Research teaching: what is "evidence-based education"?
The introduction of plain packaging to combat smoking and the development of the NutriScore nutrition label to help consumers better navigate food products are measures that were devised based on evidence-based public health research programs. This methodology—or "evidence-based practice"—has been developed in the medical field for more than three decades.
Sylvain Wagnon, University of Montpellier and Sihame Chkair, University of Montpellier
The World Health Organization has defined it as a major tool for developing new knowledge, evaluating the effects of new practices, and making decisions in the field of public health and healthcare.
Based on so-called conclusive data, this rigorous, experimental scientific research produces evidence, creating a pyramid, a hierarchy in which quantitative research is considered more statistically reliable than qualitative and collaborative research.
Is this type of work, based on comparative assessments using quantitative and observable criteria, relevant in the field of education?
Measuring the effectiveness of educational programs
The use of evidence-based data is not new in education. The very idea of quantitative testing has been around since the early20th century, with psychologist Alfred Binet, inventor of intelligence tests and pioneer of the concept of IQ, and Belgian educator Ovide Decroly, a leading figure in the New Education movement, who developed mental tests for students.
For the past decade, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has been advocating for evidence-based international standards. In France, the National Education Scientific Council, created in 2018, following the example of other institutions in the United States, the United Kingdom, Denmark, and the Netherlands, recommends the development of evidence-based quantitative scientific research. The stated objective of what is known as translational research is to enable research to have an immediate impact on teaching practices. By claiming to be scientific and indisputable, evidence-based research underpins the possibility of a direct transition from research to the classroom.
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Can a methodology alone be enough to define an effective practice or even a specific teaching method? One of the risks is turning evidence into dogma, creating a hierarchy among scientific research, or even discrediting research that does not use evidence, such as applied or collaborative research. The very definition of evidence in education is linked to its use: it is about transforming teaching and, in particular, learning methods.
The evidence-based methodology aims to highlight "what works," what is effective. Some researchers ask the question: Is effectiveness a worthy goal for education? Indeed, what do we mean by effective? Is it about training future citizens of a democratic society or future workers, and if so, which ones? Is it about developing individuals' fulfillment and well-being?
By incorporating the issue of effectiveness, the evidence-based methodology also raises the question of transforming teaching practices. But is evidence of the effectiveness of an educational program sufficient to ensure that it will have a positive impact in the classroom? If we compare the act of teaching to cooking a meal, it seems obvious that a recipe is necessary, which is what evidence-based data promises to provide. However, the role of the cook is essential: their intuition, experience, choice of ingredients, context, and timing are just as important as the recipe for the dish to be a success!
Vary research frameworks to capture the complexity of situations
Nevertheless, evidence-based methodology offers the possibility of rigorous, scientific research based on relevant and meaningful panels. The transition from research to practice, from the laboratory to the classroom, is key to the successful integration of new teaching practices in a changing world. In France, evidence-based research is growing on the possible integration of new practices such as outdoor schooling, yoga, meditation, and the development of psychosocial skills.
For evidence to be truly illuminating, we cannot limit ourselves to analyzing measurable and quantifiable data. Education is a complex phenomenon that requires us to take into account multiple parameters related to context, environment, time management, students, spaces, and the mindsets of the various stakeholders, including students, teachers, non-teaching adults, and parents.
The influence of evidence-based data in public education policy is growing. It is one method among many that can provide tools to aid decision-making. Making scientific knowledge more accessible and enabling teachers, who play a key role in the success of such a transfer, to appropriate and integrate knowledge from research and studies is a prerequisite for the successful transformation of education systems.
In order to evolve, our education system needs reliable scientific research, regardless of the methodology chosen. The transition from research to classroom practice is never straightforward. Making teachers key players in research and giving them the opportunity to influence it through their experience opens up new perspectives for better understanding the educational process and also enables us to resolve the many challenges facing education.
Sylvain Wagnon, Professor of Education Sciences, Faculty of Education, University of Montpellier and Sihame Chkair, Doctor of Health Economics and PhD student in Education Sciences, University of Montpellier
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