Leading Research Engagement In Education

On April 4th 2017, the Coalition for Evidence Based Education (CEBE) launched its newest publication, Leading Research Engagement in Education, at UCL’s Institute of Education.

Making good use of research has the potential to improve education provision. Teachers are increasingly expected to use research to improve their practice but there is little guidance available on the process by which a school can become research-engaged.

This publication aims to help educators who want to make more effective use of research evidence and to establish conditions in their organization where research engagement can flourish. It is relevant for teachers, coordinators, support staff and other educational leaders. It offers guidance on the process of engaging with research evidence and signposts resources available to help. Case study examples from schools and colleges are given at the end of the report.

Comments about the guide:

This is a lucid and helpful guide for schools to get to grips with using evidence to support their practice. It gives a handy overview of the language and the issues relating to being engaged meaningfully with research evidence, with excellent case studies to make the abstract concrete.

Alex Quigley, Director of Research, Huntington School

The campaign for teaching to become a much more evidence-based profession has to be right. However, there is a real danger that we only emphasise producing and discussing the research. Important though that may be, it will have no impact unless teachers understand how to transfer the knowledge into the daily practice of the school. This booklet addresses that issue. Led by Cebe, one of the foremost champions of evidence-informed teaching, it brings together the wisdom and experience of some of our leading teachers and researchers. It is exactly what is needed as we take forward this agenda.

Baroness Estelle Morris of Yardley, former Secretary of State for Education

A user friendly guide with illustrative case studies to support schools interested in developing their use of and engagement with research.

Lia Commissar, Programme Manager, Education and Neuroscience, Wellcome Trust

Accessing the guide

This guide and an accompanying set of case study examples and links to helpful resources can be downloaded free of charge from the CEBE website.

This guide has been developed by the CEBE research engagement group as part of a collaborative project initiated by CEBE in 2016. The principal authors of Leading research engagement in education are:

  • Caroline Creaby, Sandringham School
  • Ruth Dann, UCL Institute of Education
  • Andrew Morris, Formerly of City & Islington College
  • Katy Theobald, Ambition School Leadership
  • Ben White, Ashford Teaching Alliance
  • Matt Walker, National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER)

The team of authors are seeking responses to this publication from the education sector. Specifically, people should get in touch if they can:

  • offer case study examples of research engaged practice,
  • suggest links to useful tools and resources,
  • send us comments on the report,
  • share how they use the report in real time.

The launch event was hosted by Dr Chris Brown at the UCL Centre for Knowledge Exchange and Impact in Education. The publication was formatted by the SSAT and printed by the NFER.