What is wrong with evidence based educational research?

Is evidence based research of use to teachers?

Evidence based educational research studies claim to determine good teaching methods and best practices based on an understanding of learning outcomes. But are the claims made by research studies useful to practicing teachers? What should educational research focus on? 

Prof. Richard Pring

Oxford University, UK

Education is a conversation between generations of mankind, and in a good conversation you cannot anticipate the outcome. Outcome based educational research is a deeply flawed idea. At the heart of educational research, is critical deliberation on the kind of person one wants education to develop.

Teachers should be seen as researchers, not deliverers of education.

18 minute synopsis |Click here to watch the complete talk

Prof. Robin Barrow

Simon Fraser University, Canada.

Empirical research focuses on the observable and the measureable, and reinforces the idea that humans are no more than automata who respond to stimuli.

To understand humans and their interaction, one needs to understand their reasoning, to enter their minds, to know their intentions. 

19 minute synopsis | Click here to watch the complete talk

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