Teaching and Educational Research in Wales: How Does Teachers’ Engagement with Educational Research Differ in Wales from those in England?

The purpose of this study was to better understand how teachers in Wales differ from their counterparts in England in regard to their engagement with educational research. In 2010, the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) conducted a study of over 4,000 teachers in England. Many of the questions referred to their engagement in forms of educational research. In 2013, the same questions were posed to 216 teachers in Wales. A comparison of the findings indicate teachers in Wales were more likely to have recently undertaken action research than the England teachers. They also found others’ research findings more useful in their teaching. Additionally, the teachers in Wales were more likely than England teachers to agree that they know where to find relevant research to inform their teaching and that they are able to understand and use the research. With recent concerns over educational research and initial teacher education (ITE) in Wales, these findings provide insight into how teachers in Wales perceive and engage with education research and may help to inform policies enabling teachers to produce and implement evidence-based practices into their pedagogy.