In playing with the concept of 'credibility', this article presents a critical examination of the discourse of evidence and the programming of upbringing in early intervention policy and practice. The truth claims of the evidence discourse in policy are explored through a single complex case study of an early intervention city in Northern Ireland.…

Policy and research engagement is a timely topic for researchers, decision-makers, and higher education institutions that aim to promote engagement and impact. Examination of the complex research-policy relationship in the higher education sector has been largely overlooked. This paper addresses this issue by presenting findings from in-depth…

The growing use of artificial intelligence in education extends and intensifies technologies of governing, including datafication, performativity and accountability. In this article, we outline how the use of AI and data science has the disruptive potential to create new norms in education policy and governance. We report on an ethnographic…

Background: Despite the growing attention given to the political process of evidence-based policymaking (EBPM), we still know little about how evidence is processed at the early stages of the policymaking process, especially at the agenda-setting stage. Whether and when political elites pay attention to evidence-based information is crucial to the…

This is the protocol for a Campbell evidence and gap map. The objectives are as follows: identify and map all existing primary studies, systematic reviews (published and unpublished), guidelines and policies on education during the COVID-19 pandemic, creating a live, searchable and publicly available evidence and gap map.

We begin by arguing that the continuing dominance of 'evidence-based' thinking in educational policymaking does serious harm to the notion of evidence itself; also that it brings a loss of coherence to education as a practice that might wish to be regarded as a coherent and research-informed one. The second section of the article suggests that the…

Interest in the field of career and technical education (CTE) has experienced a resurgence over the last decade, as the global economy has grown increasingly competitive while students have continued to leave school underprepared for well-paying twenty-first century jobs. Together and separately, the education and workforce sectors have sought to…

Background: The emergence of causal research in education was almost strictly quantitative twenty years ago, however, that landscape has changed considerably. The number of intervention studies fielded and completed annually has increased substantially, and the quality of the evaluations is much more robust, including paying much greater attention…

For decades there have been calls by concerned stakeholders to improve the quality of education research, and some progress has been made towards creating a more secure evidence base in some areas. More programmes and approaches that have a reasonable evidence base are now also being used in schools (but not in policy, and not necessarily because…

I examine the ways in which words such as "evidence" are used inappropriately to support policy that may be formulated for convenience, cost or political dogma. I interrogate the processes by which this happens, as words and terms are bestowed with symbolic power to support and promote favoured policy. I examine the ways in which such…

There is a considerable gap between many of the findings from educational psychology research and educational practice. This gap is especially notable in the field of science education. In this article, the implications of three categories of research and their findings for science educational policy in the USA and other jurisdictions were…

Micro-credentials are an emerging phenomenon all over the world. They are seen as instrumental in supporting upskilling and reskilling in response to transformations in labour markets. New technologies and the green and digital transition are changing skills demand , and for such a transition, people will need to keep up-to-date and ensure their…

Efficient use of resources depends upon many factors, but one key variable is the extent to which we design and implement activities which require funding in a way that is informed by relevant evidence. The application of insights about 'what works', derived from robust research, combined with evidence about context and real-time system data have,…

Federal education policy has been a feature of the United States' education system beginning in 1965 when Lyndon Johnson introduced the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) as part of his "War on Poverty." Since then, the ESEA has undergone numerous revisions with each successive presidential administration. Part of the policy…

In many developed countries, disagreement on important policy issues between groups with different social identities ('ideological polarisation') is increasing. In professional settings, these disagreements undermine cooperation and trust between employees, which negatively affects work relationships and managerial decision-making. We investigate…