New report by Carol Campbell and Ben Levin on using research to inform practice

The urgent need to build strong connections between school teachers and researchers was a much debated theme at threeEducation Endowment Foundation events last autumn. The events have been supported by a discussion paper, Developing Knowledge Mobilisation to Challenge Educational Disadvantage and Inform Effective Practices in England, by Professors Carol Campbell and Ben Levin of the University of Toronto. “We have learned over several decades that research findings do not automatically inform or shape policy or practice,” they say, “and that without specific efforts to strengthen the connections between schools and researchers, even the most powerful evidence will have only limited effect.”

The purpose of the paper was to outline an approach to strengthen the mobilisation of knowledge in education in England, in order to ensure that such research findings lead to improved practices and outcomes. The paper describes the features of an education system designed to use research in practice, summarises current barriers to doing so, and concludes with suggestions for improvement.