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Introduction: themes of the book

This chapter illustrates the difficulties of public policy-making in education. Within this sector, policy-making is evidence-informed, meaning that policy-makers and their advisers come up with ideas for changes in policy, which may or may not be based on solid research evidence. Some of these ideas are implemented and can be evaluated in terms of their policy objectives. Policy-makers and their advisers then react to this newer evidence, and the improving cycle of policy continues. The chapter argues that, in reality, the cycle is nothing like this. In education, new policies and interventions are rarely based on good prior evidence of effectiveness and of their side effects. Many policy areas are evidence-resistant, in fact. Evidence-resistant here means that the policies are proposed and implemented, even though the clear weight of evidence is against them.