you only, by clicking on the button on the main screen. This will be used not only for the purposes of the semi-structured interview but also data protection.
*Rewards are provided in conjunction with Twinkl
If you wish to make a subject access request or any other GDPR procedure during the process you'll need to provide your secret ID in order for your data to be accessed. Participants are reminded that if you request that your data be deleted, it will be your personal information and your storage bucket contents that will be deleted, but your video survey responses will still be included within the research - this will not be deleted.
Following the completion of all parts of the research, you will be invited to join a mailing list where you can be appraised with the outcome of the research once it is finished, and you can also follow the progress of the research on Instagram at @autistic_phd.
There is an expectation at all times that GTCS registered teachers will abide by the code of professionalism and conduct, including “treat[ing] sensitive, personal information about pupils with respect and confidentiality and not disclose it unless required to do so by your employer or by law” and “exercise[ing] great care when expressing opinions in public about your employer and be[ing] mindful of data protection act requirements concerning handling information about parents, carers and pupils” as a baseline for confidentiality and anonymity (GTCS CoPAC).