Realising the potential for evidence-informed policy and practice in primary schools

This article considers how primary school staff may be supported with developing their capacity for ‘evidence-informed policy and practice’ (EIPP) through partnerships involving academic researchers. It reports on one such partnership, a collaborative research project focused on improving the transition between key stages of the National Curriculum for pupils in the middle years of schooling. A case study of one participating primary school is presented. The headteacher opportunistically capitalised on the unexpected evidence emerging during the project that the vision for the school held by members of the senior management team had not been communicated to other teachers. The headteacher's response was to initiate a management review involving all staff. It is suggested that this sort of approach to collaborative research involving school staff and academic researchers holds great promise as a starting point for many initiatives to strengthen the evidence base informing school policy and practice