National ambitions to enhance teaching quality increasingly rely on research-informed professional learning (PL) delivered at scale, yet the relationship between knowledge production, political imperatives, and meaningful change in practice remains complex. This paper explores the emerging research and evaluation function within Scotland’s newly established Centre for Teaching Excellence (CfTE), a national organisation funded by the Scottish Government to support teachers in engaging with and in research as part of a coherent, system-wide PL offer. As members of the Research and Evaluation team for CfTE, we occupy a boundary role shaped by governmental expectations for rapid evidence of impact and by scholarly aspirations to theorise how PL becomes transformative for teachers and the wider system (Kennedy, 2014). This dual positioning offers a unique vantage point on what it means to know and act at scale within a national reform landscape. Adopting a critical policy sociology approach with an ‘explicit emancipatory political agenda[s]’ (Savage et al., 2021, p. 308), we engaged in collaborative critical reflection to examine epistemic tensions inherent in this work. Government seeks demonstrable impact at pace to justify investment and inform decisions, yet embedding PL in classroom practice is by nature developmental and slow. Early signs of change are often ambiguous, distributed, and context sensitive. Researchers face the challenge of designing evaluative approaches that provide timely, credible insights without collapsing complex learning processes into simplistic indicators. These tensions are intensified by the political nature of evidence: what counts as valid knowledge, how data are interpreted, and which outcomes are privileged, are all shaped by shifting policy priorities (Putansu, 2020; Taylor & Balloch, 2005). Working within this political whirlpool requires methodological integrity, relational skill, and theoretical clarity to balance competing demands for knowledge and action. Against this backdrop, we argue for a dual orientation in researching PL at scale: meeting policymakers’ immediate informational needs while cultivating a longer-term inquiry capable of contributing to international literature. Drawing on theoretical insights from expansive learning theory (Engeström & Sannino, 2010), we propose that research and evaluation in national PL systems should be conceptualised not simply as accountability mechanisms but as catalysts for system-level knowing and acting, processes through which teachers, organisations, and policymakers co-construct shared understandings and mobilise them toward sustainable improvement. By foregrounding this theoretical commitment, CfTE’s research function seeks to move beyond isolated examples of teacher change to understand conditions under which PL at scale can generate equitable, research-informed system learning.

Engeström, Y., & Sannino, A. (2010). Studies of expansive learning: Foundations, findings and future challenges. Educational Research Review, 5(1), 1–24. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.edurev.2009.12.002 Kennedy, A. (2014). Understanding continuing professional development: The need for theory to impact on policy and practice. Professional Development in Education, 40(5). https://doi.org/10.1080/19415257.2014.955122 Putansu, S. (2020). Politics and policy knowledge in federal education: Confronting the evidence-based proverb. Palgrave McMillan https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-38395-4 Savage, G. C., Gerrard, J., Gale, T., & Molla, T. (2021). The politics of critical policy sociology: Mobilities, moorings and elite networks. Critical Studies in Education, 62(3), 306–321. https://doi.org/10.1080/17508487.2021.1878467 Taylor, D., & Balloch, S. (Eds). (2005). The Politics of Evaluation: Participation and Policy Implementation. Bristol University Press; Cambridge Core. https://doi.org/10.46692/9781847421210