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Promoting Evidence-Based Education: The Role of Practitioners Round table presented at the British Educational Research Association Conference, Cardiff University, 7-10 September 2000 Robert Coe, Carol Fitz-Gibbon and Peter Tymms Curriculum, Evaluation and Management Centre, Durham University Mountjoy Research Centre 4, Stockton Road, Durham DH1 3UZ Tel: 0191 374 4504; Fax: 0191 374 1900; Email: r.j.coe@dur.ac.uk http://www.cem.dur.ac.uk/ebeuk Abstract A number of recent initiatives from Durham University’s Curriculum, Evaluation and Management Centre have sought to involve teachers in creating, accessing and applying evidence about what works in their practice. The ‘gold-standard’ of evidence in this context is taken to be multiple replications of small scale, randomised controlled trials of feasible interventions in real-life settings. The aims, form and progress of these initiatives will be reported, and a number of questions will be raised: What do we mean by ‘Evidence-Based Education’? How can it best be promoted? What kinds of research can teachers do? How good can it be? Can it genuinely contribute to knowledge? Is it a distraction or enhancement of teachers’ core role? How do traditional models of Action Research fit with this approach? Is there an existing body of knowledge that can inform practice? How can teachers gain access to it? Under what conditions might such knowledge have an impact on practice? Key words Evidence-Based Education, RCTs, practitioner research What do we mean by ‘Evidence-Based Education’? A short history of E-BE The name ‘Evidence-Based Education’ is borrowed from Evidence-Based Medicine, defined as “the conscientious, explicit and judicious use of current best evidence in making decisions about the care of individual patients. The practice of evidence-based medicine means integrating individual clinical expertise with the best available external clinical evidence from systematic research.”