Back to Strengthening the Impact of Education Research
Research evidence in education serves as a compass, guiding decisions on educational progress, equity and resource optimisation. But what can we do at the system-level, in order to effectively harness evidence?
In this Q&A webinar we discussed crucial system-level elements, including resources, incentives, structures and processes, that can help foster a culture of research engagement in education policy and practice. We discovered real-world examples and insights from our international experts on strategic implementation of systemic enablers, navigating challenges and the influential role played by leaders. We also heard how communication between education research, policy and practice was like “dancing the tango” and saw data from our latest Spotlight on Systemic Enablers for a Culture of Research Engagement in Education.
Speakers included:
Presentation of Engaging with education research by Jordan Hill, OECD Analyst in the Strengthening the Impact of Education Research project.
This webinar was moderated by Tal Malkin, Strengthening the Impact of Education Research project, OECD. Almost 500 people attended on Zoom from over 80 countries, which made for a very lively discussion.
A learning seminar was held in Oslo, 11-12 October 2023, and was hosted by the Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research. Norway is interested in understanding how public committees, and other routes of research to policy commonly used in other systems, can play a role in developing a systematic and quality use of research in policy making.
The seminar brought together over 40 participants from six countries: Norway, Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium (Flanders) and the United Kingdom (England), most of them working in ministries of education, some in related agencies. This seminar centred on evidence use in policy and explored how we can design and conduct effective policy-research partnerships, with a special focus on public committees, but including also expert groups and other forms of policy-research collaboration. A Norwegian panel discussed evidence use in Norwegian public committees with panellists detailing their views and experience of the research-policy nexus.
Peer countries shared different models and formats of policy-research collaboration in their systems. The seminar also featured an interactive group activity, where participants were tasked with designing a hypothetical policy-research structure (public committee, expert group or other) for a specific policy need.
Agenda and Background document
Despite enormous effort and investment across OECD countries to reinforce the quality, production and use of education research, many countries and education systems struggle to use research systematically and at scale. Thoughtfully engaging with research evidence in policy making and teaching is fundamental for improving the learning experiences and outcomes of students. But developing a culture of research engagement at the system, organisational and individual levels remains a huge challenge.
In this webinar, the experts were invited to discuss what a culture of research engagement should look like in education, unpack the skills, resources and attitudes that are required to support it and explore the role that relationships play in all of this.
Speakers:
There were 467 people attending on Zoom from over 40 countries, with the largest numbers of attendees from India, the UK and the USA.
Presentation - An evidence informed education, by Melissa Mouthaan, OECD Analyst in the Strengthening the Impact of Education Research project.
Two meetings with countries and key stakeholders were held to share practices of knowledge intermediaries facilitating the use of research in policy and practice in different countries and contexts. The meetings also served to discuss how the impact of knowledge intermediaries could be maximised. Examples of knowledge intermediary activities from the Netherlands, Chile, England, Norway, Australia, Cameroon, Spain, Switzerland and Germany were presented and discussed.
Agenda and Presentations (7 March 2023), Agenda and Presentations (9 March 2023)
The meeting brought together nine leading experts from the research, practitioner and policy making communities. It sought to discuss the main questions concerning educational research production, and thereby guide the future course of the project's work on the topic. The starting point for discussion was a chapter of the report Who Cares about Using Education Research in Policy and Practice? that offered a diverse set of opinion pieces. The authors of the chapter representing perspectives from the educational policy and practice and a diverse range of countries were invited to:
Agenda and Background document
A learning seminar was held in Brussels, 11-13 October 2022, and was hosted by the Flemish Department of Education and Training (DoET). Belgium (Flanders) had expressed interest in organising a learning seminar to address their challenges in using education research well in policy making.
The seminar brought together around 25 people from five countries, most of them working in ministries of education, some in related agencies. To develop a better understanding of the situation of using evidence in policy making in Flanders, the DoET presented the evidence use journey in the process of introducing standardised tests in Flanders. A Flemish stakeholder panel gave further insights into the challenges of using research in policy.
Peer countries also shared different practices around building a culture and capacity for research use in education policy in the different national contexts. In addition, the seminar also featured input from cutting-edge research and offered a simulation exercise in which participants tested a method for collective evidence appraisal used in the health sector.
Agenda and Background document
This meeting brought together eight leading experts from the research and policy making communities to identify the strengths and possible shortcomings of knowledge mobilisation conceptualisations, reflect on the application of these models for improving the research ecosystem in education, and map new directions towards developing a model – or rather a tool – for intermediaries, policy makers and practitioners.
The public webinar presented some insights from the Who Cares about Using Education Research in Policy and Practice? report and offered a discussion with a diverse panel of experts on education policy and research. The report tackles a common challenge among the OECD countries - using education research in policy and practice systematically and at scale. Lou Aisenberg, Jason McGrath and Rafael Carrasco were invited to answer questions from the audience's and discuss the following:
In total, around 250 participants from more than 50 countries joined the webinar.
A learning seminar was held in the Hague, 2-3 June 2022, and was hosted by the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science. The Netherlands had expressed interest in organising a learning seminar to address their challenges in using education research well in policy making.
The seminar brought together around 30 people from five countries, most of them working in ministries of education, some in related agencies. To develop a better understanding of the situation of using evidence in policy making in the Netherlands, the ministry presented the example of the Dutch curriculum revision process and discussed the use of knowledge in this process. This was followed by a Dutch stakeholder panel that gave further insights into the challenges of using research in policy. Other participating countries also presented practices around research use in education policy making. The seminar followed a design-thinking approach and offered ample opportunities for participants to engage in critical reflections and explore ways in which evidence use can be improved in policy making.
Agenda and Background document
Two webinars were held for CERI member counties to present preliminary results from the policy survey conducted over the summer of 2021. Each session had around 30 attendees and the agenda included presentations from the OECD project team and from invited experts. Country practices on knowledge brokerage as well as programming and funding of education research were also presented from Finland, Hungary, New Zealand and Sweden. Countries gave valuable feedback and input on both the survey analysis and strategic direction of the project.
Agenda (February 22), Agenda (February 23) and Background document
This meeting gathered around 20 leading experts in the field of knowledge mobilisation. It aimed to inform the project’s analytical framework and discuss issues around the production of education research and its use in policy and practice. Participants discussed and provided feedback on the initial results of the policy survey and identified relevant areas and research questions for the project. The meeting included a panel with Gábor Halász, Annette Boaz and Vivian Tseng, and two presentations by David Gough and Linda Sonntag.
The Strengthening the Impact of Education Research project held its first country webinar on 27th and 29th April 2021. The webinar brought together around 40 participants representing 20 countries. The objective of the meeting was to identify key policy issues related to the use of research in policy and practice, and discuss how these could be addressed in view of countries’ and systems’ priorities. The two invited experts – Annette Boaz (United Kingdom) and Mark Rickinson (Australia) – gave insights into their perspectives on what harnessing the use of research involves and implies. Country representatives discussed their specific challenges and perspectives, and a number of themes were outlined for the project.
Agenda (27 April), Agenda (29 April) and Background document
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