ABSTRACT
When the SUPER partnership was formed in 1997, there were some things that we were clear about and other things about which we knew we were ignorant. Among the things that we thought we knew was that we had a common interest in educational research, and that that common interest stemmed from a shared belief that the primary purpose of educational research is to inform practice. We shared, and still share, the view that if educational research does not lead to educational practice that is in some sense better – more thoughtful, more just, more effective, more rewarding for pupils or teachers – then there is not much point to it. We also shared the view that there was ‘room for improvement’ in what educational research was achieving, and therefore in how it was done. And, although there was much less clarity or consensus among us about how it could be done better, we shared sufficient confidence in the idea of a schools-university research partnership to be willing to invest a good deal of effort in exploring the possibilities of such a partnership.
