What do we know?

It strikes me that the word evidence is being used in a very loose way at the moment. Even a cursory view of the twittersphere reveals that, depending on your personal viewpoint/political ideology, you can drag out some piece of research to back up your viewpoint. But does that count as evidence? If there was a crime and the police selectively used pieces of evidence to convict, there would be (and has been) an outcry. Yet in education, there never seems time in the minds of policy makers or activists to sit back and read the evidence for and against certain educational ideas, or even to read one whole piece (better to cherry pick the bit that confirms your view). And anecdotes, well, don't get me started. I could tell you all about the time...yes, I like a good anecdote with the rest, but please don't take one interesting story and use it as evidence that something does or does not work. Your education worked, or not, for you. I am willing that 'what worked' for you is different to what worked for others. This is where, for me, the craft of teaching, and a developing knowledge of evidence works. That's why I enjoy teaching teachers on postgraduate causes.

What do we know? This week has been a case in point re academies in England. We have had, for example:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2012/feb/25/academny-schools-fewer-gcses-study

and the response

http://www.education.gov.uk/inthenews/inthenews/a00204226/response-to-the-observer-article

There are also pieces by Local schools network - http://www.localschoolsnetwork.org.uk/2012/02/did-academy-results-grow-more-in-2011-not-when-compared-to-similar-schools/.


But has anyone sat down and looked at the evidence, all the evidence and come up with some clearly articulated pointers? Figures can be manipulated, and there is always a story behind them. Perhaps we need to research from an academic, less heated, 'I have to win the argument' point of view- critically, as I tell students. Surely we need more evidence before articulating academies as 'the' solution? Or, as one of my colleagues might say, does evidence just detract from political will to (in this case) privatise the system?

And what about the pupils? What do they think works, and what is the evidence?

Does context matter, and why? Now, here there is lots of evidence, but a great deal is in academic journals. I am wondering whether this blog should spend a few weeks collecting some evidence and summarising it.

In the meanwhile, what do we know? For me, the default position is- not enough.