Still Searching for the Evidence? Evidence-based Policy, Performance Pay and Teachers

2009 ◽  
Vol 51 (1) ◽  
pp. 75-94 ◽  
Author(s):  
Catherine Farrell ◽  
Jonathan Morris
Keyword(s):  
Policy Development ◽  
Performance Pay ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Secondary Sources ◽  
Policy Performance ◽  
Evidence Based Policy ◽  
Development Processes ◽  
Teachers Attitudes ◽  
The Uk

The evidence based policy (EBP) movement became prominent in the UK in the late 1990s, portrayed as an ideology-free method of policy development and implementation. This article assesses the EBP claims by analysing a case study of one piece of policy implementation, namely the introduction of performance-related pay (PRP) for schoolteachers in England and Wales. Using primary and secondary sources, the article argues that while previous evidence was brought into the policy development processes, it was largely ignored. Indeed, prosaic political considerations may well have shaped the policy. Indeed, the teachers' attitudes towards PRP suggest that few of the objectives will be met.

scholarly journals Use of evidence in policy making in South Africa: An exploratory study of attitudes of senior government officials

2015 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gemma Paine Cronin ◽  
Mastoera Sadan
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Policy Development ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Policy Cycle ◽  
Government Officials ◽  
Evidence Use ◽  
High Resource ◽  
Evidence Based Policy ◽  
The Uk

This paper outlines a 2011 study commissioned by the Presidency’s Programme to Support Pro-Poor Policy Development (PSPPD) which promotes evidence-based policy making (EBPM) in South Africa. EBPM refers to norms, initiatives and methods aimed at improving evidence-based policy in countries from which South Africa traditionally borrows public service reforms, particularly the UK and Canada. The study provides a descriptive snapshot of attitudes to evidence-use in policy making. All 54 senior government officials interviewed felt that evidence-use is too limited to ensure relevant, effective policy responses. This includes policies on which complex results depend and those with long-term and high-resource implications. Although all respondents regarded EBPM as self-evidently desirable, there were different views on practical application. Examples provided suggest that, where evidence was used, it was very often related to a borrowed international policy without a prior evidencedrivenanalysis of successes and failures or its relevance and feasibility in terms of local issuesand context. Policy makers generally know they should be making optimal use of availableevidence, but highlighted systemic barriers beyond the influence of individual managersto resolve. The study suggests that improved use of evidence throughout the policy cycle,particularly in analysing problems and needs, is a requirement for learning through evidencebased policy development. It suggests that political and administrative leadership will need to agree on norms, ways of dealing with the barriers to effective use of evidence and on the role of each throughout the policy cycle in ensuring appropriate evidence is available and used.

The political economy of and practical policies for inclusive growth—a case study of Scotland

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald Houston ◽  
Georgiana Varna ◽  
Iain Docherty
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Policy Development ◽  
Regional Governance ◽  
Community Empowerment ◽  
Inclusive Growth ◽  
Key Policy ◽  
Inclusive Governance ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Civic Institutions

Abstract The concept of ‘inclusive growth’ (IG) is discussed in a political economy framework. The article reports comparative analysis of economic and planning policy documents from Scotland, England and the UK and findings from expert workshops held in Scotland, which identify four key policy areas for ‘inclusive growth’: skills, transport and housing for young people; city-regional governance; childcare; and place-making. These policies share with the ‘Foundational Economy’ an emphasis on everyday infrastructure and services, but add an emphasis on inter-generational justice and stress the importance of community empowerment as much as re-municipalisation. Factors enabling IG policy development include: the necessary political powers; a unifying political discourse and civic institutions; and inclusive governance and participatory democracy.

Can Complexity Move UK Policy beyond ‘Evidence-Based Policy Making’ and the ‘Audit Culture’? Applying a ‘Complexity Cascade’ to Education and Health Policy

2011 ◽  
Vol 60 (1) ◽  
pp. 20-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Geyer
Keyword(s):  
Health Policy ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Policy Response ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Visual Metaphor ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Audit Culture ◽  
Education And Health ◽  
Evidence Based Policy ◽  
The Uk

For much of the twentieth century UK public policy has been based on a strong centralist, rationalist and managerialist framework. This orientation was significantly amplified by New Labour in the 1990s and 2000s, leading to the development of ‘evidence-based policy making’ (EBPM) and the ‘audit culture’ – a trend that looks set to continue under the current government. Substantial criticisms have been raised against the targeting/audit strategies of the audit culture and other forms of EBPM, particularly in complex policy areas. This article accepts these criticisms and argues that in order to move beyond these problems one must not only look at the basic foundation of policy strategies, but also develop practical alternatives to those strategies. To that end, the article examines one of the most basic and common tools of the targeting/audit culture, the aggregate linear X-Y graph, and shows that when it has been applied to UK education policy, it leads to: (1) an extrapolation tendency; (2) a fluctuating ‘crisis–success' policy response process; and (3) an intensifying targeting/auditing trend. To move beyond these problems, one needs a visual metaphor which combines an ability to see the direction of policy travel with an aspect of continual openness that undermines the extrapolation tendency, crisis–success policy response and targeting/auditing trend. Using a general complexity approach, and building on the work of Geyer and Rihani, this article will attempt to show that a ‘complexity cascade’ tool can be used to overcome these weaknesses and avoid their negative effects in both education and health policy in the UK.

scholarly journals Evaluation, Science and Pragmatism

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas Huntington
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Political Party ◽  
Policy Development ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Doctoral Research ◽  
Aotearoa New Zealand ◽  
Evidence Based Policy ◽  
Research Uptake ◽  
Policy Work ◽  
Good Policy

In Aotearoa New Zealand, as elsewhere, the evidence-based policy movement has been one of the most visible recent influences on how policies are described, discussed and debated. It is now commonly taken for granted that good policy work involves using evidence, and that it is important to increase the influence of data and research uptake during policy development. Promoting evidence-based policy has even been used as the raison d’être for the founding of a political party. However, the voices and perspectives of practitioners themselves are often missing from conversations about evidence’s role in policy work. Drawing on my doctoral research, this article presents three stances that frame how policy workers approach evidence in their practice.

Can Citizen Science Seriously Contribute to Policy Development?

2020 ◽  
pp. 1726-1741
Author(s):  
Colin Chapman ◽  
Crona Hodges
Keyword(s):  
Citizen Science ◽  
Policy Development ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Design Strategies ◽  
Quality Of Data ◽  
Evidence Based Policy ◽  
Data Gaps

This chapter considers the potential for citizen science to contribute to policy development. A background to evidence-based policy making is given, and the requirement for data to be robust, reliable and, increasingly, cost-effective is noted. The potential for the use of ‘co-design' strategies with stakeholders, to add value to their engagement as well as provide more meaningful data that can contribute to policy development, is presented and discussed. Barriers to uptake can be institutional and the quality of data used in evidence-based policy making will always need to be fully assured. Data must be appropriate to the decision making process at hand and there is potential for citizen science to fill important, existing data-gaps.

scholarly journals The new evidence-based policy: public participation between ‘hard evidence’ and democracy in practice

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 209-227
Author(s):  
Helen Pallett
Keyword(s):  
Public Participation ◽  
Science Policy ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Advantages And Disadvantages ◽  
Evidence Based Policy ◽  
Hard Evidence ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Uk

Background:Debates about evidence-based policy (EBP) were revived in the UK in the 2010s in the context of civil service reform and changing practices of policy making, including institutionalisation of public participation in science policy making. Aims and objectives:This paper aims to explore this revival of interest in EBP in the context of the Government-funded public participation programme Sciencewise, which supports and promotes public dialogues in science policy making. It is based on in-depth ethnographic study of the programme during 2013, considering the impacts on Sciencewise practices and working understandings of engaging in the EBP debate. There is a particular focus on the advantages and disadvantages of categorising public participation as a source of evidence-based policy as opposed to presenting participation as a democratic act which is separate from discussions of EBP. Key conclusions:At different times Sciencewise actors moved between these stances in order to gain credibility and attention for their work, and to situate the outcomes of public participation processes in a broader policy context. In some instances the presentation of outputs from public participation processes as legitimate evidence for policy gave them greater influence and enriched broader discussions about the meaning and practice of open policy. However, it also frequently led to their dismissal on methodological grounds, inhibiting serious engagement with their outputs and challenging internal frameworks for evaluation and learning.

Lyme disease politics and evidence‑based policy making in the UK

2019 ◽  
pp. 319-326
Author(s):  
Kate Bloor
Keyword(s):  
Lyme Disease ◽  
Critical Analysis ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Policy Issue ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Real World Evidence ◽  
Socially Relevant ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Policy And Science

There are few ‘accepted’ approaches to dealing with tick- borne infections (including Lyme disease) that have not been challenged. This case study looks at my role in UK Lyme patient’s activism and policy change (for example, related to the NICE clinical guidelines process) focussing on one specific policy issue. It shows how critical analysis of scientific, clinical and other real- world evidence drew on and reflected the ethos of the Radstats network. It is a story showing how I worked with others with statistical skills - using science and evidence to challenge policy successfully. It explains how communities can take action, while using or creating scientific knowledge - to improve policy and people’s health. It shows how networks of communities can engage through social change (based on an understanding of policy and science) to make it more socially relevant and responsive, as well as more scientifically robust.

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