A framework similar to that of medicine so that educational research is applied in the classrooms

BarcelonaAlthough more and more children are going to school, learning outcomes remain low in many parts of the world. To reverse this situation, there are studies that support the success of different educational programs, but their implementation remains a challenge. Now an international team of researchers led by the University of Oxford has proposed a new scientific framework to ensure that educational policies that work in pilot projects can be successfully applied on a large scale and help resolve the learning crisis affecting children around the world.

According to the study's conclusions, the main obstacle is that educational research has traditionally focused on small, highly controlled pilot studies, the results of which are often not replicated or do not have the same impact when governments apply them on a massive scale. "The frontier between educational research and practice is improving implementation. There is growing evidence about what works; now we need to translate this evidence into action and systematically study the process," assures researcher Noam Angrist, who is the lead author of the study published this Thursday by the journal Science.With the goal of reducing the gaps between scientific evidence and the implementation of educational projects, the authors propose looking to the field of medicine. They state that scientists who research how to improve human health have managed to reduce the delay that has historically existed between the discoveries made every day and their implementation in clinical practice, that is, their arrival to patients.

"Implementation science"

Thus, the authors propose a four-stage framework to convert educational research into "effective and equitable practice" at scale: efficacy trials, effectiveness trials, policy plans, and large-scale implementation. First, it is necessary to check whether interventions work in diverse populations and settings, as well as whether they are affordable and sustainable. Proofs of concept on a small scale in artificially controlled environments and large-scale tests executed by the governments themselves.

If they demonstrate that they work and can be scaled, science must be transformed into laws, frameworks, and decrees that can put it into practice. Once these rules are drafted, the last point indicated by the experts is that the actual deployment of the program in schools must be carried out. For Angrist, ensuring that science is implemented "can help all children learn," which is why he argues that all those responsible must be involved so that it becomes a reality.

The ultimate goal of this initiative is to ensure that scientific research responds to the real challenges of executors and policymakers to guarantee effective, equitable, and sustained learning for all children in the world. The researcher cites as an example the What Works Hub for Global Education,an institution that will support research using the methodology set out in this article to advance "the science of implementation," and concludes that "more efforts of this type are needed."