Educational research and its impact on educational policy

1. PANEL
“EDUCATIONAL SCIENCE
AND POLICY-MAKING”
Dirk Van Damme
OECD/EDU/IMEP

2. • Today, educational policy making is more evidence-
informed than, say, ten years ago
• Quantity and quality of educational research still too
limited to turn education into a knowledge-driven
sector, comparable with for example health
• Don’t expect an automatic translation of research
evidence in policy and practice
– Research does not satisfy the entire knowledge needs
of educational systems and cannot do so
– Policy and practice require normative choices, which
can be informed by research evidence but not more
Summary statements
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3. • Supply of high-quality educational research is
growing
• Demand among policy-makers, education
systems and stakeholders for policies that are
evidence-informed is also increasing
• Many ministries improve their knowledge-
capacity with specific departments or institutions
• Role for knowledge brokerage institutions
Today, educational policy making is more
evidence-informed than, say, ten years ago
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4. • Yet, knowledge doesn’t seem to find its way
easily into policy development
– Evidence-informed policy is developing at a
slower pace than expected or needed
– Many researchers feel frustrated about the
knowledge demands of policy-makers and the
use of research evidence
– Research evidence is one of the several,
internally competing rationalities impacting on
policy development, not the only one.
Today, educational policy making is more
evidence-informed than, say, ten years ago
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5. Quantity and quality of educational research stills too
limited to turn education in a knowledge-driven sector,
comparable with for example health
1.2
7.6
0
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2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Education Health
Share of total public
research expenditures
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6. • Awareness needed of concerns and quality issues
observed by policy-makers, including criticisms such as:
– Rarely willing to step out of their comfort zone and to take
responsibility
– Using different concepts of ‘useful’ or ‘useable’ knowledge
than policy makers
– Issues about research quality in education
– Ideology in educational research
– Research leads only to very partial answers, but
researchers unwilling to offer generalizations
– Often more interested in their own interests (“more
research needed”) than with the public interest
Quantity and quality of educational research still too
limited to turn education in a knowledge-driven sector,
comparable with for example health
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7. • Education is a knowledge-driven sector,
Research does not and cannot satisfy the entire
knowledge needs of educational systems
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8. • Education is a knowledge-driven sector, but has
many more knowledge resources and systems
than research evidence:
– Professional knowledge “teachers know best”
– Teachers’ experiential knowledge “we’ve always
done it this way”
– ‘common sense’ and anecdotal knowledge
“everyone is an expert in education”
– Traditions, norms, values
– Ideologies, opinions
– Etc.
Research does not and cannot satisfy the entire
knowledge needs of educational systems
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9. • ‘Evidence-informed’ is more accurate than
‘evidence-based’
• A narrow concept of research knowledge falls
short in feeding reflexive governance
• Research community should understand and
value the many normative and value-intensive
choices that policy-makers are faced with
• Policy-makers should better understand the
logic, potential and limits of educational research
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Policy and practice require normative choices, which
can be informed by research evidence but not more

10. • Improving research communication, capacity-
building in policy community
• Closing the gap with more intermediate, ‘Mode
2’, applied forms of research and knowledge
mobilisation
• Acknowledging the reality of conflicting
rationalities, understanding the different
rationalities
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What to do?

11. Thank you !
dirk.vandamme@oecd.org
www.oecd.org/edu/ceri
twitter @VanDammeEDU
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