Background: Public service practitioners on all levels aim to solve increasingly complex policy problems by making use of different forms of evidence. While there are many complex models of knowledge mobilisation, not enough attention is paid to the types of knowledge that are mobilised for public service reform. Ward (2017) has returned to…

Transferring knowledge into action is challenging. Ward et al. (2009a) developed a framework for bridging this gap. This article describes what helps and hinders getting knowledge into action when using this approach in the field of mental health. Four areas of Scotland were selected which had used resources to inform local planning and…

Background: The use of research in policy settings is complex, unpredictable and influenced by a range of poorly understood social factors. This makes it difficult to plan for, facilitate and evaluate policy impacts arising from research. Aims and Objectives: 1. Propose and test tools for planning for and facilitating research impact, based on a…

This critical paper investigates one influential post-millennial initiative -- the Daily Mile programme -- which is designed to promote the multifarious lifelong enhancing benefits of running-based experiences. A textually orientated discourse analysis of the language used in media, policy and research-related documentary sources of evidence are…

This is a follow-up study to Reid et al (2017) which considered the barriers and facilitators of getting knowledge into policy when using a knowledge brokering approach. The previous study analysed the use of strategies to reduce barriers to the use of evidence in mental health strategy planning in Scotland using outcome frameworks. The main…

This is the closing paper in a "Scottish Educational Review" collection on "Making Space for Play in Scottish Education." The paper reflects on the key conclusions from the six papers and three notes that comprise the collection. It identifies a baker's dozen of priority actions for those concerned to enrich Scottish education…

Policy changes in the higher education landscape have given way to increased interest in the way students perceive engagement in UK higher education. This paper examines whether we can reliably distinguish between institutions and disciplines, and what key student and institutional variables are a predictor of engagement of undergraduate students.…

Context conditions the nature of policy development. The relationship between evidence and policy is similarly conditioned in terms of the types of evidence deployed to address specific policy matters. This raises a number of interesting questions: how are different types of evidence best classified? Are there systematic linkages between context…

In this largely theory-focused paper it is argued that there is a tension between demands for particular knowledge, relevant to local policy contexts, and calls for universal, generalizable evidence to inform policymaking. Some consequences of this tension, in terms of the forms of knowledge that may be drawn on in policymaking at the local level,…

This article reports on gender ratio, age of diagnosis and the duration of assessment procedures in autism spectrum disorder diagnosis in a national study which included all types of clinical services for children and adults. Findings are reported from a retrospective case note analysis undertaken with a representative sample of 150 Scottish…

For a number of reasons, increasing reliance is being placed on teacher assessment in high-stakes contexts in many countries around the world. Simultaneously, countries that have for some time relied to greater or lesser degrees on teacher assessment for high-stakes purposes are in the process of questioning the validity of that reliance. In…

Objectives: The purpose of this article is to present a theoretical frame of reference for the study and assessment of social work from the perspective of a history of ideas. Method: The study employed an analysis of primary and secondary historical sources. Results: Social work as a practice and research field is embedded in the genesis of modern…

Drug-related death (DRD) is a major public health problem globally, with rates in Scotland higher than any other UK region and among the highest in Europe. One of the most important public health interventions to emerge aimed at tackling rising DRD rates is the distribution of naloxone, the opioid antagonist, for peer administration. The Scottish…

The Scottish chartered teacher programme (2003-2011) is an important example of a national policy designed to support the development of "accomplished teaching". This paper provides an account of the emergence of the programme before discussing how the impact of such a scheme might be assessed and thus rendered accountable. The…

This study was conceived as an opportunity to reflect on the place of action-research in the contested landscape of educational change in the UK where increasing emphasis has been put on the use of evidence to drive reform. In the context of a government-sponsored project in Scotland, this study looked at the impact of a scholarship initiative…