Scottish education system: knowledge utilisation study

6. Conclusions and discussion

This research project set out to understand how practitioners in Scotland engage with data and research and act on research evidence. It also looked at what factors influence practitioners’ ability to make the best use of evidence. In defining research evidence, the study included three main types: school level data, extant research findings and practitioner enquiry/action research.

This research comprised three strands: a literature review; a qualitative strand that gathered information from teachers, head teachers, Attainment Advisors and RIC leads across six local authorities; and a survey of practitioners across Scotland to help validate the findings from the second strand. While there are limitations in the extent to which we can generalise the findings from this research, the study highlights important issues for the education system regarding facilitating engagement with data and evidence in schools.

This section reflects on the main themes arising from our research and considers their related implications, some of which could inform future practice and policy. 

Time and workload

The most compelling factor seen as influencing practitioner engagement with research is that of time. The findings highlighted the importance of teachers having sufficient time to access, interpret and apply data and evidence. Teachers who engaged with data and research reported that their ability to access research and to engage in enquiry, beyond the basic use of school-level data, was constrained by their workload and time commitments. This may largely explain teachers’ reliance on easy to access and summary forms of research and information. While school planning, accessible research sources and personal motivation can offset the impact of time pressures on research engagement to some extent, the current nature of teachers’ workload acts as a systematic inhibitor to increased research engagement. These findings strongly indicate a need to consider how well teacher time commitments and workload matches expectations regarding teachers’ use of evidence and engagement with research.

Relationships between practitioners, researchers and policymakers

The literature and our findings highlight the importance of researchers working closely with practitioners and other partners to better convey research findings to influence practice and educational thinking but also to enhance research skills. Given this, the education and policy community could consider how academics and other partners, including local authority staff, Educational Psychologists and others can work more collaboratively at a local level with teachers to enhance their skills to use data and findings and explore implications for practice as well as to develop teachers’ critical enquiry capacity. This could include developing local collaborative hubs. The School Improvement Partnership Programme (2013-15) included aspects of this concept in its design, including university researchers, the national education improvement agency, local authority actors and teachers working together in local teams. 

The influence of key actors 

The findings identified a number of key actors that were important conduits for knowledge transfer and mobilisation. This included Attainment Advisors, Educational Psychologists and other allied professionals, academic researchers and other leads at school and local authority level. 

There is evidence of practitioners requiring more support to critically evaluate research evidence. Guidance from Attainment Advisors, educational psychologists and academic researchers is essential for supporting this process, at least initially. Attainment Advisors have an increasingly important role in acquiring research knowledge and mobilising this across the system, particularly in their local authorities.

Head teachers and other school leaders usually see it as their responsibility to keep abreast of knowledge on pedagogy and effective approaches. This makes them important intermediaries in knowledge translation. Moral and practical support from school leadership, the local authority and Attainment Advisors is crucial in building a culture of research engagement and capacity at local level. This highlights the importance of focusing efforts on promoting effective local authority and school leadership for promoting meaningful engagement with research and data.

These findings suggest that the education and policy community could explore how these actors can be further supported in their knowledge mobilisation and leadership roles.  

Resourcing research engagement across local systems

In addition to local authority and other personnel supporting practitioner research engagement, there were examples of local authority professional learning programmes aimed at building practitioners’ data and research capacity and skills. In some cases, however, there was a reduction in local CLPL as financial cut backs continued to affect this capacity. The value of investing in such central support to deploy specialists, provide CLPL and promote the transfer of knowledge across local authorities appears clear. 

The value of collaboration to foster engagement with research and data 

There were limited examples of collaborative practitioner research within and across schools. Where these occurred, they were often supported by external partners including; university colleagues, local authority personnel and Attainment Advisors. In some instances, the work was facilitated by the Attainment Scotland Fund. Such arrangements demonstrated that teams of teachers supported by their head teachers and focussed on a particular challenge could enhance the capacity of staff to systematically engage with data and research, develop their pedagogical expertise as well as their leadership skills.

Accessibility of research findings

A strong theme across the literature review and our empirical findings was the issue of how academic findings regarding education-based approaches could be more effectively conveyed to inform teachers’ practice. This included making such evidence more easily available but particularly, making the key messages from such literature clear and framed in a way that enables translation into action. Related to this issue was the finding that those involved in our research saw the value of working with academics to help promote practitioners’ data literacy and other research skills. This suggests there is scope for academics and policy partners, working with practitioners, to explore how research findings can be better communicated to the teaching profession while retaining appropriate rigour. The research literature states that making research findings accessible is only likely to make a difference to teacher practice and outcomes if a culture of research engagement is supported, with time to access, understand and apply this knowledge (e.g.: Hargreaves, 1999; Nutley & Davies, 2000; Williams and Coles; 2007).

Existing educational infrastructure 

Currently, at the policy level, the Scottish Attainment Challenge and the associated Attainment Scotland Fund are working as drivers to focus teachers’ attention on the value of evidence-based practice. Professional culture across Scottish education and national educational policy appear to be contributing to fostering teachers’ positive disposition to research engagement and using data to inform their practice. The resources and funding provided by the Attainment Scotland Fund has also helped build systems and capabilities that have fostered use of data and research. This has included resourcing staff to focus on data use and enquiry as well as drawing on external sources of expertise. As discussed in this section, there are also aspects of this professional environment which are less than conducive and present tensions for supporting practitioners’ engagement with research.

The findings also indicated that the education landscape is changing as the RICs are established. Some of the strategic participants in this study saw this as having implications for knowledge mobilisation and teacher engagement with data and research. Given that our research has highlighted the potential of local hubs or collaboratives that could support teacher engagement with data and research, further consideration could be given to how strategic RIC policies and approaches regarding knowledge mobilisation coherently articulate with, and support, the use of data and research locally.