A Systematic Review of Evidence on the Best Ways to Disseminate Research Evidence to Teachers

Abstract

This paper aims to present a systematic review of the best ways to disseminate research evidence to teachers. The study intentionally adopted a comprehensive search and broad inclusion criteria and identified 68,308 records published between 2000 and 2019 through a primary search consisting of some main databases such as British Education Index (BEI), Applied Social Sciences Index and Abstracts (ASSIA), Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC) and PsychINFO, and complementary search. After the screening, 25 studies were included in the synthesis, most of which were weak in terms of providing robust evidence. However, the study found that simply disseminating research evidence in a passive way like sending evidence-based materials to teachers via email was insufficient to get evidence into use. This review concludes that more research, particularly more large-scale randomised controlled trials (RCTs), on this topic needs to be undertaken to provide robust evidence on dissemination approaches.