The new national school evidence institute – lost in review

Sound evidence is readily found on issues ranging from class sizes, reading instruction, classroom structures, school and principal leadership and autonomy, through to testing, transparency and homework. One just needs to look.

How the new institute will overcome this problem is unclear.

Regardless of the form it eventually takes, the institute’s research will probably be accused of bias, its recommendations inevitably compromised, and — even if useful proposals are developed — implementation will be thwarted at many levels and take many years to have any impact on outcomes.

With the reputed costs of the institute to be $100-200 million, one could be forgiven for lamenting another expensive window-dressing exercise to persuade the sector and the community that something is being done to address our nation’s education decline.

And to add to the confusion, the New South Wales Association of Independent Schools just announced a new AISNSW Evidence Institute to do education research – not to be mistaken for the AISNSW Institute launched in October 2015 to perform a similar task (which then became defunct).

And when it comes to the matter of education research, just what is it our universities do again…?