Faculties of education and institutional strategies for knowledge mobilization: an exploratory study

Abstract

The goal to enhance the impacts of academic research in the 'real world' resonates with progressive visions of the role of universities in society, and finds support among policy makers who have sought to enhance the 'transfer', 'translation', 'uptake', or 'valorization' of research knowledge in several areas of public services. This paper reports on an exploratory study of the strategies used by selected Canadian and international faculties of education to mobilize research knowledge. Drawing on data from semistructured interviews with senior administrators of 13 faculties of education, the analysis reveals several themes. Academic leaders recognize knowledge mobilization as a desirable institutional mission, but they identify a number of barriers to greater efforts in this area. Although a number of strategies are employed, changes across multiple organizational dimensions to encourage and support knowledge mobilization were reported at only two institutions. These results are relevant to faculty administrators, scholars, and policymakers interested in understanding the role of academic institutions in the mobilization of research knowledge to the broader education community.

A Tool to Assess and Compare Knowledge Mobilization Efforts of Faculties of Education, Research Brokering Organizations, Ministries of Education, and School Districts

“…Given this reality, it is surprising that faculties of education still only score moderately on KMb efforts because research and its importance have perhaps been longer on their radar than on the radars of other kinds of organizations. It is difficult on most university websites even to ascertain what research is being done by whom (Sá et al, 2011), let alone what the implications of that research might be for sector stakeholders that might apply that knowledge.…”

Recognizing and Transforming Knowledge Mobilization in Colleges of Education

“…five factors each college addressed. All three colleges addressed at least three of the factors, in contrast to limited evidence about other North American colleges of education, suggesting that each participating college had established a relatively comprehensive KM agenda (Cooper 2016;Cooper et al, 2018;Levin, 2004;Sá, Li, & Faubert, 2011). Following best practices for internet surveys (Fan & Yan, 2010), 66 faculty from these three colleges of education responded to an online survey (Zuiker, Piepgrass, Tefera, & Fischman, 2018).…”

Research use capacity in provincial governments

“…Numerous studies have highlighted the advantages of using research to inform policy decisions (Nutley, Walter, and Davies ; Howlett ; Sá, Li, and Faubert ; Brown ). The movement around research‐informed policy‐making follows from an increased emphasis on the use of evidence to help guide public policy (Weiss ; Nutley, Walter, and Davies ; Stevens ; Sá, Kretz, and Sigurdson ).…”