ENGLAND has received a rare international accolade for its “remarkable” attention to education research and development.

An Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development draft report praises recent government initiatives to turn teaching into a “research-based profession”. But it says more could be done to disseminate studies - for example, through Internet-based networks.

The Department for Education and Skills is preparing a website giving digests of articles from academic journals, and it is expected to go live by the end of the year.

Meanwhile, other bodies are doing their bit to make research more accessible to teachers, including the General Teaching Council for England (GTCE), which has a “research of the month” section on its website. Selected for their relevance to classroom practice, recent studies here have compared different types of study support, and looked at alternatives to exclusion, and ICT for teaching and learning.

The Evidence for Policy and Practice Centre also reviews research studies. Though the centre is based at London University’s Institute of Education, the reviews are carried out by groups of specialists around the country.

One group, sponsored by the National Union of Teachers and the GTCE, has reviewed studies on the impact of continuing professional development on teaching and learning. Others have looked at research into anything from the effects of assessment to the impact of technology on literacy.

But is there enough useful research coming out of the universities to justify the effort going into making it more available? Philippa Cordingley, chief executive of the Centre for the Use of Research and Evidence in Education, which is producing research digests for the new DfES website, said: “A lot of articles in the academic journals are reflective think-pieces, which have an important part to play, but aren’t very good entry points for someone who is not necessarily convinced that research is a virtue in its own right.

“So it’s not always easy to find empirical research ... that speaks directly to the concerns of teachers.”

That could change, thanks partly to the Teaching and Learning Research Programme. Managed by the Economic and Social Research Council, this multi-million pound project aims to develop studies which improve outcomes for learners. And teachers themselves are gaining more influence over research through such bodies as the Teacher Training Agency’s national teacher research panel.

Jill Wilson, the West Sussex head who chairs the panel, sees the push to involve teachers in research as a way of giving them more control of the school improvement agenda. “If improvement is going to take place, it is going to happen through teachers in the classroom,” she said.

As part of its drive to turn teaching into a “research and evidence-informed profession”, the TTA has funded school-based research consortia to pilot ways of involving teachers in all stages of research, and given grants to individuals for classroom-based studies.

The National College for School Leadership has also set up networked learning communities to encourage teachers both to use research and do their own. Some 40 networks of between six and 20 schools started work in September.

Philippa Cordingley estimates around 10,000 teachers are involved in national research initiatives. But she believes this number could double within three years.

See www.gtce.org.ukresearchhttp:eppi.ioe.ac.ukwww.nfer.ac.ukceruk has shorter summaries. For other initiatives see: www.professionaldevelopmentreview.org.uk; www.bera.ac.uk; www.canteach.gov.uk; www.networkedlearningcommunities.org.uk; www.tlrp.org