Using research to promote equity within education systems: Possibilities and barriers

Abstract

This article provides an evaluative account of its authors’ involvement in three major national improvement initiatives. Set in the context of three of the countries that make up the UK, these developments were focused in particular on the promotion of educational equity. Unusually, the analysis provided compares evidence collected from an insider perspective with data generated through independent evaluations. In so doing, it considers how research and researchers can contribute to system change by using research evidence to influence policy‐makers and practitioners at all levels of the system. The article argues that this requires the coming together of different perspectives in a process of social learning and knowledge creation within particular settings. This means that researchers have to overcome a number of barriers related to social, cultural and political factors. They therefore have to develop skills in creating collaborative partnerships that span boundaries between actors who have different types of professional experience. It is argued that researchers also need to mobilise support in dealing with the pressures that this involves. The article concludes with the presentation of a strategic framework that can be used to think about how school systems can be helped to make better use of research knowledge.

School‐to‐school collaboration in England: A configurative review of the empirical evidence

“…More broadly, Chapman and Ainscow (2019), drawing on their experiences of using research to change education systems, including the role that collaboration plays in this process, identify three factors that can hinder organisational partnership activity (including collaboration between schools). These are social factors (including pre‐existing relationships between partners that encourage mutual support), political factors (attitudes and priorities of key partners) and cultural factors (local traditions and expectations of partners as to what is possible).…”

Content and language integrated learning in Latin America 2008-2018: Ten years of research and practice

“…We believe that our review is an example of Chapman and Ainscow's (2019) call for research that promotes equity, social learning, and local knowledge creation within specific settings. Through this review, it may be concluded that CLIL in Latin America has adopted a broader pedagogical perspective; nonetheless, we observed a tendency for CLIL research to be carried out through action research or mixed methods usually by teacher researchers focused on their own practices.…”

La participación del alumnado en la evaluación y la formación permanente del profesorado como herramienta de transparencia y mejora de la calidad educativa

“…Todas estas investigaciones parecen indicar que pertenecer a un grupo de FPP en el que se realice I-A refuerza la función investigadora del docente. Además, refuerza la reflexión crítica, las prácticas educativas transparentes, igualitarias y equitativas que fomenten la inclusión, así como favorece la mejora de la calidad del proceso de enseñanza-aprendizaje (López et al 2016); trabajar en grupo afianza el aprendizaje colaborativo que se produce entre docentes y permite superar el aislamiento profesional (Chapman & Ainscow, 2019;Walton & Sutherland, 2020).…”