Using research evidence to improve practice

Facilitating Research-Informed Educational Practice for Inclusion. Survey Findings From 147 Teachers and School Leaders in England

“…We can also pick out several patterns in the classification of respondents based on their perceptions about the costs of research-use. First, if educators have the needed support of their colleagues, they are more likely to use research, a finding that coheres with the literature (e.g., Coldwell et al, 2017;Walker et al, 2018;Rickinson et al, 2020; -also see Table 1). However, when such collegial support is not available, respondents engaging in research-use tended to be those who either (a) believed they personally possessed the expertise required to connect research and practice; or (b) were confident in their understanding of research methods and quality: both human rather than social capital factors.…”

“…Teachers' beliefs as to whether research can have a positive impact on their practice (Joram et al, 2020;Brown and Malin, 2022) Teachers knowing where to find relevant research that may help to inform teaching practice (Walker et al, 2018) Perceptions regarding whether academic researchers are expert authorities in relation to education (Joram et al, 2020) Perceptions as to whether research provides more authority or credibility (or not) than teachers' own opinion (Joram et al, 2020) Teachers knowing who to go to in their school for support on accessing or using research evidence (Coldwell et al, 2017;Walker et al, 2018;Rickinson et al, 2020) Whether there is an expectation in schools that teachers should engage with research to improve practice (Brown and Flood, 2019;Joram et al, 2020).…”

“…Similarly, the incentives or motivational structures for teachers to use research (Cain, 2015) Teachers' beliefs as to whether research from other settings can apply to their students (Cain, 2015;Walker et al, 2019;Joram et al, 2020;Rickinson et al, 2020;Brown and Malin, 2022) Schools not making time available for staff to use a variety of information sources (Walker et al, 2018;Rickinson et al, 2020) The notion that research-use is the 'hallmark' of an effective profession (Wyse and Torgeson, 2017) Teachers' beliefs as to whether research can provide certainty and concrete solutions (Biesta, 2007 Whether teachers support the implementation of school-wide policy change without research to support it (Brown, 2017) Teachers' beliefs as to whether research can inspire new ideas for how to improve practice (Coldwell et al, 2017;Walker et al, 2019;Rickinson et al, 2020) Teachers knowing how to access published peer reviewed articles (Royal Society for the Encouragement of the Arts, Manufacturing and Commerce (RSA), 2014; Joram et al, 2020;Rickinson et al, 2020).…”

“…School leaders treating research engagement as a priority (Brown and Flood, 2019) Whether teachers have found information from research-evidence, useful in applying new approaches in the classroom (Brown, 2017;Walker et al, 2019) Teachers being physically able to access published peer reviewed articles (for example whether they can log in to research databases) (Joram et al, 2020) Whether research is perceived as valuable as professional expertise (Brown and Rogers, 2015;Cain, 2015;Wyse and Torgeson, 2017;Gu et al, 2019) If teachers believe that research-use can lead to improved teaching practice (Brown, 2017;Rickinson et al, 2020) Teachers feel confident to judge the quality of research articles (Brown, 2017;Joram et al, 2020;Rickinson et al, 2020) Teachers believing they would be more likely to engage with research findings if they are presented to them by their school leader If teachers believe that research-use can lead to improved student outcomes (Brown, 2017;Rose et al, 2017;Mintrop and Zumpe, 2019) Whether teachers are likely to try new approaches to teaching and learning in situations of high stakes accountability (Brown, 2017;Joram et al, 2020) Teachers believing they would be more likely to engage with research findings if they are presented to them by a trusted colleague .…”

“…Teachers believing they would be more likely to use research if their school leader wants them to Perceptions as to whether research-use can expand, deepen and clarify teachers' own concepts (Brown and Flood, 2018;Rickinson et al, 2020) Whether teachers believe it is difficult to know how to directly apply the findings of academic research to their practice (Brown and Rogers, 2015;Hubers, 2016;Morton and Seditas, 2016) Whether research-use is associated by teachers with performativity, accountability and managerialism (Brown, 2017) Perceptions as to whether there is quality/relevant evidence produced by researchers for teachers (Gorard et al, 2019). Likewise, that the perspectives underpinning the research are relevant to the users of the research (Gough, 2021) Teachers being able to access research through websites such as the Education Endowment Foundation's Toolkit; the What Works Clearing House and trough organizations such as the Chartered College of Teaching (Cain, 2015;Brown, 2018) Perception that the best school systems in the world are research-engaged (Brown, 2017).…”