Impact and research: approach to policy

In this paper I examine the question of how educational research might reconnect with policy implementation in education. There is evidence in recent times of a growing gulf between significant pieces of educational research and their impact on policy. This paper identifies a politically constructed critique of education at the heart of the framing of current educational policy which is at odds with major pieces of educational research. This mismatch undermines the ability of such research to impact on policy. However I will also outline reasons for thinking this situation may not continue much longer.