Evidence use snapshot

Evidence use in schools: A national snapshot

Our national snapshot on evidence provides a picture of the current state of evidence use and the use of evidence-based practices in schools across Australia, and where we need to know more.

For a summary of AERO's evidence use in schools research findings, see this article in The Conversation by AERO researchers Ioana Ramia and Zid Mancenido.

Reports and resources

• Evidence use in schools: A national snapshot – summary
• Evidence use in schools: A national snapshot – full report
• Use of evidence-based practices in schools
• Evidence use project methodology
• Supporting teachers to use research evidence well in practice (Q Project and AERO, 2022) 
• Example of practice: System-level support of evidence use
• Example of practice: External professional learning programs to improve student outcomes 
• Case study: Professional learning communities to improve practice

Note: Findings about evidence use in early childhood education and care (ECEC) will be released in 2023.

Better use of evidence leads to improved outcomes for children and young people, so it's important to understand and advance its use in schools and ECEC services. 

Knowing how evidence and evidence-based practices are used in schools and ECEC services across Australia will: 

• help us improve outcomes for children and young people through better use of evidence by allowing us to understand what is working well and what needs to change, in terms of teaching practice and support at school-, service- and system-level
• provide baseline information (how and how much evidence is currently used) against which changes in use of evidence over time can be described, monitored, tracked and compared
• identify gaps in the ways use of evidence or evidence-based practices are described, measured, tracked and reported, including the quality of existing measures, the extent to which all aspects of evidence use and use of evidence-based practices are measured and where better measures of evidence use are needed.

More on evidence use