EVIDENCE-BASED POLICY AND PRACTICE

EVIDENCE-BASED POLICY AND PRACTICE

(From The Book Philosophy of Education By Richard Pring)

to complete the task of Science Philosophy Course

Lecturer : Dr. Laila Fitriana, M.Pd.

By :

                                                                   Heri Satriawan

POSTGRADUATE OF MATHEMATICS EDUCATION

FACULTY OF TEACHER TRAINING AND EDUCATION

UNIVERSITAS SEBELAS MARET

SURAKARTA

2018

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

A.    Background

Giving policy in every case is not always based on evidence because the evidence is an implication of the policy. A marely superficial acquaintance with the philosophy of science makes it clear that science grows from constant (and often successful) attempts to negate the current state of scientific knowledge. All such knowledge is, as it were, provisional-to be accepted until such time as it is refuted and replaced by more comprehensive and better corroborated scientific propositions.

An important part of refining the evidence lay in the systematic review of existing research, rejecting that which did not meet rigorous experimental criteria, ignoring that where the data and method were less than clear, reconciling where possible the different samples bases for the samples, identifying where further research was needed to fill the gaps in our scientifically based knowledge.

Such has been the success of the Cochrane Centre’s work that people in other areas of the public services have looked for the lessons which can be learnt from it. The Campbell Collaboration, based in the United States, but with regional centres in Canada an Denmark, has extended the work to other areas of social life – for example, education and criminology. Saw the approach of Cochrane and Campbell to be what was require to improve the quality of research to inform both goverment policy and professional practice. And this was seen to be necessary because of the criticismof that research, certainly in education.

The reaction to the transfer, to the field education, of the evidence-base approach of Conchrane and Campbell has varied from the hostile to the welcoming. But the essence of the critisms and of the differences betwen them is philosophical.

B.     Problem Formulation

1.        What is the meaning of evidence?

2.        How does the evidence related to the education policy?

C.    The Aim of Research

1.         To knows the meaning of evidence

2.         To knows the evidence related to the education policy.

CHAPTER 11

DISCUSSION

Evidence

A lot depends on how one interprets the word 'evidence' There are many different kinds of evidence, depending on the type of claim being made. Example: Evidence that the water boils at 100 degrees Celsius is different from the evidence to show whether or not someone is beautiful. Historical evidence is different from that in science, and even within science there are different sorts of discourse, each characterized by differences in what is deemed to constitute evidence. Furthermore, 'evidence' must not be confused with proof. As the previous example, the water boils at a temperature of 100 ℃ is one of the proof because it is already believed inthe truth, whereas the proof that someone who is beautiful is one of the shape  of "evidence" in which, we must prove it gradually because someone who is beauty or not, it is relative, we see from many aspect.

One can gradually build up the evidence for a belief but gradually proving it seems a little odd. On the basis of evidence, it may be probable that something is the case - although there may be counterevidence which is less persuasive. For example in education, the teacher sees the child cheating, but the teacher does not have sufficient evidence. Considering that the child is really cheating or not by looking back or reconsidering when he cheats, it is called a prima facie motive. Educational peactice requires judgesments about intentions as well as motivation

There are philosophical problems about the concept of evidence those are as follows:

1.    The logical unpredictability of all the consequences of a particular course of action or a particular policy.

2.    The irreconcilability of scientific discourse (and thus the social sciences within a particular tradition) with that concerned with persons.

3.    The logical separation of educational 'ends' or 'goals' from the 'means' of achieving them.

Unpredictability

The difficulty to predict what will happen so that the uncertainty underlies us to make a policy. So the policy will affect to what happens. For example: the school wants to get good accreditation, so the policy is made to increase the school's value, eg in the case of increasing minimum competency criteria. Given this necessary unpredictability of complex social situations, there is a limit to how far the accumulation of evidence can ensure certain consequences will follow from carefully considered interventions.

Explaining human behaviour

Educational policy and professional practice are ultimately about getting people (usually young people) to learn something - and something which is deemed to be of value. To educate is to develop the capacity to think, to value, to understand, to reason, to appreciate. These are states of mind, mental capacities, distinctively human qualities. One feature of such states of mind is that they constitute a different kind of'reality' from that which is the subject matter of the natural sciences.

Those intentions and motives presuppose a social context of rules where by the intended behaviours are going to be interpreted by others in a particular way. It is no good signalling a revolution if the fellow revolutionaries do not understand the gesture. To explain human actions requires a grasp of the social rules through which social intercourse is able to take place. Furthermore, such social rules will change from social group to social group-indeed, a social group is partly defined in terms of the social rules through which they engage with each other.

Means and ends

The concern for evidence-based policy and practice arises within a climate of 'improvement', 'raising standards', 'making schools more effective'. Knowledge is required of 'what works'. To do this, so the argument goes, there is a need to set targets, as specific as possible. That case is its goal.

Into school effectiveness - the characteristics of a school and its leadership which will ensure 'success'. Success is spelt out in terms of very precise targets (such as a given proportion of students attaining grades in public examinations). Similarly, effective teaching, for example: schools that want to achieve accreditation A, set targets to achieve accreditation A. eg increasing student's KKM score. It makes the teachers think that how to increase the value of KKM so that teachers can apply appropriate learning methods to increase the value of student’s KKM.

In the educational encounter, the teacher is the expert in knowning what ‘means’ will most effectively attain those ‘ends’. The goal, end or purpose shapes the way in which the teacher teaches – it is captured and ‘shown’ in the very act of teaching. Teaching is a transaction between the teacher and the learner, not the delivery of something to the learner. But the main educational purpose lies in the engangement with a valuable text.

CHAPTER III

CONCLUSION

1.             Evidence is of different kinds relative to the form of discourse through which a problem is being addressed.

2.             Educational policies, aiming to improve the quality of learning and to increase the number of people who successfully participate in education at different phases, need evidence to show that one policy rather than another will make things better.So, what we have already done, it must have the evidence.There are three conclusions that need to be drawn from this as we look to the future

·                The first is that evidence-based policy and practice need to look much more carefully at the diffent kinds of evidence which legimately enter into educational deliberations at the policy and professional practice levels.

·                Second, despite the rather electric nature of educational discourse, there are lessons to be learnt from the insistence by the advocates of evidence-based policy and practice for the more rigorous search for evidence.

·                Third, the political and often highly charged context of educational research needs to be recognized. It cannot be wished away. And that political context invades not only the policies and practices themselves, but also the different philosophical advocacies of different sorts of research.