ERIC Number: EJ1181697
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2018-Jun
Pages: 18
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0141-1926
EISSN: N/A
The Power of 'Evidence': Reliable Science or a Set of Blunt Tools?
Wrigley, Terry
British Educational Research Journal, v44 n3 p359-376 Jun 2018
In response to the increasing emphasis on 'evidence-based teaching', this article examines the privileging of randomised controlled trials and their statistical synthesis (meta-analysis). It also pays particular attention to two third-level statistical syntheses: John Hattie's "Visible learning" project and the EEF's "Teaching and learning toolkit." The article examines some of the technical shortcomings, philosophical implications and ideological effects of this approach to 'evidence', at all these three levels. At various points in the article, aspects of critical realism are referenced in order to highlight ontological and epistemological shortcomings of 'evidence-based teaching' and its implicit empiricism. Given the invocation of the medical field in this debate, it points to critiques within that field, including the need to pay attention to professional experience and clinical diagnosis in specific situations. Finally, it briefly locates the appeal to 'evidence' within a neoliberal policy framework.
Descriptors: Evidence, Evidence Based Practice, Randomized Controlled Trials, Meta Analysis, Epistemology, Teaching (Occupation), Instruction, Medicine, Clinical Diagnosis, Neoliberalism
Wiley-Blackwell. 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148. Tel: 800-835-6770; Tel: 781-388-8598; Fax: 781-388-8232; e-mail: cs-journals@wiley.com; Web site: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2429/WileyCDA
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Information Analyses; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A