Research and Knowledge Mobilisation in Education

1. Research and Knowledge Mobilisation in Education Comments Gregory Elacqua Centro de Políticas Comparadas de Educación-UDP www.cpce.cl

2. Knowledge networks Policy-makersResearchers Practitioners Media Leaders School boards Parents

3. Knowledge networks Policy-makersResearchers Practitioners Media Leaders School boards Parents

4. Researchers and policymakers: Two dueling cultures • The researcher adds complexities and resists final closure and the policymaker demands straightforward and easily communicated lessons that will lead to some kind of action. • These different roles are grounded in the different tasks they confront, the incentives embedded in the institutions in which they operate, and the kinds of decisions they have to make.

5. Dimensions in which researchers and policymakers differ • Takes time to get it right for researchers and policymakers need the answer now • Accumulation of evidence (researchers), focus on one study that settles issues (policymakers) • Establishing causality is complex for researchers and straightforward to policymakers • Abstraction is required for researchers to find general patterns, while policymakers are pulled more toward specificity • Researchers and policymakers have different tolerances for complexity

6. Knowledge networks Policy-makersResearchers Practitioners Media Leaders School boards Parents

7. Researchers and teachers (principals): Two dueling cultures • The researcher adds complexities and resists final closure and the teacher (principal) demands straightforward lessons that will lead to some kind of action in the classroom (school) setting. • Teachers (principals) often do not have the tools to understand and evaluate methodologies used by researchers and to interpret findings with competing claims • Chicago Consortium for School Research

8. Knowledge networks Policy-makersResearchers Practitioners Media Leaders School boards Parents

9. How research is communicated • Public (parents, school boards, etc.) • The public lack the time and training to understand the research methodologies in papers • The public depends on the media to keep informed and sort out competing claims. • Journalists lack the time and training to really understand the research methodologies at play • Media • Focus on polarized research common to captivate their audiences, while in-depth and coverage of complex research is rare

10. Knowledge networks Policy-makersResearchers Practitioners Media Leaders School boards Parents

11. How researchers communicate their findings • Most research findings are nuanced and difficult to communicate • The media often shies away from stories in which experts admit shades of ambiguity and over feature articles that use research to support a pro or anti stances on different topics. • Journalists also often do not feel that it is their mission to write about the average school rather what is newsworthy is the schools that are doing very well or very badly. • Some researchers aggressively press to get the media to feature their particular spin, regardless of the substance • The lines between scholars and advocates often gets blurred.

12. For example, in the highly polarized school choice debate in Chile, there is usually little room for nuance, and thus research often is partisan and a tactical weapon in political battles. Vouchers became a high stakes issue in national politics in Chile because the issue has been defined as one that pits markets against government.

13. Knowledge networks Funders Policy-makersResearchers Practitioners Media Leaders School boards Parents

14. The impact of funding • Felt most at the agenda-setting stage-where it affects what aspects of research get studied, how and by whom- and at the dissemination stage, where it affects which findings and interpretations are most likely to be emphasized and which studies get the greatest exposure. • Foundations are defined by a mission and seek to maximize their impact. • Research is often seen as a tool that must support its mission, not as a value in and of itself. • Foundations tend to put heavy emphasis on dissemination, and research for their purposes must be simple, clear. • The strategic focus of foundations has consequences for the way research gets framed and introduced into public discourse. • Key role for public funding of technical non-partisan education research

15. Research and Knowledge Mobilisation in Education Comments Gregory Elacqua Centro de Políticas Comparadas de Educación-UDP www.cpce.cl