Chapter 27 - Key Themes and Future Directions for Implementation Science and Psychology in Education

Summary

Implementation science offers organising evidence-based principles and re-focussing frameworks which create a more clearly defined role for professionals delivering psychology in education. The practitioners' influence seems to be linked at a fundamental level to a range of very individual factors, for example, their views, attitudes, skills, knowledge and even style of delivery. Implementation science has a central role to play in the overall development of schools and wider educational contexts, for example, in relation to creating effective policy and organisational ethos, both of which may affect the effectiveness of any psychological intervention. It is indispensable to the usefulness and effectiveness of psychology in education, offering a wide-ranging evidence base outlining fundamental requirements for the success of interventions. Implementation science redefines concepts of real, scientific, evidence-based and effective built on an expanded epistemology and methodology which sits comfortably alongside the traditional perspectives offered by empiricism.