ABSTRACT
As British Educational Research Association (BERA) members well know, the relationship between research, policy and practice in education has been high on the agenda of the research and policy communities for a number of years now. In the UK it was highlighted in the mid-1990s, when a succession of commentators questioned the value and quality of much of the work of our community. It then became a particular issue for New Labour with its proclaimed commitment to evidence-informed policy and its emphasis on finding out and disseminating ‘what works’. But it is also an issue in other countries. For example, BERA has been active in fostering dialogue with education researchers in the USA, where the education research community is facing similar scrutiny in terms of the quality, relevance and impact of its work (See, for instance, the What Works Clearinghouse. See also Center for Education, 2004). Some of our Australian colleagues have been grappling with these same issues (see Yates, 2005).
