Although there are policy calls for educational research to discover "what works" and thereby inform decision making directly, the research literature argues instead for research to have a "conceptual" impact on practice. Empirical studies also suggest that, when teachers use research, their use is conceptual; research…

A range of studies has identified barriers to evidence-informed practice in schools, many of which recommend school-university links as a means for removing these barriers. In England, public policy also promotes school-university partnerships, which expects these to have benefits for both schools and universities. Secondary analysis of data from…

Internationally, efforts are being made for educational practice to be research-informed on the grounds that schoolteachers will implement what research shows will "work". However, teachers do not necessarily accept research findings; sometimes they contest them. This article considers teachers' contestation in two empirical studies,…

In this paper, I argue that the movement for research utilisation in education can be seen as part of an attempt to alter the foundations on which teachers base their decisions, replacing liberal values with which teaching has been associated, with the values of "what works." I review the empirical literature around teachers' use of…

Recent policy statements have urged greater use of research to guide teaching, with some commentators calling for a "revolution" in evidence-based practice. Scholarly literature suggests that research can influence policy and practice in "instrumental," "conceptual" or "strategic" ways. This paper analyses…