National expenditure on educational research is less than 0.2 per cent of overall expenditure on education. Yet Professor Stephen Gorard berates the research community for saying that this is too little. (“Academics told to stop moaning about funding”, TES, September 6).
The reason that research needs more funding is that there are too many unanswered questions in the changing world of education: about pedagogy, assessment, the curriculum, and, above all, about how children and adults learn.
These questions cry out for the critical and creative insights of researchers. Their investigations need funding, and they themselves need a career structure based on adequate funding if they are to achieve a high level of research competence.
The Department for Education and Skills has recognised the need for better funding, having doubled its expenditure on educational research, but overall it is only a small part of what is needed if, as the department has proclaimed, teaching is to become an evidence-informed profession.
Professor Michael Bassey
Academic secretary
British Educational Research Association
BERA Commercial House
King Street
Southwell, Nottinghamshire
Bera debate, 31
