ABSTRACT
This chapter shows how the relationship between educational research and practice and the ecosystem in which they sit have evolved, particularly in England. It highlights the range of different knowledge traditions in the field of educational research and their shared relevance to teacher professionalism. The chapter focuses on the phenomenon of ‘post-truth’ and its implications for how teachers think about evidence and evidence-informed practice. It provides a critique of recent tendencies in school-based research not with a view to dismissing them out of hand but to point to the importance of their being seen as part of a wider field of research. The chapter argues that teachers themselves should be properly engaged with a range of approaches to educational enquiry as part of their professional practice. It analyses the memory of other important school-focused traditions of research that have been at least as important in enhancing the quality of education as the enthusiasm for ‘what works’.
