The British Educational Research Association has recently published its Ethical Guidelines for Educational Research. Although primarily intended for researchers, they are a useful guide for the wider education community.
The guide uses a loose definition of research, including both academic research undertaken through universities and research undertaken in the field, perhaps by someone studying for a qualification or involved in improving teaching practice.
In my opinion, this includes most school development and improvement activity, inspections (formal and informal) and the vast variety of data collection and reflection involved in most school-directed qualifications.
Ethical use of education research
The principles of the guidelines are not a surprise. They say consultative, iterative and transparent decision making should be at the heart of any ethical research process. Any activity should be considered within an ethic of respect for people, knowledge, the quality of the research (and its findings), the environment and academic freedom. There should be an ethic of trust and care in all that is done.
As I read the myriad blogs, tweets and publications that are swirling around education, I wonder how committed we are as a profession to these principles. How often do we share the work of children and young people without consent? Or plan school improvement strategies without a plan B, should things not go well? How often do we make the results freely available to other professionals, policymakers and the wider public?
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And there is another principle that is crucial to using research and evidence ethically: the findings of research should not be used in any way that brings research into disrepute by “falsifying, distorting, suppressing or selectively reporting research evidence”.
If we want to use research, we must honour researchers and their work. We should read their work (not interpretations by others) and make sure we understand the conclusions. We should not be using a study of adolescent pupils to justify actions in younger students. Studies of small groups of students in maths do not translate into teaching English.
Research is complex, nuanced and challenging at times. Let’s work closely in collaboration with researchers to understand and apply it in our classrooms. Let’s honour the evidence rather than our opinions.
Megan Dixon is a doctoral student and associate lecturer at Sheffield Hallam University
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