Transforming education research

The Royal Society and British Academy have launched a project to determine how best to harness new and up-to-date research methodologies, using the latest technologies, big data and interdisciplinary approaches, to improve educational outcomes for young people.

The organisations believe that high quality research has the potential to transform education in the UK, and internationally, but are concerned that levels of research income and the size of the educational research community have fallen in recent years.

This new project will investigate the opportunities and challenges for teachers, researchers, funders and policy-makers – from the funding and commissioning of research to accessing and applying it. It will also assess how the connections between these groups may be strengthened so as to ensure research informs and is consistently informed by policy and practice.

Alan Wilson, chair of the working group, said: ‘In this increasingly complex, connected and competitive world, there is unprecedented desire to understand how educational achievement and outcomes can be improved for all young people. Educational research has a crucial role to play in providing the evidence that will help make this possible. We must, therefore, ensure that the research ecosystem (including researchers, funders, teachers and policy-makers) is healthy and well-coordinated. This joint Royal Society–British Academy project seeks to ensure that it will be.’

The Royal Society and British Academy have issued a call for views to inform the work of the project. The deadline for responses is 28 October 2016 and the final report will be published in summer 2017.