Is education being driven by the research or researchers?
Around 8% of the total workforce is in the education sector. All of us want every child to have an enriching learning experience. While that is the world we all dream of, are we keeping up well with the process?
As we all know, there are different roles in the world and so does the education sector.
While the roles are divided at different levels on paper, the image above is my perspective of how these roles are divided across the three levels. This might not be exactly the same in all geographies, but one would be able to relate to all.
All roles have their own on-paper responsibilities. Most often there are several factors that influence the actual events that are visible to us. Here is an example of the systemic view of the recent education reform in Delhi.
While we were just able to see the change in curriculum, there were several other things that led to that change - as mentioned in the image above. Who drives change or implementation of an idea/approach?
Here is a list of key influencers/drivers of an idea/approach in the education sector:
There are different actors, but there are different levels of research that are applied by everyone that contributes towards the effective implementation of any educational intervention.
While there is an organisational hierarchy that exists in the education sector, researchers are not at the top of the hierarchy but research is definitely at every level of research.
CoLab's work contributes to ensuring that all these levels of research are captured, packaged and disseminated as a public good. Our evidence-informed solution packages incorporate academic research, primary research and the experiences of education professionals and practitioners. And our projects are balanced with the following factors:
Need analysis from the practitioners, professionals and social purpose organisations.
Need analysis from academic research - for providing an enriching learning experience for every child.
Societal trend (current and futuristic)
Availability of resources
Political will
Please share your thoughts about the impact of research in the education sector.