The BRiDGE project supports the European Union aim to bridge the gap between research and policy. To be effective, education policy research and development needs to be supported by collaboration and critical reflection. The project addressed existing gaps between the knowledge and expertise of Higher Education institution-based researchers, practitioners in civil society organisations, and policy-makers, that prevent the effective connection of evidence with policymaking.
Education policy research and development needs to be supported by conceptual frameworks, and by collaborative critical reflection on evidence to be effective. Whilst this is theoretically understood in the field, it lacks practical application. The partners agree that, across Europe, capacity-building is required for stakeholders to better understand: how ideas and arguments are shaped over time; how educational theories and models are usefully applied to data; how to evaluate the quality of the evidence; and how to adapt policy measures appropriate to national, regional, and local contexts. The needs addressed by the project include: - Higher levels of competence of early career researchers in the field of education policy, especially in their engagement with different stakeholders, which has been identified as a need in the various partner countries as well as across Europe more broadly; - Learning communities within and across education institutions, across sectors, and within and across countries, that are dedicated specifically to critical policy review through systematic research; - Genuine evidence-informed approaches to education policy design.