Systems approaches to improving the use of research evidence in education policy, planning and practice.

• In Event: Research Approaches to Globalization & Education

Proposal

The latest evidence on effective ways to encourage decision making based on evidence indicates that systems approaches hold great promise (Hopkins et al. 2021). Conventional activities centred centered on research outputs and products involve researchers “pushing” evidence into policy, or policy activity “pulling” evidence. Moreover, recent relational initiatives support increased and improved interactions between knowledge producers and users. These activities are necessary, but not sufficient. Since the mid-2010s, there has been a growing awareness that getting research into policy is also a political, social, and systemic challenge (Liverani, Hawkins and Parkhurst 2013). Drawing on policy studies and social sciences more broadly, scholars began to describe the role of institutional structures, political contestation of issues, and the role of values and beliefs, among other factors. Therefore, in addition to better linkages between researchers and policy makers, systemic initiatives are necessary to facilitate evidence use. Systemic initiatives aim to develop institutional or organizational capacity and infrastructure to provide an enabling context for the judicious use of evidence in policy. The paper draws on analysis carried out for a forthcoming UNESCO report and uses the empirical example of the GPE/IDRC KIX programme to illustrate the application of the conceptual framework. This paper discusses how systemic approaches can improve the use of research evidence in education, provide more and better evidence for policy and systems that support the use of evidence in policy; enable consistent, predictable and long-term funding; promote the involvement of local and global stakeholders; and support coproduction between researchers, decision makers and those affected by their decisions.

Authors

• Anna Numa Hopkins, NORRAG, Graduate Institute

• Moira V Faul, NORRAG, Geneva Graduate Institute