Why evidence is important in education policy and practice

Evidence is critical in education. Topical new research findings related to child and adolescent development, learning processes, education inequities, and the outcomes of specific pedagogical and classroom approaches must be shared with teachers, leaders, and policymakers. Alongside these, stakeholders need contextual information about the quality and nature of that evidence: have findings been replicated with different learners and in different contexts? Are the interpretations drawn by the researchers valid reflections of the data, or are other interpretations possible? How robust are the phenomena?

Education is multidisciplinary and should draw on evidence from the multiple fields that inform ecologies of learning and teaching. Cognitive and psychological sciences are vital for understanding the psychological foundations of learning, for example, but do not inform our understanding of educational and social systems and their impact. Evidence-based practices must weave together insights from different fields in a way that is rigorous and robust.

Some evidence is widely replicated and universally applicable (e.g. matching pedagogy to so-called student “learning styles” does not work – and may in fact penalise learning), whereas other evidence may be relevant only in particular contexts (e.g. worked examples are effective in supporting problem solving in Maths, particularly for well-defined problems and novice learners, but are less relevant in English). Supporting teachers, leaders, and policymakers to know what phenomena are universal, or not, and why, is vital – as are discussions about what evidence relates to which aspects of development and learning.