Outline of the Topic, Aims and Research Questions

During the last two decades, the policy demand for evidence-based practices in education has increased significantly. This development relates to the establishment of performance-based accountability that combines various types of data about educational quality and the use of monitoring systems to form a basis for school improvement (Verger et al., 2019). In addition to responding to such policy demands, school actors are also expected to develop their practices along with research relevant to their profession (Otto et al., 2019).  Although research use has been studied and discussed within educational research internationally (Joram, 2008; Winch, Oancea & Orchard, 2015; Whitty & Furlong, 2017) much research is premised on the idea that access to research-based knowledge will lead to use of this knowledge (e.g., Penuel et al., 2017; Schildkamp et al., 2017). Moreover, studies on research use tend to focus on whether or not practitioners use research (e.g., Hemsley-Brown & Sharp, 2003) and on identifying general organisational factors that strengthen the use of research, such as time, routines, and leadership (e.g., Tierney, 2000). A recurring problem is that research is often perceived by school actors as too abstract or that many studies fail to acknowledge both how school actors’ use of research is often implicit, and how they integrate different knowledge sources (i.e., experience, research, students, parents, tests, other materials, etc.) in their decision-making (Authors, 2018). In particular, expectations about rapid improvements put pressure on school actors’ decision-making and seem to encourage short-term solutions rather than long-term development work.

Theoretical Perspectives

In the paper we draw on various theoretical perspectives. First, the governance perspective emphasises the interplay of systems, structures, tools, routines and rules in the school system or school organisation and will help us to identify priorities and conditions for research use as part of school development (Authors, 2018). Second, a cultural-historical perspective (Wertsch, 1998) will inform our analysis with respect to how empirical studies report on school actors’ approaches to the use of research as an integrated part of everyday work. Finally, a historical-philosophicalperspective will help in interpreting the findings in and across national contexts, as it explores what has been recognised as valid and relevant educational ‘research’ over time, and how research has been related to teachers’ learning and development (e.g. Winch et al., 2015 ).

To answer these questions, a systematic literature search method was applied and a mapping review approach was adopted that emphasises identifying the trends and main characteristics of a particular research field (Grant & Booth, 2009). This paper focuses on research conducted in German-speaking countries. The search for literature was conducted in ‘Fachportal Pädagogik’, which is the most comprehensive electronic database in education in the German-speaking context. The main search terms were ‘research use’ and ‘evidence use’ in conjunction with terms such as ‘teacher’, ‘school leadership’, ‘district leadership’, ‘instructional development’, ‘school development’ and ‘organizational development’ in various combinations. The searches resulted in 1,138 hits (duplicates excluded) that were reduced to 160 publications after the first screening of the literature. To ensure the quality of the categorisation of the results obtained, selection criteria were defined, and the sources were categorised independently by two researchers achieving an agreement rate of 84%. When sources were categorised differently, they were discussed and re-categorised by the researchers. The selected sources were analysed according to a codebook, emphasising key findings related to the research designs and methods applied. Based on the descriptive categories, the next analytical step included the conceptual clarification of ‘research use’ and how it relates to the school actors’ professional knowledge base.

Preliminary results from the review of research in the German-speaking contexts indicate that only a few recent empirical projects (e.g. Hinzke et al., 2020) have been identified that address research use explicitly. These studies refer to research as a source of knowledge to be combined with other knowledge sources. Generally, findings suggest that, although teachers attach relevance to research, they rarely use it in their everyday work (Hetmanek et al., 2015). While school actors perceive research findings as useful, they find it challenging to translate and utilise this knowledge in practical contexts. An increasing body of literature addresses this challenge by recommending methods and check lists on how teachers can improve teaching (e.g. Dalehefte & Kobarg, 2013; Imgrund & Radisch, 2014; KMK, 2010). Though the empirical basis for this type of literature can be questioned, it represents a response to the needs of school actors for concrete guidelines to develop their practices with new educational standards. The few recent empirical studies identified apply both quantitative and qualitative data collection methods. However, an important limitation is the self-recruitment of participants (possible problems related to bias) to take part in the study, the self-reported data (possible problems of social desirability) and a focus on school actors' perceptions of research use. Finally, the paper includes a discussion of research designs in relation to the phenomena studied and the possible implications for practice. In the German-speaking contexts, demands for school actors to develop evidence-based practices are increasing (Bauer et al., 2015). Based on the analysis of the existing research body in this field, this paper demonstrates research gaps in the German-speaking contexts and contributes to the conceptual differentiation of ‘research use’ in schools related to evidence-based practice that has implications for how we understand these phenomena in international research.

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