EVIDENCE, POLICY AND PRACTICE Based on observations from 3 EC/EUN projects: THINK AGAIN, ERNIST & P2P David Wood

2 Evidence-based policy and Policy-based evidence Attacks on the quality of educational research Non-cumulative and doctrinaire Failure to replicate Failure to scale-up to a systemic level Lack of evidence for generalisation No evidence for sustainability

3 Some policy reactions Greater ‘stakeholder’ participation in setting the research agenda and evaluating the outcomes Prescribed ‘gold standard’ to govern allocation of research funding Capacity building in quantitative methods Criteria for meta-analysis and review to identify ‘safe evidence’

4 Researching the impacts of ICT Views on the existing evidence base Curriculum aspirations and objectives Systems of assessment and accreditation Human resource development Organisational climate

5 Multiple constraint alignment A pre-condition for scaling up and for sustainability? If so, effective R and D demands systemic support to guarantee generalisation – not just the ‘application’ of ‘safe knowledge’ Stakeholders as partners in collaborative R and D (versus ‘users’ who act as ‘consumers’ of safe knowledge)

6 R&D and D&R The notion of development-led research Conditions for innovation and development Possible strategies? P2P Learning about learning

7 Designing a new balance sheet? If ICT becomes mission critical, its impacts likely to be systemic - not restricted to outcomes from learners and learning Innovation, change and impact will depend on the alignment of many constraints Any added value could be multi-dimensional Look for models? Economist and IBM?

8 Partners in the process Partners in case studies –Denmark –France –Hungary –Iceland –Netherlands –Portugal –Sweden –Switzerland –UK