Opportunities and Challenges of Using Systematic Reviews of Research for Evidence-based Policy in Education

In this paper we discuss the potential for using systematic reviews of research to inform policy in education against the background of severe criticisms of the quality and relevance of individual research studies, most recently by the Commission on the Social Sciences. The potential is set against the reality of conducting systematic reviews of research, following the procedures of the EPPI-Centre. The issues raised and discussed relate to: the specification of the review question, the selection of studies of various designs, the criteria for evaluating research and the identification of implications for users of research in education. The chief obstacles to more effective use of educational research are identified as the different discourses of researchers, practitioners and policy makers; obstacles that only genuinely closer working and mutual understanding of difference priorities, timescales and discourses can address.