Education letter: Dangers of 'political' research
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Sir John Cassels (Education, 15 October) makes a sweeping condemnation of our article ("Publish and be doomed", Education, 8 October ) in which we made connections between two recent government-commissioned studies on educational research - the Tooley critique and the Institute for Employment Studies report - and the government's stated desire to focus the national educational research effort on what works best in schools.
The IES Report argues, on the basis of respondents' views, that policy should be informed by research (pp 42-3). The danger which we were attempting to point out is that "research", if too tightly controlled by government, can become a political tool in the implementing of that government's policy.
Mary Tasker and David Packham
University of Bath
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments