Changing models of research to inform educational policy

This contribution focuses on a single English research study, the ‘Effective Provision of Pre-school and Primary Education’ (EPPE), to illustrate new forms of partnership working between those who design and conduct research and those who use it for policy. It will be argued that the blunt differentiation of roles into ‘researcher’ and ‘user’ impedes the capacity of research to be closely aligned with policy and of policy to be shaped and implemented in the light of research. EPPE can be considered an example of ‘use-inspired basic research’ (Furlong & Oancea, 2006).