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Sub group reports and early publicationsThe sub-group reports are working documents and are intended to stimulate debate and discussion. The issues raised in these reports informed the Forum’s consultation document, ‘Research and Development for Education: A National Consultation Strategy.’ When writing these reports the sub-group members consulted various written sources and, in most cases, expert witnesses.A list of the reports are: • Research funding • Quality • Impact • Priorities • Capacity building Research Funding NERF published a report on education research funding in 2000. This report recommended the setting up of an education research funders' forum to help provide a conduit for funders to share funding priorities and develop good practice e.g. in collaborative funding. Educational research in England is funded from a variety of sources and performed in a variety of institutions. But early on the group was driven to the decision that it would be impossible to map all this activity accurately within a reasonable period of time and without spending considerable amounts of time and money on the task. To find out more about research funding, you can read the report by clicking here Quality The quality of research is notoriously difficult to define and to judge. Many organisations and individuals make judgements as part of their daily work and have developed approaches to the task. Purposes vary - from selecting projects for funding, to assessing the worth of evidence for decision-making. The methods and criteria used inevitably vary too. Our sub-group which convened in 2000 and chaired by Chris Grey of the Judge Institute of Management have published their findings Quality of Educational Research here. Impact There has long been concern that research has too little influence on actual practice or on the formation of policy. This concern is expressed in many sectors, including education. Concern centres on both the under-utilisation of research findings and theory by people working in practice and policy and, conversely on the difficulties these people experience when trying to make use of these. Read what our sub-group (chaired by David Hargreaves) reported on the subject The Impact of Educational Research on Policy and Practice Priorities Research in England is undertaken according to priorities established by each funding organisation separately. Some degree of coordination is achieved through communication between major funders. Greater coherence in setting priorities to enable separate projects to complement or build upon one another calls for the development of priority setting systems and the establishment of widely agreed priorities. Establishing priority issues in the policy and practice of education is an important first step. Determining priorities for research and development from these would be the next important step. NERF’s sub-group chaired by Carol Adams of the General Teaching Council for England has published their report on priorities. Read their findings on Identifying Research Priorities Capacity Building Research capacity is about the resources available in the education system for carrying out research as well as using it. For research providers capacity includes the following dimensions: • Sufficiency of researchers to undertake commissioned research speedily and giving value for money and high quality • Diversity of approaches and methods • Ability to innovate, reflect on existing practice and seek continual improvement Capacity issues for users include: • Ability to identify where existing research can be used • Identify research gaps and devise ways of seeking to fill these • Ability to distinguish good research from bad and understand the need to reconcile different research studies where these give contrasting results NERF’s sub-group published a report entitled Building Research Capacity which is available for you to read. |
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