Session Information
Contribution
This paper poses questions about the relevance of historical research in the planning and formulation of educational policy, specifically in the areas of higher education and lifelong learning. Does historical research still have a role to play? How effective can it be in influencing national policies towards education? Can it be seen as providing what Davies describes as 'valid, reliable and relevant research evidence'?As the 21st century unfolds governments are seeking ways of capturing the wider economic and social benefits of higher education and its integration into wider systems of innovation and enterprise. In the UK, arguably, the reform imperative lacks policy memory; policy texts rarely seem to incorporate any sense of long-term trajectory or grounded assessment of its impact. Despite the growth of evidence-informed policy, encapsulated in Prime Minister Tony Blair's controversial claim that 'what works is what counts', there is little to suggest how and where policy is being informed by historical evidence or insight (Parry 1999; Scott 1999). This crisis of historical memory appears to run counter to the aim of improving the way public policy is shaped and delivered using 'the integration of experience, judgement and expertise with the best available external evidence from systematic research' (Davies 1999). Nevertheless, historians of education would argue that history and the historian still have an important and significant role to play. Aldrich, for example, believes that historians of education should be 'enhancing professional confidence and expertise by providing a nuanced and cumulative context for the distillation of the best of educational theory and practice at particular points in history both past and present'. (Aldrich 2001) Lowe argues that they 'can inform and influence both policy making and practice'. (Lowe 2002) These are bold claims, but is it possible to substantiate them? How are they reflected across Europe and further afield?The paper interrogates a combination of evidence derived from a thorough review of the literature and archival research to provide historical and contextual analysis of a number of key themes in contemporary HE and lifelong learning. This will be approached through a selection of vignettes of substantive policy 'episodes' that in our view illustrate the changing nature of policy making and those involved in the process.It is expected that the research will stimulate debate about methods and the nature of evidence in this area of policy history which will be reflected not only in the paper but also in a wider arena and that we shall reach at least a tentative response to our question of whether there should be a role for historical research in the making of policy in higher education and lifelong learning. Aldrich, R. (2001) 'A contested and changing terrain: history of education in the twenty-first century' in Aldrich, R. and Crook, D.(eds ) A History of Education for the Twenty-First Century (London: Institute of Education) Davies, P.T. (1999) What is Evidence-Based Education?, British Journal of Educational Studies, 47, 2, 108-121 Lowe, R. (2002) Do we still need history of education: is it central or peripheral? History of Education, 31, 6, 491-504 Neave, G. (1996) Higher education policy as an exercise in contemporary history Higher Education 32: 403-415 Parry, G. (1999) Education research and policy making in higher education: the case of Dearing, Journal of Education Policy, 14, 3, 225-241 Ryan, A. (2005) New Labour and higher education, Oxford Review of Education, 31, 1, 87-100 Scott, P. (1999) The research-policy gap, Journal of Education policy, 14,3 317-337.
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