Making evidence count for the busy teacher

Making evidence count for the busy
teacher
Daniel Muijs, Head of Research, Ofsted
Presented at the #researched conference, April 2018
Making evidence count for the busy teacher - ResearchEd Durrington - 28/4/18 Slide 1

Why do we need to be evidence informed?
 A moral duty
 A social justice issue
 To be credible

Everything works somewhere, but
 Some things work better than others
 Some things work in more places than others
 Some things work more easily than others
 Some things almost always work
 Some things almost never work

But do we have the evidence?
 We do have evidence on what works
 A lot of evidence on effective teaching
 Significant evidence on effective schools
 But:
 We don’t know everything – evidence base differs between areas
 Evidence needs to be translated into school and classroom contexts
 Evidence may be contextual: ‘what works where, under what
circumstances’ (Dylan William)
 But again, some things work under most circumstances, some under
few

Accessing the evidence is problematic…
 It is too technical:
 Muijs (2017).‘Can schools reduce bullying’ − ‘IGLS estimation was
used, all models converged and no non-admissible parameters were
generated’
 It is too expensive:
 e.g. Muijs (2017). ‘Can schools reduce bullying’ − $6/48 hrs, $38 for
the PDF
 There is too much of it
 e.g. >1500 papers on metacognition since 2000

So you need to be selective…
 There is plenty of dross around…
 Key criteria:
 Validity
 Reliability
 Utility
 Not about a single methodology – this depends on the research
question

 Be aware of author ideology and goals:
 E.g.: ‘Body-Soul Rooted Pedagogy which: 1) construct education
politically, 2) enact schooling as decolonization/empowerment, 3)
center epistemologies, multiliteracies of marginalized groups, 4) foster
critical frameworks navigating oppression, 5) engage social action
pedagogy, and 6) engender hope, well-being’
 Often less clear-cut, and not exclusive to one
political/ideological orientation
 Everyone has an ideological position, but this becomes a
problem when it dominates research agendas and practices

 Often worth following the money...
 Studies on IPads funded by manufacturer
 Studies on play funded by toy companies
 Studies on textbooks funded by publishers
 Studies by organisations on themselves
 These may still be valuable, but bias may creep in

How do we make sense of evidence?
 In light of these issues, intermediaries are key
 Trusted translators of academic research
 Books by academics and practitioners, e.g. Allison & Tharby, Hendrick,
Willingham
 Articles summarising evidence, e.g. Rosenshine (2012): principles of
instruction. Muijs et al (2014): State of the Art in research on teacher
effectiveness
 Organisations: EEF, Teacher Development Trust, Research Schools
 Bloggers and websites: e.g. Mark Enser, Christine Counsell, Alex
Quigley…

How do we make sense of evidence?
 However, the same caveats apply:
 Who are the authors?
 How do they judge evidence?
 What is not reviewed?
 What does the ‘other side’ say?

A systemic issue…
 Not just teachers, but ITE and policy (and inspection!) need to
be research-informed
 Professional development is key:
 Research literacy
 Up-to-date knowledge
 Support from SMT
 Give teachers time
 Professional development approaches themselves need to be
research-informed
 Who assures quality of CPD?

Final words…
 We know a lot, but often don’t apply what we know
 As a profession, we must be evidence-informed
 Beware the snake-oil salesmen of education
 There are usually two sides to an argument, but that doesn’t
mean they are equally evidence-based

Ofsted on the web and on social media
www.gov.uk/ofsted
https://reports.ofsted.gov.uk
www.linkedin.com/company/ofsted
www.youtube.com/ofstednews
www.slideshare.net/ofstednews
www.twitter.com/ofstednews

Making evidence count for the busy teacher

More Related Content

What's hot (20)

Similar to Making evidence count for the busy teacher (20)

Recently uploaded (20)

Making evidence count for the busy teacher