Abstract
This work is a welcome addition to the education policy literature, notably, as it has been written from the perspective of a practitioner turned academic. The author was previously a civil servant involved in strategic policy development and implementation in a number of UK government bodies and departments. This is significant as the book has a conceptual and theoretical underpinning grounded in sociology but takes into account the perspective of practitioner involvement in policy development, discussion and research. Thus, it will appeal to academics, students and policymakers as it has academic breadth, depth and credibility, as well as practitioner relevance in terms of explaining and defending the manner in which academia can be utilised to a much greater extent in the policy formulation process.
Brown puts forward cogent arguments for the use of evidence-informed policy in education based on his experience of the English education system. However, this does not detract from the broad appeal that this book will have to an international audience as he ensures that the arguments, concepts and models put forward are based on thorough primary investigation, comparisons with other education systems and a detailed analysis of a broad range of literature.
Of particular interest is the manner in which the author highlights the dichotomy between academics and policymakers in terms of the former feeling marginalised in the policy process and the latter claiming that research produced by academics is, in effect, too obtuse to be of any use, written in language that they do not fully understand and absent strong recommendations as to actions to be taken or measures to be adopted. What this book attempts to do, and succeeds in my view, is to bridge this gap by creating a framework of working together that can engage the various stakeholders in the policymaking process.
Additionally, academics will gain a greater understanding in terms of getting their message across in a straightforward, meaningful and robust manner that can be defended from an academic and ethical perspective. For postgraduate students, this book will prove to be a seminal work as it will give them an invaluable insight into policymaking and help their analysis and dissection of policy based on robust academic frameworks validated by the author’s work.
Brown achieves this by describing five assumptions of evidence-informed policy based on such factors as the perceived rational nature of evidence-informed policy and perceived process for developing policy. The author critiques and dissects these assumptions and offers an alternative to what he claims is the current ‘evidence dilemma’ that stakeholders have to deal with. He does so in eight succinct chapters and a brief summary by developing themes that run as red threads throughout the book. The themes not only interlink the chapters, but also allow Brown to develop a new model of policy analysis.
The first three chapters introduce the reader to the subject by defining and explaining evidence-informed policymaking, identifying national and international initiatives that have been utilised to enhance it, and identifying the type of evidence that is considered by key stakeholders. Chapters Four, Five, Six and Seven utilise the theoretical literature to develop the subject matter further, with interesting use made of the work of Bourdieu, Foucault, Habermas and Flyvberg, in addition to examining a number of extant models, such as the Social Activity Method model. All of this is underpinned with primary research in the form of interviews carried out with key stakeholders, such as politicians, civil servants, special advisers, academics and think-tank personnel. This ensures that theory and practice are intertwined in a manner that gives the work substance and leads to the logical conclusion of the model that Brown puts forward for stakeholders to utilise in this particular arena.
A number of key themes emerge from the latter chapters. First, the ‘social robustness’ of knowledge should be the outcome of evidence-based policy research – that is to say, it should originate from good-quality deep research that is translated in a manner easily understood by society as a whole. Second, evidence-informed research should be ‘policy-ready’, meaning that it can be presented in such a manner and language that policymakers such as ministers and civil servants can deduce key evidence and recommendations that will enable them to develop and defend policies. Third, ‘power abuse’ is identified, where those in influential and powerful positions choose which policy evidence they utilise to meet their desired outcomes, with such evidence not always being robust and defendable. Such themes add to the reader’s deeper understanding of how the policy arena can and should operate.
Brown brings together the key themes in the final chapter and the summary in a cohesive manner, where he seeks to resolve the ‘evidence dilemma’ by suggesting a number of sensible proposals to bridge the divide between academics and practitioners, for example, the creation of policy-learning communities and greater partnership working, all within a sphere of policy knowledge creation. This is particularly pertinent because, as Ripley (2013) demonstrates, there is disagreement in the policy discourse in many nations as how best to reform and improve education systems.