Abstract:

The school as a social institution has always been regarded as an agent development of the aspirations of any society. This is because education plays a prominent role in the development of any nation. That would only be possible only if appropriate policies based only on quality research findings are built into the schools’ administrative and curriculum structures. It is not enough only to carry out research works on educational issues but that policymakers and educational practitioners should avail themselves of the research evidences and apply them in decision-making and classroom practices. This paper employs the qualitative method of research in studying the opinions of 50 policy makers and 1000 educational practitioners in relation to the use of research evidence in educational policy formulations and improvement of classroom practices. A 55-item questionnaire and a 15-item interview schedule were administered on the respective respondents. From the preliminary discussions with the teachers and lecturers, it was observed among others, that many educational practitioners do not use educational research evidences to guide their teaching practices. Based on this, it was recommended that educational research evidences should be given an important place in the formulation of educational policies and practices.

Keywords:

Research Evidence, Educational Policies, Classroom Instructional Practices.