Delivered by:Dr. (Mrs.) Toyin Eunice Owoyemi

Department of Science and Technology Education

Faculty of EducationUniversity of Lagos, Nigeria. 1

IntroductionResearch EvidenceResearch evidence in educational system is the fact, sign or object obtained through diligent study of educational subject in order to discover new facts or information.

PolicyPolicy is defined as “a course or principle of action adopted or proposed by an organization or individual or a plan of action agreed or chosen by a political party, a business, etc. 2

Introduction Contd.

Practice•Practice can be thought of as an intervention, guided by policy, to address specific issues.

•In an ideal practice situation, well-defined and implemented programs should lead to changes in how things are done that could be interpreted to have intent (OCED, 2012).

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Introduction Contd.Policy-making•Policy-making can be viewed as involving the 'authoritative allocation of values', and when interpreted broadly can include people making the policy as government ministers and officials, local education officers, or representatives of a professional body.

•Owing to the differences between various interest groups involve, it becomes inevitable that policy making means debate and not agreement.

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• The conception of research and an idealised view of policy making and implementation is not all that a linear rational process but rather involves establishment of a good rapport among the researchers, policymakers and practitioners.

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Overview of Educational System in Nigeria

• In 1948, education ordinance was promulgated and this led to the decentralization of education administration in the country by the colonial government.

• The 1948 educational ordinance was a mile stone in British colonial educational policy in Nigeria, because it was the first educational legislation that covered the whole country (Fafunwa, 2004). 6

• The clamour by Nigerians for self-government resulted in the constitutional conferences which brought together Nigerian political leaders and the British colonial government between 1951 and 1954 and this resulted in the drafting of a new Federal Constitution in 1954 (Dike,1980).

• The constitution gave each regions empowerment to make laws for its territory and citizens as well as its own educational policies.

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• The Ashby commission was set up in 1959 to identify the future needs of the country in terms of qualified manpower for the period of 20 years.

• The setting up of the commission was a landmark in the history of Nigeria educational system as it examined higher educational structure in the country and was the first official comprehensive review of higher education in the country. 8

• The first Nigerian Education Policy document was formulated and adopted by the Federal Government of Nigeria in 1977 after series of workshops as recommended during the first National Conference held between 8th and 12th September, 1969.

• The 1977 Education Policy document is said to be the first comprehensive policy departure from the inherited system of education in Nigeria” (Wasagu, 2008).

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• The policy finally led to the adoption of American model of education; 6-3-3-4 system of education in Nigeria.

• The National Policy on Education has been revised four times (2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th editions) after the first publication in 1977.

• The former Minister of Education, Prof. Ruquayyatu Ahmed Rufa’i reported that “the revision of the 5th (2008) edition of the National Policy on Education is informed by the need to reflect on Mr. President’s Transformation Agenda with Education as a key priority area”(FME, 2012).

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• With the introduction of the 6-3-3-4 education system, there was the need for a new orientation of secondary school teachers and students which was never met.

• The Junior Secondary School (JSS) aspect of the system of education in particular was conceived to be hybrid of prevocational and academic subjects and also to impact knowledge in science, arts and technology but the Federal Government, apart from shopping for cheaper and fairly used technology products for the take-off of the policy implementation, there was no regular supply of electricity, which the machines required to function.

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• In addition, the teachers required to operate these machines and teach students were not available and no intervention programme was put in place to recruit and empower teachers through training and workshops, at the end, the machines were abandoned to rust, stolen or wasted (Gusau, 2008).

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• Court and Young (2006) asserted that “policymakers and other stakeholders often don’t know which policies are most suitable and how they can best be implemented in different contexts. Research is one way for policymakers and other stakeholders to enhance the processes of policy formulation and implementation”.

• Agheta (1984) also noted that:For education to achieve all ends, it has to be carefully

planned. The plan must take into consideration the needs of the society, the political, socio-cultural, economic, military, scientific and technological realities of the environment are very important to its survival. 1

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Factors Influencing Change in Educational Policy and

Practice• FundingLack of Adequate and stable funding is a major

hindrance to change in educational policy and practice. Even when fund is in greater supply, inadequate, haphazard, and non-strategic financial and data systems remain significant barriers to effective use of resources.

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• Community Expectations and NeedsThe policy maker are obliged to be sensitive to

the needs and priorities of the constituents or communities because as top-down pressures contribute to change, so do bottom – up pressures, initiatives and issues.

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Government Initiatives/Changes in LeadershipPolicy making and practices are greatly influenced by federal and state initiatives and mandates.

•A change in leadership almost always results in new or changed priorities.

•Frequent change in leadership especially at the top level (Federal) is always to some degree more disruptive than change below the leader level.

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The Former Provost of F.C.E. Osiele, Ogun State lamented:“Within the eight years (1991-1999) that I served as provost, the nation passed through five different regimes (Babangida till 1993, Shonekan for less than four months in 1993, Abacha 1993-1998, Abubakar 1998-1999, Obasanjo 1999-2007). Within this period I had to operate under eight Minister of Education. The same thing happened at the state level. Each of the Presidents, Ministers, Governors and Commissioners had their own different conceptions and policies on education that they tried to implement during their tenure. With such instability in the system of governance couple with constant changes in “Minister of” “Minister for” and “Commissioner for”, one should not be surprised at the level of the crises the nation’s education system has witnessed over the years and the inconsistency and often contradictory nature of the educational policies and practices. It’s one step forward and two steps backwards”

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• The MediaThe media is another strong influencer of change. It

has been reported in literature that it is a source of resource information, as well as a means of informing the practitioners and policymakers of potential hot topics, and how the public might respond to those issues.

• Data on Student Achievement and NeedsWhen effective data systems are in place, along with

the capacity to analyse and interpret the data, this can serve as a facilitator of change and reform.

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Research Evidence Culture• Evidence from research can enhance policy

development by identifying new issues for the policy agenda, informing decisions about policy content and direction, or by evaluating the impact of policy.

• Although evidence from research is only one of the many factors considered in policy development, but there is an increasing recognition of its potential value.

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policymakers appear not be receptive to research unless it serves political gain, that is, demonstrates proof for a predetermineddecisions.

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Two main categories of Research:• Studies undertaken by students for the award of various degrees. This category of research is usually very narrow in scope as the students are often constrained by limited resources and timing.

•Research undertaken by the academic mainly for promotion or grant purposes. This kind of research effort has also remained minimal due to limited resources and rarely use to inform policy decisions.

•Another category of research reviewed here is that conducted by consultants commissioned by government and government parastatals on education development projects.

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• Research Culture requires longer time frames to produce quality research.

• The language of communication is usually highly technical, inaccessible and can only be understood by experts and findings are mostly published in professional journals.

• Research culture pays more attention to theory, concepts, methodology and how data are collected and asks questions that can be answered scientifically. 2

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Policy Culture • Policy is quite often requires short time frames.

• Policy culture requires that policy is communicated through short issue, briefs, government reports, newspaper and opinion polls

• The questions of feasibility, implementation, benefit and relevance are the focus of priorities for knowledge.

• Influenced by political, economic and social forces. 2

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Practice Culture • Requires short time frames and they are mostly

communicated through guidance and protocols.

• While policy focuses on the consequences on human, practice focuses on question of ‘what works’, efficiency and effectiveness as well as service delivery.

• It’s primarily influenced by the necessity to respond to the immediate reality of human need.

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Disconnections between Research Evidence, Policy and

Practice in Nigeria• In Nigeria, policymakers’ needs do not

usually drive research and if there is a need to consider research at all for any particular policy formulation or implementation, Governments are highly selective about the research evidence they use and tend to favour research they have commissioned or have had some influence over.

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• Academic researchers generally follow their own interests when choosing what studies to conduct or tailor them to specific requests for grants.

• Lack of well-directed research in the field of policy making is another factor and has led to very little interaction between policymakers and researchers.

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• Most of educational policies and reforms in Nigeria, particularly after independence, do not bring about the expected positive results because the policy agenda are mostly evolved by international agendas that do not take into account the social, economic and political realities of the country.

• Nigerian government depends so much on external agencies and foreign consultants for research that is to be the foundation for policy decisions.

• Such policy decisions usually fail because they were implemented in a poor policy environment.

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• Lomas has noted that “efforts by researchers and decision makers seem to proceed largely independently. Both have their own (often misplaced) ideas about the other's environment. Opportunities for on-going exchange and communication are few. ...It is like two people trying to assemble a jigsaw puzzle, each with half the pieces - but each working in a separate room”.

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• Both the policymakers and the practitioners are also living in a world apart, like Northern pole and Southern pole, without any serious interaction that can lead to effective implementation of educational policy in Nigeria.

• Here is a dialogue that clearly depicts the different worlds of policymakers and the practitioners (the teachers) and how this different cultural world affects the implementation of any new policy in schools.

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A man in a hot air balloon realized he was lost. He reduced altitude and spotted a woman below. He came lower and shouted, “Excuse me, can you help? I promised a friend I would meet him an hour ago, but I don’t know where I am.” The woman below replied, “You’re in a hot air balloon hovering approximately 30 feet above the ground. You’re between 40 and 41 degrees north latitude and between 59 and 60 degrees west longitude.

You must be a teacher, said the balloonist. I am, replied the woman, “How did you know?” “Well,” answered the balloonist, “everything you told me is technically correct, but I’ve no idea what to make of your information, and the fact is I’m still lost. Frankly, you’ve not been much help at all. If anything, you’ve delayed my trip. 3

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The woman below responded, “You must be a policymaker.” “I am,” said the balloonist, “but how did you know?Well, said the woman, you don’t know where you are or where you are going. You have no map, and no compass. You have risen to where you are due to a large quantity of hot air. You made a promise, which you’ve no idea how to keep, and you expect people beneath you to solve your problems. The fact is you are in exactly the same position you were in before we met, but now, somehow, it’s my fault. (Locock and Boaz, 2004).

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• The journey from policy to practice of several adopted policies have disappointed policymakers because the policymakers failed to recognise that teachers are gatekeepers who decide what ideas and practices get past the classroom door.

• When a new policy is proposed and adopted the policymakers largely ignore teachers’ questions.

• Policy-to-practice voyage often stops at the classroom door where teachers, as gatekeepers, ultimately choose what gets put into lessons and what gets put into the closet. 3

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• Research, policy and practice communities are seen as three separate cultures, defined by unique characteristics yet they share similar goals.

• The cultural communities share the same mission of improving quality of education.

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Reasons for Disconnections•There is almost absolute lack of interactions between researchers, policymakers and practitioners.

•The time frames and different timetables for results create a dichotomy between the three cultural communities.

•The trio of research, policy and practice communities has different priorities for knowledge.

•Research agenda are purely researcher’s initiatives. They are not owned by key stakeholders.

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• Misunderstanding of the principles and focus of research by policymakers and practitioners.

• Lack of trust between the communities. The policymakers see researchers as politically naive and the researchers see policymakers as scientifically naïve and incompetent.

• In view of the different audience the three communities address, their language of communication differs.

• There is no institutional framework to link and create synergy between researchers and stakeholders.

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Strategies for reconnecting the three Cultures

• Ongoing, regular communication between researchers and users.

• Involvement of practitioners and decision makers early and throughout all stages of the research process by researcher.

• Generation of knowledge in a share manner.

• Allow sufficient time for people to understand fully and connect their needs to what is being proposed.

• Include decision makers in the governing or consulting bodies of research centres. 3

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• Encouraging ongoing and interactive relationships between researchers and research users will increase appreciation of each other’s environments and research needs.

• For instance, Science Teachers’ Association of Nigeria annual conferences and workshops are examples of the initiatives designed to bring researchers, policymakers and practitioners together in an ongoing basis to develop and achieve common aims.

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Research evidence is more likely to be used by

policymaker if it:• is unambiguous, easily understood, well-supported, and readily available.

• is timely, relevant and uses a relatively uncontested methodology

• is compatible with political vision and non-controversial • indicates actions that are achievable within existing or

future resources, systems and structures.

• requires only relatively small scale changes, implementation costs are low, and it does not incur high costs of the decision to implement needs to be reversed

• is of good quality and includes effectiveness data. 39

Research evidence is more likely to be used by practitioners if it:

• delivers a relative advantage in terms of effectiveness or cost effectiveness.

• is compatible with current beliefs, working practices and needs

• is low in complexity. • is relevant to current practice, is effective, efficient,

and practical is adaptable to suit practitioner or agency needs.

• is able to be piloted. 40

The Roles of Intermediaries in using Research Evidence in

Policy and Practice • Research intermediary is defined as a

“diverse group of intermediary organizations and individuals who broker research evidence and relationships between researchers, policymakers, and practitioners…. (Who) often play a significant role in interpreting, packaging, and distributing research evidence for policymakers and practitioners”

(Tseng, 2008, p. 18). 41

Strategies for improving Intermediary Function of Professional Organisation

• Converting research into simplified, user-friendly reports, weaving in illustration, stories and implications for action (Huang et al 2003).

• Increasing accessibility through a variety of more sophisticated mechanisms (Feldman et al, 2001)

• Helping to manage the overwhelming amount of information (Jewell & Bero, 2008).

• Helping to reframe policy issues to better use available research (Jewell & Bero, 2008) 4

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• Bridging the gap between researchers and the stakeholders, including strengthening capacity to anticipate relevant emergency issues (Manna & Petrilli, 2008)

• Building the capacity of states, districts, Local authorities and schools to do their own data collection, analysis, interpretation and research (Means et al., 2009)

• Surveying the range of research findings on important questions, creating consolidated research evidence, and identifying areas of confluence and disagreement (Feldman et al., 2001; Jewell & Bero, 2008)

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Policies and Practices Relating to Teacher In-

Service Training in Nigeria• In-service training is defined as an organised effort

to improve the performance of all personnel already holding assigned positions in a school setting or to implement a specified innovation or program (Sapp, 1996).

• One of the goals of teacher education in Nigeria is to provide teachers with the intellectual and professional background adequate for their assignment and to make them adaptable to changing situations (FME, 2007). 4

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• The professional training of the teachers is in two folds;• pre-service and in-service trainings.

• National Teachers’ Institute was mandated by Act No 7 of 1978 to organize programs for upgrading and updating practicing teachers at all levels.

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The task has been limited to the upgrading courses that the institute has been implementing for many years by embarking on the following programmes through distance learning:• Nigeria Certificate in Education(NCE), •Pivotal Teachers Training Programme (PTTP),• Postgraduate Diploma in Education, and • Bachelor Degree in Education,

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• The continuing or long-life learning aspect is ignored .

• There has not been any systematic attention to update regularly the knowledge and skills of teachers in the light of the changes in curriculum and the wider society.

• This neglect has in turn affected the quality of teaching in schools.

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• Recent continuing professional development received by selected few, is in form of workshops put in place under the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) Project.

• The MDGs are a set of eight time-bound goals agreed to in 2000 at the General Assembly of United Nations in New York, where Nigeria was one of those countries that signed the declaration that set the target date of 2015. (Mohammed, 2006).

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• In-service training activities in Nigeria system of education are considered to be general rather than specific.

• They focus on listening rather than doing which result in fixed training program transferred to trainees by lecturers and they generally do not have any provision for feedback.

• Hence, the gap between what they were taught through the pre-service curriculum and the reality that they face in service continuing to widening. 4

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In developed countries like Japan, in-service training is no longer seen as a remedy for deficiencies in initial training, but rather considered as a long-term process and a part of continuing education in this technological advancement age.

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Lessons from Japan• Japanese Law for Special Regulations Concerning

Educational Public Service Personnel requires teachers to pursue consistent in-service training.

• Various systematic in-service training activities are conducted at the national, prefectural, municipal and school levels.

• Ministry also selects and sends 5,000 teachers abroad every year in order to broaden their international perspectives and to obtain an increased awareness of their chosen profession (JICA, 2014). 5

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• Each of the 47 prefectures in Japan has at least one education center to provide in-service training for teachers, and also to conduct research activities.

• At the Hiroshima Prefectural Education center, Teachers' basic training is planned according to their years of experience and all educational staff has to participate in these in-service courses. 5

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Table 1: Teachers' Basic Training

• Teachers can also attend different in-service training activities according to their interests and this type of training is called Specialised Training.

• The training comprises various in-service training courses directed toward specific subjects or subject areas in which teachers wish to become experts. 5

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• Prefectural boards of education also send teachers to universities, research institutes, private firms and other institutions for long-term training in order to improve their professional competence and their social character.

• It is well documented that crucial to the quality of education in Japan is the quality of its teachers. 5

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Concluding Remarks• Nigerian Policy makers are good at

formulating beautiful policies especially education policies but not without a lot of multiple problems usually associated with such formulated policies at the point of implementation.

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• However, it seems such beautiful and well-articulated policies are not always fully implemented or poorly implemented because such policies are not informed by research evidence in Nigerian context and the necessary intervention programmes that supposed to be put in place based on evidence from research are most of the time ignored.

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• As a result, there is a missing-link among the researchers, policymakers, and practitioners.

• In bridging the gaps, there should be a very strong connecting link among the researchers, policymakers and practitioners so as to reduce the tendency of imposing policies from the top but instead, an enabling environment would be created where educational policy making would be participatory.

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Recommendations• Policymakers should think of channels to inform

researchers of major policy issues/questions in order to make research more policy relevant and also address structural barriers such as research receptivity in policy agencies.

• Researchers should increase the relevance of research to policy and collaborate with the policymakers and practitioners by establishing contact and building a long-term cooperation with them. They should also endeavour to improve on the access to research information and present research findings in useful formats and timely to policymakers and practitioners.

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• STAN long-standing channels of communication (panel workshops, seminars, conferences, newsletters etc.), her understanding of local needs and established credibility all go a long way to confirm her colossal contribution to human capacity development in order to improve quality of science education in Nigeria.

• Aside from all these, it is necessary for STAN to pay more attention to the area of serving as an effective and efficient mediator among the researchers, policymakers and practitioners.

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• NERDC should learn lesson from and follow the good steps of related organs of the ministry of education in developed world in involvement of all the stakeholders in development and review of any new or existing curriculum in appropriate proportion without any bias.

• It should also endeavour to incorporate capacity building training for the end users of such curriculum as at when due because they are at the center of the implementation of any curriculum intention.

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• The Federal Government through the Federal Ministry of Education should see the need to use research evidence in the formulation and implementation of education policy. It is a well-known fact that, management is all about using others to attain your own goals.

• Consequently, the success (or failure) of any Government would depend, to a large extent, on the caliber and capabilities of her Ministers and Heads of Department. The Government should also learn from the way Japan is financing and managing its educational sector.

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