Should government have a role in choreographing an evidence system in education?

Submitted by Veronika Lancova on Wed, 23/07/2014 - 10:05am

Central government has a vital role to play in ensuring that the education system makes full use of rigorous and robust research evidence wherever possible.

This was the unavoidable conclusion at an event in June – organised by DfE with CEBE, as part of the 2014 CEBE series – to scrutinise the role of government in the evidence ecosystem. Strong support from other sectors was given by Jonathan Shepherd, Professor of Maxillofacial surgery at Cardiff University and Rachel Tuffin, Head of Research at the College of Policing.

Discussion groups emphasised the need for a College of Teaching controlled by the professions themselves and a one-stop evidence centre to which people could turn for an authoritative account of the evidence base.

A panel of speakers, chaired by Jonathan Sharples of the Institute for Effective Education (IEE), suggested specific roles for government including:

  • identifying gaps in the system;

  • setting research engagement as part of professional standards;

  • encouraging CPD programmes with significant research content;

  • linking research council agendas with the needs of the service; and

  • ensuring that attention is given to practical questions posed by schools.

 

Please see the full report here: Should government have a role in choreographing an evidence system in education?