Beyond the rhetoric: Making research engagement a reality

Graham Handscomb, Honorary Professor, University College London, UK  Lofty ambition and dashed hopes? Teachers generally give warm welcome to the notion of using research evidence to hone and improve their practice. Yet this is not necessarily matched with any discernible impact in the classroom. A recent investigation by the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) reported that despite a ‘growing recognition of the potential for research evidence in the classroom to support teaching and learning, embedding it into everyday practice is no mean feat’ (Lord and Ward, 2019). Nelson and Walker’s survey of evidenced-based practice found that despite positive teacher attitudes and supportive school environments, ‘research evidence continues to play a relatively small role in influencing teachers’ decision-making’ (Nelson and Walker, 2019). Research engagement – an entitlement In order for research to be at the core of teachers’ day-to-day practice, it should