Policy-based evidence: the schools inspectorate in England, research and school mathematics policy

Abstract

Increasingly, debates about school mathematics curriculum and pedagogy refer to evidence. The Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted), the inspection service in England, published a series of research reviews, including one on mathematics. Using features of education review quality, we analyse Ofsted’s departure from scholarly norms, identifying a lack of transparency, weakness of research design and search strategy, and lack of rigour in the selection of evidence. Further, cited research is frequently misinterpreted and unwarranted causal claims made due to overgeneralisation and oversimplification. A specific example of this is the misappropriation of research on problem solving leading to recommendations conflicting with both the National Curriculum in England and the findings of other, more rigorous, research reviews. From this analysis, we argue that the mathematics review is an example of “policy-based evidence” and point to alternative ways that inspection evidence can complement mathematics education research to support evidence-informed policy and practice.