Past event

Opening Pathways from Critical Research to Policy

30 May 2019

Online registration has now closed. If you want to attend this event, please email events@bera.ac.uk for details of how to register onsite.

In 2015 BERA critical education researchers took a symposium to AERA Annual Meeting that asked how they might enhance the relationship between policy and critical educational research. Answers proposed at and developed through the symposium, plus some others, are in a special issue of Policy Futures in Education entitled ‘From Critical Research to Policy’ (2018) and include:

deepening understanding of and documenting relationships between critical research and policy, whether it highlights absences, marginalisation or exemplifies productive relationships between critical research and policy;
reconsidering roles critical researchers might adopt in respect of policy influence beyond that of education critic;
making informed and selective decisions about where and with whom to seek relationships to engage public opinion or co-produce knowledge.

While the researchers proposed new ways that they might work to mitigate barriers between their work and policy, some of the most persistent barriers are structurally or discursively demarcated. Such barriers act to limit individuals’ capacity to forge productive relationships between research and policy. In this conference we build upon our work to consider how collective endeavour might expand the limits of researcher agency.

The programme includes presentation of cases and recent research to highlight the barriers and enablers in forming productive relations between critical research and policy. These cases will inform open discussions amongst participants that consider how we might work upon the structural barriers between critical research and policy in education policy framing, higher education and research infrastructure. The purpose for the discussion is to pool our knowledge and set an agenda for opening pathways from critical research to policy, identifying the different arenas where change might happen and the levers we might employ to bring about change.

PROGRAMME

09.30	Registration and refreshments
10.00	Welcome and introduction
10.05	Re-assembling the rules: becoming crafty with how research can inform policy and practice Prof Emma Renold, Cardiff University
10.50	Research, policy and practice – nurturing productive interfaces Fay Skevington
11.15	Refreshments break
11.35	Establishing a media centre for educational research in Australia Assoc Prof Anna Sullivan, University of South Australia
11.55	From critical research to policy: introduction for the discussions Dr Ruth Boyask, Auckland University of Technology
12.15	Facilitated discussion on the possibilities and constraints of policy influence with Prof Ruth Lupton, Prof Liz Todd and Prof Gabrielle Ivinson.
13.00	Lunch
13.50	Facilitated discussion on planning for change with Prof Ruth Lupton, Prof Liz Todd and Prof Gabrielle Ivinson.
14.50	Plenary – setting an agenda and developing a plan of action for opening pathways from critical research to policy with Dr Ruth Boyask
15.25	Completion of evaluation forms
15.30	End of event

PRE-READING MATERIAL:

Anna Sullivan
MCERA Overview 2019
MCERA_2018_Annual_Report

Liz Todd
Developing a children’s community in the west end Laing Todd 2015
Poverty Report
Theory of change guide
Laing Mazzoli Smith Todd 2018

Ruth Boyask
Boyask Vigurs 2018
Boyask Vigurs Lubienski 2018

Ruth Lupton
Lupton Hayes 2018

Gabrielle Ivinson
Ivinson et al 2018

Websites:
Emma Renold
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/anaw/2015/3/crossheading/education/enacted
http://agenda.wales/
Fay Skevington
https://oldhamopportunityarea.co.uk/

General
Special Issue: From Critical Research to Policy https://journals.sagepub.com/toc/pfea/16/2
Royal Society British Academy Harnessing Educational Research https://royalsociety.org/-/media/policy/projects/rs-ba-educational-research/educational-research-report.pdf

BURSARIES

The BERA Early Career Researcher Network offers a limited amount of bursaries to the value of £75 towards travel for BERA Student Members only.

To apply for one of these bursaries, please email events@bera.ac.uk with a 250 word statement on why you want to attend this event and why you need the financial assistance. Bursaries are offered on a first come, first served basis. Travel expenses will be reimbursed after the event in accordance with our travel policies. You must not have previously received bursary funding from BERA.