The distinctive fragmentation of research in the area of education reveals the need for reviews and studies with a meta-perspective, allowing for comprehensive overviews of the field. By putting a focus on knowledge systems and by transferring research results to different stakeholders, research syntheses support an evidence-informed transfer of knowledge. In the context of a decentralized European Union with its diverse educational landscapes, reviews – in combination with Open Science approaches – allow researchers to make findings more visible and traceable. Thus, by enhancing the comparability and accessibility of international research findings through Open Educational Science, research syntheses offer a common ground for (inter-)national cooperation and best practice. The identification of research gaps can lead to a better understanding of the field and hint at needs for further research. In the planned session, the panelists will discuss examples from Sweden, Germany and France.

In a systematic review on classroom management undertaken by the Swedish Institute for Educational Research, the importance of transparency and accessibility becomes evident. A key aim is to present the research findings in an accessible way so that professionals within the schools can further work with them. The research does not necessarily reflect the wishes and needs currently identified in schools, and therefore it is crucial to be open and transparent with the possible limitations of any selection of studies made clear. Adding to this complexity is the fact that issues of school discipline and disruptive behavior have been prominent in the political debate and in the media in Sweden in a way that does not always reflect the main research perspectives on the topic. We argue that there is much to gain by openly addressing particular framings of a topic, and by being transparent regarding different limitations, conceptualizations and epistemologies when making research findings accessible to educators.

For the German case, the presentation wants to take up the breaking discussion on digitization and education carried out on the research, policy and school level. A critical review undertaken by the Leibniz Institute for Research and Information in Education, the University of Duisburg Essen, the German Institute for Adult Learning and the Knowledge Media Research Center analyses how teachers perceive themselves in processes of digitization and what this means for professional development. The presentation seeks to explore the structure of the review, points out the central findings and shows how it can inform different stakeholders via open access and data sharing strategies. We argue that review studies in combination with open source strategies are particularly helpful in extremely dynamic research areas, such as the role of education in the digital world.

In France as internationally, the willingness to base educational policies on research results has been growing in recent years and is contemporary to the rise of a certain type of research aimed at proving the effectiveness of selected practices. This evolution is explained by the growing interest of policy makers in scientifically reliable data which enables them to base their decisions on «scientifically proven» results. However, such "what works"-type research has been highly controversial since it began to emerge in the 1990s in English speaking countries but also in France. Indeed, the terms and conditions for research implementation in schools and its appropriation by teachers are generally not specified by political decision-makers. This presentation is based on a recently published narrative literature review by the French Institute of Education about research and knowledge mobilisation by teachers. We argue that in order to better understand the issues surrounding the use of educational research by practitioners, the review had to present useful, usable and acceptable scientific knowledge for the professionals.

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