Implications of COVID-19 for educational research: Fostering equitable partnerships for mutual learning

Group Submission Type: Formal Panel Session

Proposal

The Covid-19 crisis has intensified the search for ‘evidence’ to inform effective policies and
strategies to address and overcome multiple disruptions, including in the education sector.
Significant efforts have been devoted to analysing the impact of the crisis on education, but
the implications of Covid-19 for educational research merit much more attention. This
panel, proposed by the Building Evidence in Education (BE2) working group, a group of
almost 40 bi-lateral and multi-lateral education donors and foundations, including UNESCO,
the World Bank, USAID and FCDO, will address how the changed environment is impacting
these donors, the research they fund, and the partnerships required.

Whether focused on the education response or recovery, the crisis has deepened awareness
of the importance of reliable data, rigorous research, and knowledge production – locally,
nationally and internationally. At the same time collecting data and conducting socially
responsible research in education and international development has become much more
challenging for all involved, not least because of the inequalities that have been exposed.
Panelists will consider what the Covid-19 crisis, and the education response and recovery,
might mean for comparative and international educational research, and the impact of the
Covid-19 upon how ‘evidence’, ‘research’ and ‘knowledge’ are understood and produced.
Recognizing that education, together with its underpinning values and purpose, is in the
process of unprecedented transformation, the panel will be guided by two main questions:
1. How is the Covid-19 crisis impacting research methods and the nature of knowledge
production?
2. How to ensure rigorous, socially responsible and equitable research partnerships and
networks going forward?

Considering that data collection, whether quantitative or qualitative, is now more difficult
and dangerous, new ways of producing and analysing knowledge are being mobilized often
using digital technologies. There are new ethical dilemmas and tensions, including the
‘digital divide’, privacy issues, and concerns about the quality of data and the inclusiveness
of research. Central coordination of data collection and analysis is often less feasible,
and collaborative research partnerships and networks have become indispensable. One
consequence is the mobilization and diversification of research actors. Development
partners, experts, academics and practitioner researchers, whether teachers, planners, or
policy makers, and new actors, are engaging in collaborative action research and mutual
learning from the various education strategies adopted during the crisis.

Established research priorities and methods, partnerships and networks may not be
sufficient, and might need rethinking and adapting in this disruptive and transformative
moment. For example, the human imperative of closer dialogue and cooperation between
education and health researchers, and between social and natural scientists, is already
clear. There are also calls for the meaningful integration of global and local knowledge, and
the exchange of skills and expertise for mutual learning.

Although research is frequently expected to inform ‘evidence-based policy and practice’,
there are often wide gaps between researchers and the researched, and between the
producers and users of research. Despite a shared commitment to the common good, some
relevant policy research is ignored by decision makers and pathways from research evidence
to policy and implementation are often indirect. Research partnerships and networks
sometimes replicate, rather than transform, pre-existing power relations. Yet they also have
the potential to diversify knowledge production, to amplify marginalized voices, and to
address social inequalities and historic injustices.

With an emphasis on social responsibility, this panel will analyse some of the underlying
assumptions contained within discourses about research and evidence during the pandemic.
The panel discussions are expected to reveal the importance of widening understandings of
‘evidence’; and of reimagining ‘research’ in the context of the Covid-19 crisis and beyond.
Furthermore, to foster equitable partnerships for education and mutual learning, the panel
will highlight the need for critical reflection on the various roles, relationships and processes
involved in knowledge production and exchange over time.

Sub Unit

• General Pool

Chair

• Suzanne Grant Lewis, International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP) UNESCO

Individual Presentations

• A new research horizon for a bonded planet - Malak Zaalouk, The American University in Cairo

• The meta-narratives and assumptions framing ‘data’, ‘evidence’, and ‘knowledge’ on COVID-19 and education - Prachi Srivastava, University of Western Ontario

Discussant

• Joel Samoff, Stanford University