The CHAT-based research project In Search for Significance: Fostering movement across the worlds of adolescents, led by Professor Emeritus Yrjö Engeström and funded by the Research Council of Finland, was awarded the 'Best Practice-Based Research Award' of the 2023 conference of EAPRIL (The European Association for Practitioner Research on Improving Learning) among the three high-quality research projects that made it to the finals. The other two candidates were from Sweden and the Netherlands.
The EAPRIL Best Practice-Based Research Award is handed out every year at the annual EAPRIL Conference since 2012. The Award wishes to acknowledge an outstanding and innovative project that deals with learning and development in the workplace and the field of education. Practice-based research which profoundly impacts the development of both theory and practice is particularly of interest.
EAPRIL was founded in 2009 to recognize and promote practice-based and practitioner research (PBPR) on learning in schools and workplaces. EAPRIL supports aresearch that significantly impacts learners and practitioners by bridging the worlds of practice, research, and policy.
This year, the three-day conference had 429 participants from all over Europe. A 'Best Practice-Based Research Award' session was organized at the conference, where the three research projects that passed the preliminary round gave a presentation to the conference audience. The evaluation included two phases. The criteria for the final selection were the abstract sent to the conference (50%) and the conference presentation (50%).
In addition to Engeström, the project's research team includes Pauliina Rantavuori, Piia Ruutu, and Maria Tapola-Haapala. At the conference, the project was presented by Pauliina Rantavuori (in picture). In connection with the conference the team prepared a blog post and a 1.5 minute video for EAPRIL's website, summarizing the key points of the research project.