Evidence-Informed Policy and Practice in Education A Sociological Grounding [Hardcover]

Evidence use is now part of the rhetoric of educational research, policy and practice. Grounded in the contention that using evidence can help educationalists develop better solutions to the key issues facing teaching and learning today, Chris Brown seeks to develop a complex, rich and socially situated framework to aid researchers, practitioners and policy-makers to better understand how evidence-informed policy and practice can be successfully conceived and enacted.

InEvidence-Informed Policy and Practice in Education, Brown journeys through his past empirical work while also employing the ideas of a number of key social theorists and philosophers, including Baudrillard, Eco, Flybjerg, Kant and Aristotle, in order to give 'research on evidence use' a more rigorous conceptual underpinning. Examining and critiquing evidence use both by schools and government and critically engaging with topics as wide ranging as consumption and rationality, Brown concludes by setting out an overarching model of evidence-informed policy and practice. In doing so, he also provides a compelling vision for the future role of researchers both within this model and for the promotion of evidence generally.

Acknowledgements
Introduction
Part I: Policy
1. Research as Consumer Object
2. Issues and Solutions in Relation to Evidence-Informed Policy-Making
3. The Effects of the Hyper-Reality
Part II: Practice
4. Islands of Context
5. Individual Focus, Outstanding and Confident Performances
6. Scenes and Scenic Capital
Part III: Implications
7. What Does this Mean for Rationality?
8. What Does this Mean for Evidence-Informed Policy and Practice?
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index

Chris Brownis Lecturer in the London Centre for Leadership in Learning (LCLL) at the Institute of Education, University of London, UK. With a long-standing interest in how evidence can aid the development of policy and practil³÷