Bounded decision‐making, teachers’ reflection and organisational learning: How research can inform teachers and teaching

Abstract

Despite numerous efforts to align educational practice more closely with findings from educational research, there is little clarity about how educational practitioners can, in principle, use research. We propose a conceptualisation based on how research can contribute to practitioners’ thinking: specifically, our framework proposes that research can inform bounded decision‐making, teachers’ reflection and organisational learning. Practitioners can also use research without being aware that they are doing so. We argue that this conceptualisation of research use has potential to inform researchers and practitioners.

World-wide barriers and enablers to achieving evidence-informed practice in education: what can be learnt from Spain, England, the United States, and Germany?

“…In education (much like in other fields), it helps to recognise that research evidence is but one of the potential influences on practice (Farley-Ripple et al, 2018). Indeed, as Cain et al (2019Cain et al ( , p. 1074) summarise, there is now "near-universal agreement that research-generated insights are an insufficient basis for practice". Above all else, educatorslike other practitioners and policymakers-want to be able to confidently make decisions about problems/issues that are important to them.…”

“…Finally, the periodic Research Excellence Framework (the 'REF'), via which UK universities are funded, now requires them to account for the "impact" their research has had on, "the economy, society, culture, public policy or services … beyond academia" (Higher Education Funding Council, England (HEFCE), 2011, p. 48). In other words, the government's aim is to use REF to encourage universities to ensure that their research is used in the world beyond academia, for example by directly working with teachers and schools (Cain et al, 2019).…”

“…Various theories of change for why EIP should lead to improved teaching and student outcomes have been established (e.g. see Brown et al, 2017;Cain, 2015;Cain et al, 2019). Broadly these argue that, assuming they have both access and the capacity to do so, teachers can use a full gamut of evidence in relation to the decision-making that occurs as part of their work.…”

Learning by making: A framework to revisit practices in a constructionist learning environment

“…The findings of this paper will permit a more reflective practice, recognising that “the purpose of teaching is to inspire learning in others: to help students become autonomous and independent; to socialise them into ways of thinking and to enable them to learn subject‐specific content” (Cain et al, 2019, p. 6). As limitations, we believe that this framework could be adapted to analyse other educational spaces.…”

“…Articulating elements of practice and investigation is necessary for progress, as it allows reflection from pedagogical and epistemological points of view of what worked, and what did not, permitting students' learning and holistic development to be analysed and highlighted (Cain et al, 2019). Reflection-in-action (Schöon, 1987) encourages us to study a particular aspect of our knowledge at work, and to experiment as we engage in activities.…”