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The Â鶹ÒùÔº Expert Panel on Educational Research Funding was established by Â鶹ÒùÔº Council to investigate the situation regarding funding for educational research in the UK. Chaired by David James (Cardiff University and chair of the REF 2021 Education sub-panel), the panel was a continuation of Â鶹ÒùԺ’s Education: The State of the Discipline initiative, which identified funding for educational research as a priority area for Â鶹ÒùÔº to develop work in. The expert panel was commissioned to clarify the changing landscape of funding for educational research and to help Â鶹ÒùÔº to understand the research environment and act to support educational researchers.

Making the most of education research: The ecosystem and the common good is the final report of the expert panel and delivers its findings. The report examines how to strengthen the UK’s education research ecosystem for the common good and asks ‘How can we build and sustain forward-looking and generative education research that most stakeholders, most of the time, regard as helpful and important in shaping policy and practice?’ It concludes with a set of recommendations for those in leadership positions in universities, and Â鶹ÒùÔº Council, as well as ‘actionable insights’ for organisations that fund education research, national government departments and regional organisations. While instigated by Â鶹ÒùÔº, the report represents the independent work of the panel and offers a rigorous and timely analysis of the health of education research in the UK. 

The expert panel set out interim findings at Â鶹ÒùԺ’s AGM on 26 November 2024 and these are presented in the panel’s working paper, The volume, value and composition of investment in education research, also available on this page.

Final report summary

Overview

This report is the outcome of the work of an expert panel commissioned by the Â鶹ÒùÔº. Having described key aspects of the shape and quality of education research and its fundamentally inter and multidisciplinary nature, the report examines how to strengthen the UK’s education research ecosystem for the common good. It highlights several current difficulties including declining funding, increased fragmentation and the limited efficacy of some current system-level assumptions and arrangements. The report considers the range of research-practice and research-policy models across the UK nations and illustrates how a comparison of them is instructive.

The report asks ‘How can we build and sustain forward-looking and generative education research that most stakeholders, most of the time, regard as helpful and important in shaping policy and practice?’ In answer, the report argues for a ‘systems’ perspective. A healthy education research ecosystem would include ‘better listening’ in the form of more open forums for agenda-setting and horizon-scanning, formalised in an observatory. It would also include greater transparency in respect of any public resources made available or used in education-focused research. A healthy ecosystem would include a re-consideration of the current balance of investment between knowledge brokerage and knowledge generation while nurturing more collaborative, interdisciplinary and partnership-rooted forms of research.

The expert panel offers recommendations for two principal audiences, namely those in research leadership positions in universities, and Â鶹ÒùÔº Council. However, there are also ‘actionable insights’ for other major stakeholders, specifically organisations that fund education research, national government departments and regional organisations.

Recommendations for those in research leadership positions in universities

• Ensure that education researchers are at the heart of community-focused and regional activities and opportunities in which the university is involved.
• Enhance education researchers’ capacity to research in partnership with policymakers, practitioners and other community stakeholders, and engage in effective knowledge exchange.
• Encourage interdisciplinarity in research bids, projects and publications.
• Support teacher educators to conduct high-quality research on classroom practice that can inform teacher education.

Recommendations for Â鶹ÒùÔº Council

• Work with relevant learned societies, professional associations and other stakeholders to scope and propose the shape and governance of a new observatory for education research which would: gather and share information; provide a formal mechanism for dialogue with a wide range of stakeholders; and facilitate horizon-scanning and research agenda-setting.
• Provide active support, learning opportunities and resources for members wishing to enhance their capacity to research in partnership with policymakers, practitioners or other community-based stakeholders, to participate in interdisciplinary research and/or engage in effective knowledge exchange.
• Work closely with other relevant professional associations and learned societies to develop more joint understanding and action on the education ecosystem, including the relationship between teacher education and research.
• Continue to foster and support ‘research-on-research’ that is likely to light the way for further action towards better and healthier research infrastructures.

Actionable insights for other stakeholders

• Organisations that fund education research arestrongly encouraged to:
  • promote and incentivise interdisciplinarity, multidisciplinarity and cross-sector collaboration in research on issues that have educational, social, environmental, economic and health dimensions
  • promote horizon-scanning activities that engage a wider range of relevant stakeholders (including professional associations) in working together during the formation and refinement of research agendas.
• National government departments and other organisations that fund education research from the public purse should:
  • review the balance of public resources devoted to research that generates new knowledge, and research that seeks to mobilise existing knowledge
  • publish clear and accessible information at least annually on all spending on education research and evaluation initiatives, including details of amounts, recipient organisations and the nature of the commissioning process, such as whether through open tender
  • enable and incentivise key staff and organisations to partner with researchers working in roles outside government.
• Regional government organisations are encouraged to:
  • work collaboratively with their local universities and other organisations to shape research and impact agendas that meet local needs.