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Evidence, schmevidence: the abuse of the word āevidenceā in policy discourse about education
@garyhowto examines the ways in which words such as āevidenceā are used inappropriately to support policy that may be formulated for convenience, cost or political dogma.
Words and terms are bestowed with symbolic power to support and promote favoured policy. Prof Thomas examines how such power may be acquired and deployed by exploring the use of the word āevidenceā and its derivatives in education discourse.
Via corpora and discourse analysis of extracts from policymakersā statements, speeches and assertions he examines how āevidenceā is used habitually as a proxy for the specification of actual evidence, simply to add weight to an argument or to impart legitimacy for policy.
Prof Gary Thomas concludes that the idea of āevidence-basedā persists only because of its value in enabling and promoting particular policy agendas.
doi.org/10.1080/00131911.2022.2028735
Education Research at Birmingham
@UoBEdResearch
The School of Education at the University of Birmingham brings world-leading research into the classroom to explore social justice and equality in education.