
Similarly, in Australia in 2005, the National Inquiry into the Teaching of Literacy asserted that “teaching, learning, curriculum and assessment need to be more firmly linked to findings from evidence-based research indicating effective practices, including those that are demonstrably effective for the particular learning needs of individual children” (p.9). It recommended a national program to produce evidence-based guides for effective teaching practice, the first of which was to be on reading.
“Recommendation 5: The committee recommends that the Minister take up with Universities Australia the need to encourage a more rigorous and evidence-based approach to the preparation of trainee teachers in regard to literacy and mathematics method” (p.64).
In all, the Report used the term evidence-based 48 times. Unfortunately, in Australia, this potentially game-changing report has never been adopted by any government.
So, the implication is that education and research are not adequately linked in Australia. Why has education been so slow to attend to research as a source of practice knowledge? Carnine (1991) argued that the leadership has been the first line of resistance. He described educational policy-makers as lacking a scientific framework, and thereby inclined to accept proposals based on good intentions and unsupported opinions. Professor Cuttance, director of the Melbourne University's Centre for Applied Educational Research was equally blunt: “Policy makers generally take little notice of most of the research that is produced, and teachers take even less notice of it.” (Cuttance, 2005, p.5).
A recent study highlighted other potential hurdles within organisations. The Callen et al. (2017) study identified 3 barriers that policymakers must overcome in order to use the evidence that development researchers produce. First, their ability to interpret evidence was found to be lacking. Neither the policy makers nor their department staff were adept at analysing or interpreting data. Though they reported a belief in the potential value of consulting research, their organisational culture demanded decisions too quickly to enable careful analysis. Further, there was no value placed on research at the senior levels, many of whom were resistant to any change. Finally, decisions about the value of employing research findings tended to depend on whether the research-based finding were consistent with the policy-makers prior beliefs.
Carnine (1995b) pointed to teachers’ lack of training in seeking out and evaluating research for themselves. The teacher training institutions have not developed a research culture, and tend to view teaching as an art form - in which experience, personality, intuition, and creativity are the sole determinants of practice. For example, he estimated that fewer than one in two hundred teachers are experienced users of the ERIC educational database.
— They are far more likely to believe that the proper role of teacher is to be a "facilitator of learning" (84 percent) not a "conveyor of knowledge" (11 percent).
— Asked to choose between two competing philosophies of the role of teacher educator, 68 percent believe preparing students "to be change agents who will reshape education by bringing new ideas and approach to the public schools" is most important; just 26 percent advocate preparing students "to work effectively within the realities of today's public schools."
— Only 24 percent believe it is absolutely essential to produce "teachers who understand how to work with the state's standards, tests, and accountability systems."
— Just 39 percent found it absolutely essential "to create teachers who are trained to address the challenges of high-needs students in urban districts." Just 37 percent say it is absolutely essential to focus on developing "teachers who maintain discipline and order in the classroom."
Taking a different perspective, Meyer (1991, cited in Gable & Warren, 1993) blamed the research community for being too remote from classrooms. She argued that teachers will not become interested in research until its credibility is improved. Research is often difficult to understand, and the careful scientific language and cautious claims may not have the same impact as the wondrous claims of ideologues and faddists unconstrained by scientific ethics.
Fister and Kemp (1993) considered several obstacles to research-driven teaching, important among them being the absence of an accountability link between decision-makers and student achievement. Such a link was unlikely until recently, when regular mandated state or national test programs results became associated with funding. They also apportion some responsibility to the research community for failing to appreciate the necessity of adequately connecting research with teachers’ concerns. The specific criticisms included a failure to take responsibility for communicating findings clearly, and with the end-users in mind. Researchers have often validated practices over too brief a time-frame, and in too limited a range of settings to excite general program adoption across settings. Without considering the organizational ramifications (such as staff and personnel costs) adequately, the viability of even the very best intervention cannot be guaranteed. The methods of introduction and staff training in innovative practices can also have a marked bearing on their adoption and continuation.
Woodward (1993) pointed out that there is often a culture gulf between researchers and teachers. Researchers may view teachers as unnecessarily conservative and resistant to change; whereas, teachers may consider researchers as unrealistic in their expectations and lacking in understanding of the school system and culture. Teachers may also respond defensively to calls for change because of the implied criticism of their past practices, and the perceived devaluation of the professionalism of teachers. Leach (1987) argued that collaboration between change-agents and teachers is a necessary element in the acceptance of changes to practice. In his view, teachers need to be invited to make a contribution that extends beyond solely the implementation of the ideas of others. There are some signs that such a culture may be in the early stages of development. Viadero (2002) reported on a number of initiatives in which teachers have become reflective of their own work, employing both quantitative and qualitative tools. She also noted that the American Educational Research Association has a subdivision devoted to the practice.
Some have argued that science has little to offer education, and that teacher initiative, creativity, and intuition provide the best means of meeting the needs of students. For example, Weaver considered scientific research offers little of value to education (Weaver et al., 1997). “It seems futile to try to demonstrate superiority of one teaching method over another by empirical research” (Weaver, 1988, p.220). These writers often emphasise the uniqueness of every child as an argument against instructional designs that presume there is sufficient commonality among children to enable effective group instruction employing the same materials and techniques. Others have argued that teaching itself is ineffectual when compared with the impact of socioeconomic status and social disadvantage (Coleman et al., 1966; Jencks et al., 1972). Smith (1992) argued that only the relationship between a teacher and a child was important in evoking learning. Further, he downplayed instruction in favour of a naturalist perspective “Learning is continuous, spontaneous, and effortless, requiring no particular attention, conscious motivation, or specific reinforcement” (p.432). Still others view research as reductionist, and unable to encompass the wholistic nature of the learning process (Cimbricz, 2002; Poplin, 1988).
What sorts of consequences have arisen in other fields from failure to incorporate the results of scientific enquiry?
Galileo observed moons around Jupiter in 1610. Francesco Sizi’s armchair refutation of such planets was: There are seven windows in the head, two nostrils, two ears, two eyes and a mouth. So in the heavens there are seven - two favourable stars, two unpropitious, two luminaries, and Mercury alone undecided and indifferent. From which and many other similar phenomena of nature such as the seven metals, etc we gather that the number of planets is necessarily seven...We divide the week into seven days, and have named them from the seven planets. Now if we increase the number of planets, this whole system falls to the ground...Moreover, the satellites are invisible to the naked eye and therefore can have no influence on the earth and therefore would be useless and therefore do not exist (Holton & Roller, 1958, as cited in Stanovich, 1996, p.9).
Galileo taught us the value of controlled observation, whilst Sizi unintentionally highlighted the limitations of armchair theorising.
The failure to incorporate empirical findings into practice can have far-reaching consequences. Even medicine has had only a reletively brief history of attending to the findings of research. Early in the 20th century, medical practice was at a similar stage to that of education currently. For example, it was well known that bacteria played a critical role in infection, and 50 years earlier Lister had shown the imperative of antiseptic procedures in surgery. Yet, in this early period of the century, surgeons during operations were still wiping instruments on whatever unsterilised cloth that was handy, with dire outcomes for their patients.
More recently, advice from paediatrician Doctor Benjamin Spock to have infants sleep face down in their cots caused approximately sixty thousand deaths from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome in the USA, Great Britain and Australia between 1974 and 1991 according to researchers from the Institute of Child Health in London (Dobson & Elliott, 2005). His advice was not based upon any empirical evidence, but rather armchair analysis. The book, Baby and Child Care (Spock, 1946), was extraordinarily influential, selling more than 50 million copies. Yet, while the book continued to espouse this practice, reviews of risk factors for SIDS by 1970 had noted the risks for infants in the practice of having them sleep face down. In the 1990’s, when public campaigns altered this practice, the incidence of SIDS death halved within one year. In recent times, more and more traditional medical practices are being subjected to empirical test as the profession increasingly established credibility.
Are there examples in education in which practices based solely upon belief, unfettered by research support, have been