|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
courses | hecs/oldps
| higher education home | higher
education links The Impact of Educational Research
1. The Impact of Educational Research: An OverviewThis document reports five studies that take different perspectives on the impact of educational research in Australia. In 1998, the Department of Education, Training and Youth Affairs (DETYA) with the Australian Research Council (ARC) was keen to explore the impact of Australian educational research, in particular with respect to schools. Originally, the view was to commission one study, but the range and quality of the proposals was such that the Department decided to commission three studies: Mapping Educational Research and its Impact on Australian Schools, Backtracking Practices and Policies to Research, and Teacher Knowledge in Action. A fourth study, Education Research in Australia: A Bibliometric Analysis was also commissioned in conjunction with the study. A fifth report, The Relationships Between Research and Decision-Making in Education: An Empirical Investigation (Selby Smith, 1999) is included in this document with the permission of the Monash University/ACER Centre for the Economics of Education and Training. Each of the reports takes a different approach, so their publication together here offers the reader a study of the nature, breadth, quality, responsiveness, and influence of Australian educational research. This overview explains the background to the project, synthesises the key findings of each of the studies and examines their implications for policy and future research. 1.1 Background to the ProjectTwo previous reviews, Educational Research in Australia (Discipline Research Strategy), (1992) and Response by the Australian Research Council to Reviews of Grant Outcomes No. 24: Education 1989–1993, (1997) identified the strength of educational research as well as some areas for development. These reviews found that the representation of Australian research and researchers in the international arena attested to its vigour. Despite this vigour and the highly applied nature of much of the research, the reports also identified a tension between educators and researchers, which the authors attributed to different goals. The professional wants new solutions to operational matters while the researcher seeks new knowledge. This argument is crystallised in the claim in the 1992 review that ‘education administrators and practitioners perceive much of educational research to be irrelevant to their concerns’ (p.x). Two other issues relevant to this project were also raised: the poor coordination and thin spread of research activities, and the limited level of planning for the training of researchers and the dissemination of research. Against this background, the project brief was to explore the nature and value of the relationship between educational research and the teaching profession. The brief stipulated that the following issues be considered:
The five reports summarised below provide compelling evidence that Australian educational research is respected internationally and makes a difference in the worlds of schools, and policy development. The reports also provide some important insights into areas for future development, investigation and debate. 1.2 The ProjectWhat makes this project unique is that one of the studies provides a detailed overview of Australian educational research, combined with an examination of the attitudes and expectations of various stakeholder groups. By contrast, another two take a ‘user-centric’ approach. The bibliometric study adds the dimension of international research visibility. The Selby Smith report (1999) adds the policy formulation perspective in relation to vocational education and training (VET). The first study is a comprehensive charting of Australian educational research in Mapping Educational Research and its Impact on Australian Schools, uses a number of data sources, but predominantly the Australian Education Index (AEI) database. It provides a picture of all the published Australian educational research undertaken across the period 1992–1997. This quantitative analysis is enriched by an examination of the views of postgraduate students about research, as well as those of other key practitioner groups, such as principals, professional associations and policy makers. The first of the two studies from the perspective of the educator, Backtracking Practices and Policies to Research, appraises the influence of research on educators who are actively concerned with one of four current school issues. The second, Teacher Knowledge in Action, analyses teachers’ explanations of the decisions they made during a videoed lesson. Both groups of researchers map backwards from the practitioner through the network of influences to identify the impact of research on practice. Education Research in Australia: A Bibliometric Analysis assesses the international visibility of Australian educational research through the lists of citations and inclusions in journals found in the Institute of Scientific Information (ISI) database. 1.2.1 Mapping Educational Research and its Impact on Australian SchoolsResearch is one activity in a wide field of educational activity. It accounts for less than one per cent of the total personnel resources devoted to education and training in Australia. Of these resources, university-based research accounts for about 90 per cent. The work described below examines the relationship between university-based research and the activities related to school education. A team from the Australian Council for Educational Research, Newcastle University and Melbourne University (Holbrook, Ainley, Bourke, Owen, McKenzie, Misson, & Johnson) carried out a comprehensive mapping of the research done by academic staff and postgraduate students. To do this they used the Australian Education Index (AEI) and faculty documentation to count and classify the academic publications and theses across the period 1984–1997. They also examined the issues of knowledge dissemination and usage in schools and school systems through questionnaires, surveys and interviews. To examine the pattern of research activity, nine descriptors from the thesaurus descriptors of the AEI database were used. Four of these descriptors reflect school interests specifically. While an overview of the period showed a stable pattern of research, the researchers suggest that an examination of publications that overlap two or more of these categories provides evidence of flexibility and the capacity for responsiveness. In detailing further the pattern of research, a snapshot of the year 1997 compares State and Territory activity; publication and thesis production with total research grants from whatever source; and research activity by institutions grouped by age and research profile. From these analyses the researchers conclude that:
The links between educational research and schools were clearly evident. The researchers found that almost all the school principals, professional associations of educators, and school system administrators expressed the view that educational research had benefited Australian education. Over 60 per cent of the classifiable publications dealt with school level education. Further, there was extensive evidence of direct links between the education faculties and schools, departmental officials and other members of the community. The growth in areas such as lifelong learning, civics and citizenship and middle schooling demonstrated a responsiveness to the government priorities for schools. In school system administration, educational processes associated with policy making demonstrate growth in the use of research. Policy developers argued that most research that had an institutional impact was commissioned by them. They also claimed that schools were demanding evidence-based policy which relied on broad research sources. There was also evidence of the incorporation of key research findings in publications intended for schools, cross-divisional research committees with education departments, secondments of researchers to education departments, regular meetings of education faculties on research priorities, and the encouragement given to officials and teachers to engage in postgraduate studies. In comparison, the influence of university research in schools was largely indirect, unstructured and often mediated through individuals. Both professional associations and principals considered that they had a role in the dissemination of research. Principals believed that collaboration with researchers would be of benefit, but only about a quarter of them considered that universities were important sources of recent developments in their schools. In terms of direct impact, the most frequently quoted example of systematic educational enquiry affecting the school context was action research since it appeared to bring immediate benefits. There was also evidence of a growing tension in schools as research demands increase. Schools indicated that they are placing restrictions on access to researchers to ease the burden and also because the results of the work are not always shared with schools in ways they can use. The role of postgraduate students in terms of their contribution to the total research activity, the breadth of research undertaken, and the linkage between schools and research is one of particular interest from this study. Postgraduate students constitute the largest single group involved in educational research in Australia. They are mainly part-time students who work in the education sector as school teachers and administrators. The study found that postgraduate theses were predominantly about educational processes and structures, and issues in curriculum. In the latter case English, particularly literacy, mathematics, science and languages other than English, were the areas most often involved. Compared to other education publications, postgraduate theses gave the foundation disciplines, such as psychology and sociology, more attention. Postgraduate researchers, in particular, highlight the complications of attempting to link research and practice. While their research topics arose out of workplace issues, their motivations were of a personal nature. Further, even though the majority of postgraduate students maintained that research conducted in universities had a personal impact on their work, a smaller proportion considered it had an impact in a more general way in schools. 1.2.2 Backtracking Practice and Policies to ResearchFiggis, Zubrick, Butorac, and Alderson of the AAAJ Consulting Group used what they called a ‘user-centric’ view of educational research to work ‘backwards’ from specific policy/programme initiatives to determine what (if any) research base they were built on. One strength of this approach was that it included a range of research in addition to that identified with universities. In justifying the approach the researchers point out the lack of success of studies which try to map from research to practice. Reviews of the literature suggest that these types of studies have a problem of ‘distance’. Since many factors contribute to the gap between research and its potential users, the networks that bridge this gap are multifaceted and varied. As a result, by the time it reaches the practitioner the original research may have been masked even if it is central to the practice or policy. The study involved extensive interviewing, observation and document analysis for each of four programme/policy initiatives:
When explaining their involvement in a particular area, the ‘vanguard’ educators attributed this commitment to a wide range of initial motivations. In some instances the motivation was the inspiring example of other educators; in other instances, it was a concern for disadvantaged group or the excitement generated by new technologies; some said they simply felt an obligation to stay alert to new ideas and new possibilities. While for the individual educator the search for new information was often limited to resources that were easy to access, policy makers and school administrators turned more directly to researchers, talking to them and commissioning research. To summarise their findings the researchers present a ‘user-centric’ model. The gap between research knowledge and researchers is linked by a connecting web to the practitioner or the policy maker who deals with professional problems. This connecting web has many nodes that represent linking activities. These activities can be formal or informal. They include, for example, conferences, taskforces, reports, media coverage, and internet sites. In order to enter the web the practitioner must be motivated to seek out information to deal with a professional problem. Research will be used if it is easily accessible during that ‘active’ search for information. Applying research in an education context requires human intervention. To intervene, teachers, administrators and policy makers have to be interested in new ideas and motivated to act on them. For those ideas to be accessible to educators and policy makers, researchers have to actively market their knowledge to the education community as well as the research community. The researchers argue that for this active marketing to become a part of the research process a shift in what is valued in the work of universities and in the measures of academic productivity is necessary. 1.2.3 Teacher Knowledge in ActionA team of researchers from Griffith University (McMeniman, Cumming, Wilson, Stevenson, and Sim) examined teachers’ practice for evidence of the impact of educational research. The researchers assumed that teachers are reflective practitioners who are informed by action, and that they access formal research through ‘proximal research access points’ as part of their reflective practice. The study included 14 teachers drawn from a range of teaching areas, and from schools chosen to represent the breadth of educational provision, including primary and secondary, different States, education sectors, and covering low, medium and high socio-economic status (SES) communities. For each of six teaching areas, a teacher identified as ‘exemplary’ was compared with one nominated as a ‘typical’ teacher. The study found that generally teachers seek out the sources they believe will inform their existing knowledge base and that this is a very individual process. When commenting on their practice, the teachers claimed varying degrees of reliance on different sources. In addition to direct research involvement, the teachers’ decisions were strongly influenced by sources that are themselves directly impacted on by research, specifically initial teacher training, professional reading, the advice of other teachers, professional development courses, and formal postgraduate studies. The aspects of teaching most affected by these sources of information were strategies to engage students with learning as well as with specific content, and ways of meeting the needs of individual learners. In the two cases where students identified helpful teaching behaviours from the videoed lessons, the teachers attributed these behaviours to different sources: initial teacher training versus personal learning combined with personality characteristics. During the interviews about their concept maps the teachers offered similar explanations of effective teaching, yet the sources to which they attributed their understanding of these issues varied. Another important finding of the study was the increase in practitioner involvement in research from its design to its conduct. The researchers regard this as an optimistic shift since Kaestle in The Awful Reputation of Educational Research (1993, p.30) proposed stronger practitioner involvement. They summarise this shift in the following way:
Clearly, the degree to which research influenced the practice of different teachers varied, but research did influence teachers’ practice both directly and indirectly. 1.2.4 The Relationships Between Research and Decision-Making in Education: an Empirical InvestigationThe Selby Smith (1999) report examines the influence of research on decision making in vocational education and training (VET) policy formulation. The research involved a review of the literature, a symposium, a survey of decision makers’ use of research, nine case studies, and feedback about the preliminary findings from ten informed experts from outside Australia. With reference to the use of research in decision making in VET, the report makes two important distinctions concerning the ‘use’ of research and its ‘influence’. Research can be used to support change or endorse present directions or even be ‘used’ when the decision maker is not aware of the source of the information being used. Research can also influence a range of levels of decision making from those of government and government bodies to the decisions of individual students. Further, in view of the large number of factors that may influence policy decisions, Selby Smith argues that there should be ‘suitably modest expectations’ of the influence of research on policy makers. Among the factors that influence the VET decision process and the likelihood of the use or lack of use of research, Selby Smith identifies:
Research in this field is sponsored by groups with potential to influence different parts of the policy decision process. Universities conduct most of the basic research, government research accounts for half the policy and economics research, and consultancies focus on development. The literature suggests that an important limitation affecting the impact of education research is the lack of familiarity of researchers, especially those in universities, with the policy making process. In a field as complex as VET, research dissemination will not be sufficient to increase the use of research in decision making. Effective ‘communication’ of research is essential. For this ‘communication’ to occur there needs to be interaction between researchers and decision makers. 1.2.5 Educational Research in Australia: A Bibliometric AnalysisOne measure of the vibrancy of research is publication activity. This combined with information on the citation rate of articles in reputable education journals offers insight into the quality of research, its international competitiveness, and its areas of strength. Three researchers from the Australian National University, Phelan, Anderson and Bourke, conducted a bibliometric analysis of Australian educational research. They counted the number of publications and citations attributed to Australian researchers in journals listed in the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) database. At the time of the research, the ISI database identified 169 out of approximately 6000–8000 journals listed in the database in any given year as education journals. Australians have published in most of these journals, despite very few Australian educational journals being indexed in the database. Indeed only one of the 34 Australian professional association journals listed in Educational Research in Australia (1992) were used in this study. While this reduces the likelihood of Australian work being noted in the index, the representation of Australian work in the wide range of international educational journals suggests that Australian work is of a good standard and researchers are well aware of the international scene. The ISI database identifies the nationality and institution of authors of published and cited articles. This data is used to provide an indicator of individual, institutional and national productivity. The paper notes that Australia ranks a creditable fourth out of 35 nations in terms of its publications and citation record over the period 1987–1998. Australia’s share of international publications is greater in education than any other major field in this country except for the earth sciences. Using a composite productivity measure for educational research that takes account of population size and economic factors, Australia came fifth after the United States, Israel, New Zealand and Canada. Despite this record, productivity is very uneven between institutions. Five universities display high levels of productivity in education research with an additional five making substantial contributions to the international literature. There is also a fairly large group of institutions that publish very little in the international journals listed in the ISI database. In more recent times there appears to be a relative shift in the institutional base of research from the older universities towards some of the younger universities, but the area is highly variable as institutional levels of research production change and staff move between institutions. An examination of 104 of the most cited articles with Australian authors in the periods 1981–1987 and 1988–1995 found a high proportion of the articles to be about matters that are of direct interest to practitioners. Some 14 per cent of articles were directly relevant to teaching practice; almost 20 per cent to educational policy making; about 25 per cent to administration; and about 15 per cent to methodological or highly theoretical inquiries which would be less easily accessible to practitioners. Clearly the main focus in the research is of a highly applied nature. While there are limitations to the ISI database in capturing a complete picture of the educational research activity in Australia, this study contends that the research profile of universities in international educational journals is far from evenly distributed across Australian universities and suggests that a large group of universities have little international profile in educational research. Of some further concern is a trend that Australia’s share of citations in education research is not keeping pace with its growing share of publications. 1.3 Overview of the Impact of the Educational ResearchTaken together what do these studies tell us about the impact of educational research? Firstly, the studies demonstrate the inadequacies of conceiving the relationship between educational research and practice as a linear relationship. ‘Impact’ suggests a clear, identifiable, measurable and direct relationship. This research contests such a view. Instead, it presents a multi-layered, unpredictable, interacting process of engagement between the researcher and the educator. This engagement involves both researcher and educator in the creation of ‘new knowledge’ and ‘new solutions’ to challenges. The question of ‘impact’ then becomes one of effective and responsive linkages at all levels: within the research community, within the professional community, and between these two communities and the individuals within them. Apart from broadening the way we consider the question of the impact of education research, the studies provide information on the relationship between Australian educational research and the education community, the influence of research on educational practice and ways of improving that influence. A discussion of each of these three issues is presented below. 1.3.1 Educational research activity and the education communityThe project identified high levels of diverse educational research activity across Australia. This research effort is highly applied in nature, and stable in the breadth of topics covered, yet it shows a degree of responsiveness to funding, as well as methodological and conceptual advances. There has been an increase in both interpretative and participatory research, a decline in the large scale quantitative studies of the type school administrators seek to support policy decisions, and more small highly focused qualitative studies. This responsiveness also applies to meeting postgraduate students scholastic interests. Despite the wide variation in the level of research activity in different universities, the evidence suggests that most universities offer postgraduate students the opportunity of a broad field of education study and research, and so support the range of educational needs in their communities. Another key finding of the project is that addressing educators’ problems is a key component in the question of the influence of educational research on practice. In order to ensure that educational research addresses educators needs, policy makers and researchers need information on the areas missing or under-represented in the present research activity as well as an assessment of the present research profile against future need. Undoubtedly, the implications of such ‘gaps’ in the research cannot be fully appreciated without a more detailed investigation of the balance of research activity and the needs of practitioners. Another important understanding in this context is what drives the researchers’ choice of topic. Although the project does provide some information on the drivers of educational research this is an issue that remains largely unexplained. In the case of postgraduate students, the pattern seems to be driven largely by individual choice, based on interest and personal belief about the value of the work. For academics, while funding and policy clearly have some effect on the choice of research topic and the type of research conducted, the picture is far from clear. Developing a fuller understanding of this part of the research process is key to strengthening the engagement between practitioner and researcher. 1.3.2 The influence of educational research on practiceThe project documents a more positive attitude to research, since the 1992 review. There is an expectation that policy shifts be supported by research. In contrast, the work in schools is more individualist in nature than that of policy makers and the contact with research, diffuse and ad hoc. Despite this, the studies provide extensive evidence that research, through direct involvement and indirect means, has an influence on individual educators. Individual attitudes and beliefs, and organisational cultures and structures are important in the promotion of research usage. The converse is also true, these can act as blocks to the use of research. Even though positive attitudes and cultures promote the likelihood of the use of research, ease of access to the research information is also important. While immediate application appears to be a high priority for practitioners, the studies propose that broader theoretical understandings are essential for educators, policy makers and researchers to be successful. In this regard both pre-service and postgraduate studies are important. In schools, links to research are formed through teacher involvement in professional development with a strong research base, and postgraduate research and coursework. Postgraduate students do a large amount of educational research in mainly applied fields. The importance of such ad hoc linkages between educators and research cannot be overlooked. Contact between these practitioner-researchers and university researchers can only increase the likelihood that new research will address the needs of educators involved in policy, administration and teaching, though on its own this contact is unlikely to give any strategic direction to the research effort. In the policy area there are more systematic linkages. Structural arrangements, such as formal networks at local, state and national level, and education consultants in school systems, target particular policy priorities and provide mechanisms for researchers and educators to be actively involved together. The networks and consultants also provide means by which research is translated into practical applications and often promote its discussion in schools. Government funded programmes that incorporate strong professional development components or networks across sectors assist the translation of research into practical applications. Some recent changes are likely to affect some of these links. One of these changes is the increase in enrolments in research based degrees and away from coursework in postgraduate studies. Another relates to the movement of schools to greater self-management. With this shift, the levels of centralised policy and professional development decline. As a result some of the structural arrangements that have promoted the use of research are being weakened. The impact of both these changes on the relationship between educational research and its use need to be monitored as part of the processes of strengthening that relationship. 1.3.3 Improving the influence of educational researchThe 1992 review suggests that ‘all educators can, and perhaps should be, researchers in their own settings’ (p.xiv). This project supports this view as well as identifying the essential role pre-service and in-service teacher education has in developing educators who value and use research to support change. The impact of research in schools and in policy formulation depends greatly on educators’ valuing research, and on their ability to apply and critique it. While these conditions are essential to ensure the wide influence of research, they must be supported by ease of access to research findings. This ease of access depends on active dissemination of research findings, but also depends on the form these take. A range of suggestions to improve research dissemination arise from this project. Most of these are based on the view that dissemination of research findings should be an integral part of the research process for all researchers including postgraduate students. Such dissemination, while it will include publication in academic journals, should take in a wider range of forms. Generally, single studies do not have a significant impact. Literature reviews, and papers that synthesise research in a form that is accessible to practitioners are needed. Programmes and applications based on research are means of actively involving both researcher and practitioner together. Networks of researchers and educators associated with national, state or local initiatives provide structural support for the sharing of academic and professional interests. The focus of this project was the use of research in the school sector. However, the research confirmed the interdependence of university teaching and research. What is evident is that quality teacher education, undergraduate and postgraduate needs not only to develop good attitudes to research, but it needs to expose educators to research based knowledge and to assist them to apply these within their work contexts. 1.4 ConclusionThere is a subtle, complex and productive relationship between researcher and educator developed through a wide range of communication processes, both formal and informal. This fragile relationship depends on supportive policies and structures that provide incentives and strengthen the capacity for communication. Governments, universities and schools have roles in this regard. The thin spread of research activities has implications for policy and research funding. Establishing the most effective distribution of research activity to serve the needs of a diverse and highly dispersed education community in the immediate and the longer term will require a balance of many elements. This project has given considerable insight into those elements but also identified some key issues for future examination. ReferencesMcGaw, B. (chair) 1997, Response by the Australian Research Council to Report No. 24 Education
1989–1993, Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra.
|
|
contact
details | search |
archive search | publications
| site map | subscribe Any comments or queries should be sent to: wwweditor@dest.gov.au This page was
last updated on
Tuesday, 26 August 2008
|
