Based partly on the personal experiences of the author, this chapter suggests that research use and impact in education should be discussed in a perspective of co-construction. It presents various forms of cooperative knowledge production in which researchers and practitioners communicating bi-directionally support mutual learning and adaptation. Most of these forms require attitudinal and behavioural changes on the part of both researchers and practitioners. Innovation and knowledge-management approaches could add a positive dimension to research use and impact.

International efforts to improve the use of educational research raise important questions about what it means to use research well in educational practice. To date, there has been wide-ranging debate about what counts as quality evidence, but very little dialogue about what counts as quality use. This chapter focuses on this idea of quality use (or using research well) and explores how it can be conceptualised, what it involves in practice, and how it can be supported. It draws on findings emerging from a five-year study of research use in Australian schools, which has involved a systematic review of international research as well as surveys and interviews with over 900 educators. The findings presented provide a frame with which to review current approaches to using and supporting research use. The work overall highlights the value of practitioner perspectives and the need for more work on using research well in education. 

This chapter presents different perspectives on what education research is, what types of research are relevant for policy and practice, and how research should be produced. The discussion is framed by some key questions that have emerged from decades of debate about the relevance of education research for teaching practice and policy. This is followed by short opinion pieces in which experts representing different countries, types of organisations and roles answer these questions from their own perspectives. The viewpoints include academia, policy, practice, funders, unions and teacher training. The chapter concludes with a set of convergences, divergences and open questions.

This chapter summarises the main lessons learnt from the volume. It begins by connecting the themes discussed in the publication with wider societal challenges. It then summarises six key lessons. Two relate to conceptual developments: The need for shared understanding, vocabulary and conceptual clarity; and a call to view policy and practice as two parts of the same whole rather than separate contexts. Three pertain to enabling systematic and high-quality production and use of research: The need to improve research quality and use it well; the need for deeper and more meaningful collaboration between researchers, policy makers and practitioners; and enhanced governance through renewed leadership, stronger incentives and appropriate funding. Finally, a last message calls for a greater focus on understanding “what works in what works’’. The chapter ends with a proposal to advance this agenda in two concrete ways.