Translating findings from research studies to new contexts can be a complex business and even inadvisable altogether in some cases. So what should teachers be aware of about the process?
Putting evidence to work in new contexts is not as simple as reading a paper and making changes straight away. There are considerations to take into account to assess whether a programme or intervention that has proven effective in one study will be suitable and have a similar impact in a new setting.
In general, research that is based on well-established principles and theories is more likely to be applicable to new contexts, because it is less likely to be influenced by the specific context in which it was conducted.
The similarity between the old and new contexts is also an important factor. If the two contexts are very similar, then the research is more likely to be applicable. For example, research on the effects of a new modern foreign languages programme in an inner-city academy in Manchester is more likely to be applicable to an inner-city academy in London, but perhaps less so to a selective private school in Buckinghamshire.
How does it work in the classroom?
Writing in Tes about the value of “flawed research”, Alex Quigley, national content manager at the Education Endowment Foundation, said that it’s important to look at the bigger picture with research, even if it’s not directly applicable to our setting, because it will form part of a much broader conversation taking place across the decades.
The study offered a small sample size, which the researchers themselves warned could not be deemed as representative of the whole population. There were also issues around the make-up of the cohort.
Quigley wrote: “And yet, like with most seminal studies, [this] work has initiated further research that has exposed the limitations of the original.”
He argued that rather than dismissing such flawed research, we should “continue to debate these issues but root those discussions in good-quality evidence. We should cite [the] work and then explore its limitations. We should be evidence-informed and wary of social biases”.
The Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) is an independent charity dedicated to breaking the link between family income and educational achievement.
To achieve this, it summarises the best available evidence for teachers; its Teaching and Learning Toolkit, for example, is used by 70 per cent of secondary schools.
The charity also generates new evidence of “what works” to improve teaching and learning, by funding independent evaluations of high-potential projects, and supports teachers and senior leaders to use the evidence to achieve the maximum possible benefit for young people.
