In current educational research communications, especially in English and increasingly also in German publications, the term "evidence" refers to international homogenizing gold standards and is often linked to European evidence policies, large scale assessments and justified and proven knowledge. Against the background of international…

This report presents the results of an Education Endowment Foundation (EEF)-funded, independent evaluation designed to investigate the extent to which, and in what ways, Research Schools (RSs) in Opportunity Areas (OAs) had supported schools to enact evidence-based practices in their classrooms. The evidence centred upon the lived experiences of…

Background: Argumentation, the justification of claims with reasons and/or evidence, has emerged as a significant goal in science education in recent years. Yet, there is limited understanding of secondary students' arguments and particularly their use of warrants in interdisciplinary contexts such as science and religious education. Furthermore,…

Virtual laboratories (VL) can provide students with learning experiences simulating practical experiments in a traditional laboratory. Evidence is presented that students believe in the truth of results from the VL as well as those from the traditional laboratory. The underlying reasons for these beliefs are explored, through Russell's description…

Continuing professional development (CPD) is an essential aspect of early years (EY) workforce planning. In understanding how CPD is currently provided, we depend largely on surveys carried out by separate sector organisations with little synthesis of the data. In this paper, we scrutinise findings relating to CPD from nine surveys of EY managers…

The use of research evidence is increasingly seen as critical to improving practice across many areas of public policy. At the same time, the role of relationships and relational work have become far more widely recognised in many fields of professional practice. This paper brings together these two developments by focusing on the relational…

Governments and education systems worldwide have tried using additional cash transfers to encourage school enrolment and attendance, and to reduce the attainment gap between disadvantaged students and their peers. There are now many strands of evidence on the success of such schemes. This paper presents the results of international structured…

Background: Tooth extractions are the most common cause of hospital admissions for children in England. Water fluoridation has the potential to reduce this number by 60%, is backed by the scientific and public health communities, and yet is currently consumed by only 10% of the population. Aims and objectives: This 'evidence-policy gap' is…

At every stage since the start of the pandemic, decisions across education and childcare have been informed by the scientific and medical evidence -- both on the risks of coronavirus (COVID-19) infection, transmission and illness, and on the known risks to children and young people not attending education settings -- balancing public health and…

The past two decades witnessed the international consensus around the idea that health policy decisions should be 'evidence-based'. These efforts have stimulated a wealth of studies explicitly concerned with understanding the use of research evidence in policy. The majority of such studies suggest there are few examples of public health policy…

This paper explores national patterns of entry to primary school in England over the past decade. It focuses on deferred entry (where children begin Reception with the cohort below) and delayed entry (where children miss some or all of Reception, and enter Year 1 with their 'normal' cohort). In 2014, the Department for Education's (DfE's) guidance…

Conducting mixed methods reviews is challenging. The aim of this article is to describe a range of rationales for and approaches to mixed methods reviews, with a particular focus on one research group. A case study was conducted to describe the mixed methods review process used at the Department of Health and Social Care Reviews Facility in…

Jacob Olivey set out to design enquiries which would enable his pupils to reconstruct, using evidence, the perspectives of people in the past. In this article he shares in detail the planning and outcomes of two enquiries: one for Year 7 and one for Year 8. Olivey offers a example of 'the curriculum as the progression model', considering how to…

This article addresses the ways in which education systems responded to the aftermath of World War I with respect to education for nationalism and internationalism. It does so by drawing on theories of internationalism and through an analysis of the writings of Daniel Prescott, an American scholar who toured European schools in the middle of the…

This article examines the impetus for schools to engage both in and with evidence in England's self-improving school system. It begins with an examination of how the education policy environment has changed, shifting from predominantly top down approaches to school improvement to the current government's focus on schools themselves sourcing and…