Coe’s manifesto will prove a good starting point for policy workers and school leaders keen to research the benefits and practicalities of evidence-based teaching and education.
Manifesto for evidence-based education
Synopsis
Coe argues that in the UK too many policies have been imposed on schools without adequate evidence about their likely effects and costs. Writing at the end of the 1990s, he argues that such an approach is a waste of public money and professionals' time.
While education may not be an exact science, Coe argues it is too important an element of society to allow it to be determined by unfounded opinion, whether of politicians, teachers, researchers or anyone else.
He highlights three main ways in which education could become more evidence-based: the development of evidence-based policies; of evidence-based practice; and the general promotion of a 'culture of evidence'.