Evidence-based Practice in Education

"Where does hunch end and evidence begin? Too much is written and said about school improvement - about improvements in teaching and learning - with far too little attention to this question. This book provides vivid discussion from distinguished protagonists and antagonists about what gets called 'evidence-based practice'. Reading it, all involved in education - policymakers and practitioners alike - can proceed more confidently."- Professor Tim Brighouse, London Schools CommissionerThe movement to evidence-based practice in education is as important as it is controversial, and this book explores the arguments of leading advocates and critics. The book begins with an explication of evidence-based practice. Some of the ideas of its proponents are discussed, including the Campbell Collaboration, and the application to education of Cochrane-style reviews and meta-analyses. The thinking behind evidence based practice has been the subject of much criticism, particularly in education, and this criticism is aired in the second part of the book. Questions have been raised about what we mean by evidence, about how particular kinds of evidence may be privileged over other kinds of evidence, about the transferability of research findings to practice, and about the consequences of a move to evidence-based practice for governance in education. Given that the origins of the interest in evidence-based practice come largely from its use in medicine, questions arise about the validity of the transposition, and contributors to the third part of the book address this transposition. The issues raised in the book, while primarily those raised by educators, are of relevance also to professionals in medicine, social work and psychology.

Table of Contents:
CONTENTSChapter 1. Introduction: evidence and practice. Gary Thomas Part 1. What is evidence-based practice? Chapter 2. Systematic reviews and the Campbell Collaboration. Philip Davies Chapter 3. Developing evidence-informed policy and practice. Judy Sebba Chapter 4. Systematic research synthesis. David Gough Part 2. Evidence-based practice in practice Section a: in education Chapter 5. Between Scylla and Charybdis: the experience of undertaking a systematic review in Education. Richard Andrews Chapter 6. Teachers using evidence: using what we know about teaching and learning to reconceptualise evidence-based practice. Philippa Cordingley Section b: in medicine and allied fields Chapter 7. Practice-Based Evidence. Michael Eraut Chapter 8. Reflections from medical practice. Balancing evidence-based practice with practice-based evidence. Ed Peile Section c: problems in practice Chapter 9. Educational research, philosophical orthodoxy, and unfulfilled promises: the quandary of traditional research in U.S. special education. Deborah J. Gallagher Part 3. Questions Chapter 10. Some questions about evidence-based practice in education. Martyn Hammersley Chapter 11. The relationship between research, policy and practice. Phil Hodkinson, and John K. Smith Chapter 12. Evidence-based practice, action research, and the professional development of teachers. John Elliott Chapter 13. Using action research to generate knowledge about educational practice. Harry Torrance Chapter 14. Conclusion: Evidence-based Policy and Practice. Richard Pring References

About the Author :
Gary Thomas took up the post of chair in education at Birmingham in 2005. Before university teaching, he worked as a teacher and as an educational psychologist. In higher education – at the University of Leeds, at Oxford Brookes University, UWE and University College London – his teaching and research have focused on inclusion, special education, and research methodology in education. He has received awards from the ESRC, the Nuffield Foundation, the Leverhulme Trust, the DfES, Barnardos, the Cadmean Trust, local authorities and a range of other organisations. Most of his funded research has been on inclusive or special education, though his Leverhulme Research Fellowship was awarded to examine the role of theory in education. He currently leads an ESRC thematic seminar competition in the Teaching and Learning Research Programme on the assessment of quality in educational research. He is the founding co-editor of a Taylor & Francis Carfax journal, the International Journal of Research and Method in Education and he is an editorial board member of the British Educational Research Journal.