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International Working Group (IWG)
The Challenge
There is an increasing desire in the global education sector to build a stronger culture of using evidence to inform decision-making in both policy and practice. However, the definition of
“good” or “quality” evidence is usually limited to research published through academic and traditional channels, leaving out large volumes of work with great value (so-called ‘grey
literature’).
The evidence base available to educational decision-makers is also severely limited by a failure to recognise and use the extensive amount of locally-contextualized and practice-derived evidence produced by non-governmental and civil society organisations, and researchers based in the Global South.
Developing ways of classifying and using this broader range of evidence in education decision-making would be a major methodological contribution to the education sector. Making applicable evidence easier to find, classify, and appraise will help incorporate more diverse local voices and deepen the culture of evidence use in education around the world.
The Solution
Education.org therefore established in 2023 an ‘International Working Group’ (IWG) to build on existing appraisal guidance and develop a new, coherent and intellectually rigorous system to address this challenge and make a wider range of evidence (including locally-generated evidence and grey literature) easier to identify, access, and use in educational decision-making.
The IWG was launched in Nairobi, Kenya, in June 2023 and is made up of technical experts from around the world with deep experience of working with educational evidence as policymakers, practitioners, researchers, synthesizers (see below). In early 2024 the IWG completed its draft Guidance which:
- Makes valuable evidence in unpublished works easier for education decision-makers to identify and access.
- Develops a classification system to categorise the various types of education, including ‘grey literature’.
- Proposes appraisal criteria to evaluate unpublished work, with particular attention to issues of relevance and context.
This draft Guidance is now being trialled in two countries, Kenya and Sierra Leone, with knowledge producers, including academics, practitioners and government analysts from their respective Ministries of Education. The Country Trials will produce customised Guidance to address the specific needs of each
group’s education system; and will provide feedback that will be used for revising the global Guidance (see below).
The IWG’s classification system and guidance will be published by Education.org in 2024 and made widely available for use by the education and research communities.
The Launch of the IWG Initiative
See the Press Release of the Launch in Nairobi, Kenya, June 2023
The IWG is supported by the following organisations:
