Evidence-Based Policy and Management in Practice: Education in England, 1980s to 2002
| Date | 01 July 2002 |
| Published date | 01 July 2002 |
| DOI | 10.1177/095207670201700307 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Evidence-Based
Policy
and
Management
in
Practice:
Education
in
England,
1980s
to
2002
Carol
Taylor
Fitz-Gibbon
Curriculum,
Evaluation
and
Management
Centre,
University
of
Durham
Abstract
Education
is
a
powerful
intervention
in
the
lives
of
children
and
their
parents.
As
such
it
could
probably
contribute
significantly
to
efforts
to
improve
society.
To
do
so
there
would
need
to
be
agreement
regarding:
what
sort
of
society
we
seek
to
create
(values);
knowledge
about
what
is
happening
and
where
there
are
problems
(cf
epidemiology
in
medicine);
and
evidence-based
policies
to
address
the
problems
and
discover
'what
works'
(cf
clinical
trials
in
medicine).
The
failure
of
politicians
to
adopt
evidence-
based
approaches
is
seen
as
a
problem
but
so
also
is
a
culture
in
academia
that
is
anti-scientific.
Schools,
in
contrast,
have
adopted
rigorous
and
comprehensive
monitoring
systems
over
the
last
20
years
and
are
increasingly
participating
in
experiments
and
careful
evaluation.
Questions
are
raised
about
proper
roles
of
regulatory
agencies.
Introduction
Evidence,
as
understood
in
medicine,
does
not
as
yet
figure
strongly
in
policy
development
or
implementation
in
Education.
Rarely
are
treatments
(i.e.
policies)
subjected
to
the
test
of
clinical
trials
before
being
imposed.
The
fault
for
this
seriously
unfortunate
state
of
affairs
could
be
laid
at
the
feet
of
politicians
but
the
academic
community
in
the
social
sciences
has
also
failed
to
be
clear
about
the
need
for
the
use
of
controlled
trials
to
establish
cause
and
effect
and
to
enable
cost-benefit
analyses
to
be
conducted.
The
academic
community
must
thus
share
a
large
part
of
the
blame
for
the
neglect
of
experimentation.
The
content
of
educational
research,
and
of
training
programmes
in
social
science,
should
perhaps
be
the
subject
of
an
inquiry.
The
matter
is
serious,
since
education
represents
15,000
hours
of
compulsory
treatment
(Rutter,
Maughan,
Mortimore
and
Ouston,
1979).
It
is
just
possible
that
if
we
got
education
right,
we
might
reduce
the
workload
in
Public
Policy
and
Administration
Volume
17
No.
3
Autumn
2002
95
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