ABSTRACT
The relationship between research, policy and practice has been high on the agenda in education for a number of years now. Within this agenda the idea that teaching should develop into a so-called 'evidence-based' profession with a strong emphasis on student outcomes 'has become influential in many countries around the world'. Doubts about the quality and value of educational research to inform practice and policy in education and teacher education are not new, and neither is the debate about the need for an evidence-based teaching profession. In a recent publication by Butt, which aims to support teachers who are undertaking research in geography education, Morgan describes much research in geography education as 'Methodist'. By this he means 'that much discussion of research in geography education is subject to an ideology which encourages an overly respectful and unnecessary attention to questions of method'.
