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Can Research Contribute to Improve Educational Practice?

Part of: Current Debate in Psychology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 September 2020

Marta Ferrero Open the ORCID record for Marta Ferrero [Opens in a new window]
Marta Ferrero*
Affiliation:
Universidad Complutense (Spain)
*
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Marta Ferrero. Departamento de Investigación y Psicología en Educación de la Universidad Complutense. Rector Royo Villanova, s/n, Ciudad Universitaria. 28040 Madrid. E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

Teaching a diverse classroom is a challenging task. Educators are faced daily with the difficult task of making many decisions about how to educate each of their students. To do this, they mainly rely on their experience and that of their colleagues, their values, and thoughts. Although they are inherent and important in the profession of teaching, sometimes these resources may not suffice to make the best decisions, particularly when teachers are continuously bombarded with numerous fads and poorly grounded ideas about education. In this context, research-informed practice emerges as a promising approach. It involves integrating the professional expertise of teachers with the best evidence of researchers to make better decisions and improve education. However, for this approach to be successfully implemented, the gap between researchers and practitioners must first be bridged. The possible solutions to this challenge involve acting in three contexts: research production, research communication and research use. Specific measures in each of these contexts are described.

Keywords

educationresearch-informed practiceresearchersteachers.
Type
Research Article
Information
The Spanish Journal of Psychology , Volume 23 , 2020 , e33
Copyright
© Universidad Complutense de Madrid and Colegio Oficial de Psicólogos de Madrid 2020

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Footnotes

Conflicts of Interest. None.

This research received no specific grant from any funding agency, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

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