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Although supporting and assessing the non-academic “impact” of research are not entirely new developments in higher education, academics and research institutions are under increasing pressure to produce work that has a measurable influence outside the academy. With a view to supporting the solution of complex societal issues with evidence and expertise, and against the background of increased emphasis on impact in the United Kingdom's 2021 Research Excellence Framework (REF2021) and a proliferation of impact guides and tools, this article offers a simple, easy to remember framework for designing impactful research. We call this framework “The 7Cs of Impact” – Context, Communities, Constituencies, Challenge, Channels, Communication and Capture.

Drawing on core elements of the Policy Institute at King's College London's Impact by Design training course and the authors' practical experience in supporting and delivering impact, this paper outlines how this framework can help address key aspects across the lifecycle of a research project and plan, from identifying the intended impact of research and writing it into grants and proposals, to engaging project stakeholders and assessing whether the project has had the desired impact.

While preparations for current and future REF submissions may benefit from using this framework, this paper sets out the “7Cs” with a more holistic view of impact in mind, seeking to aid researchers in identifying, capturing, and communicating how research projects can and do contribute to the improvement in society.

This paper aims to suggest a new way for structuring English teacher preparation within traditional university programs, challenging the age-old use of formal lesson plan reflections and introducing critical narratives as course texts to better understand pre-service teacher experiences. Through this reimagined English methods curriculum, the authors establish increased cohesion between practice and theory, facilitate the development of teacher reflective practice and establish methods for apprehending the emotional experience of pre-service educators.

This study of 18 pre-service English language arts students considers how teacher education programs could better emphasize socio-emotional elements of teaching by asking students to produce and engage with critical narratives that require more than just an appraisal of learning outcomes of direct instruction, but merge critical inquiry, ethical teaching considerations, self-reflection and perceptions of practice.

The findings indicate that when compared with traditional lesson plan reflections, critical narrative reflections of field experiences increase student focus on emotional aspects of teaching, provide a more nuanced lens into emotional experiences and establish a more complex conception of the teaching practice.

This curricular design challenges the prevailing ways that English pre-service educators are understood and taught through a reimagined understanding and application of narrative writing as course texts.

THE article which we publish from the pen of Mr. L. Stanley Jast is the first of many which we hope will come from his pen, now that he has release from regular library duties. Anything that Mr. Jast has to say is said with originality even if the subject is not original; his quality has always been to give an independent and novel twist to almost everything he touches. We think our readers will find this to be so when he touches the important question of “The Library and Leisure.”