Grounding practice in a coherent and integrated knowledge base is viewed as a fundamental characteristic of professions in most conceptualisations and discourses for international expertise (e.g. Brante, 2010; Hargreaves, 2000; Sellar, Lingard, 2013, Grek; 2013). Experts have raised numerous concerns regarding the knowledge base of the teaching profession. These include: • the teaching profession lacks such a knowledge base, and research does not consistently constitute the scientific basis of teachers’ daily pedagogical judgements; • there is no consensus around what counts as good evidence for professional practice; • production of research in the classroom is not or rarely supported; • teachers often do not find research directly relevant for practice; • teachers and researchers rarely collaborate in knowledge production (e.g. Hargreaves, 1996; Fazekas and Burns, 2012; Nutley, Powell and Davies, 2013; OECD, 2007; Levin, 2013, 2011). This presentation investigates the knowledge gathered by international expertise to explain the dynamics of teachers’ knowledge policy on the assumption that knowledge is dynamic in nature as it changes through experience and learning. The knowledge of an individual teacher as well as the knowledge base of a professional community or the teaching profession is considered as transformed through various processes. First, we give an overview of the structural, functional and social processes influencing teachers’ knowledge as it is often described in the expert literature. Second, we illustrate how knowledge-based policy is conceptualized through the Innovative Teaching for Effective Learning project of the OECD. Last, we reflect on the potential input and implications studying knowledge dynamics can have for teacher policies taking into account some evidence-based education standards and references (Biesta, 2012).

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