Gracia Jiménez (Maracena, Granada, 47 years old) is one of the drivers of. An eight -page document, signed so far by 86 Spanish researchers from diverse disciplines ―sociology, economy, psychology, neuroscience, linguistics and political science, among others – which presents the principles of a relatively new current in Spain. A movement that claims that educational decisions, both of the high responsible and those who take “in consideration the information provided by scientific research”, because, they affirm, the educational objectives must be based on “political, philosophical, legal and ethical considerations”; The time to choose the ways of achieving these objectives, quality research can “improve the information base that is weighed.” Doctor in Psychology, Jiménez is Vice Dean of Innovation, Research and Transfer at the Faculty of Education of the University of Granada, and specializes in the study of dyslexia and other learning difficulties.
Ask. What is education informed by evidence?
Answer. It is a fairly broad concept, but its fundamental purpose is to enrich educational decision making. The different components of the educational community need to make decisions to achieve objectives that are already proposed. And the education informed by the evidence aims to give them more information about what has a broad scientific consensus so that they can do it as appropriate as possible.
P. Does decisions taken in education not take it into account?
R. Unfortunately, not everything necessary. Many times other criteria are prioritized, although more and more scientific knowledge is included.
P. Do the conclusions of educational research reach the teaching staff?
R. It is true that teachers do not have the same access that researchers have to those results. The work of those who dedicate ourselves to research is, of course, to advance knowledge to the extent of our possibilities. But we also have the responsibility, almost the obligation, to facilitate bridges so that scientific knowledge reaches educational contexts and research has a social impact.
P. Unlike other fields, such as medicine, in education with some frequency, professional experience is raised as opposed to the conclusions of the research. Because?
R. Only on some occasions. But education informed by evidence does not eliminate other types of knowledge. . It is true that there are some very rooted traditional practices that have remained without a reflection of their effectiveness. We are all part, in some way, of the educational community, and we have all been students and we have received and observed certain practices that, if we do not question them to check if they work, if they are positive, whether they contribute or not, they remain inertia, because they have used a lifetime.
P. What evidence -based educational decision could be adopted and yet it has not been done?
R. I work in the field of reading learning, where fortunately we have a lot of evidence that gives us valuable information about how we must teach to read. And, although they extend more and more. For example, sometimes the focus is very early in the learning of the correspondence between the letter and the sounds, without having stimulated in a deep way aspects related to oral language, which is not adequate.
P. Because?
R. First we have to stimulate phonological consciousness in them. The ability to see that this linguistic flux that I hear everything followed is composed of smaller units, which can be the word, syllable or phoneme. In Early Childhood Education, efforts should be aimed at making children of those smaller units aware of their evolutionary development, until they reach that moment where they know that the word ‘Sun’ is composed of three very small pieces that are ‘s’ ‘or’ ‘l’. And from there, see how we can represent that, how we can write and read it.
P. What other practices remain against evidence?
R. There is, unfortunately, many examples. , when we have known that they do not have scientific support. Or certain practices are still being carried out with children who have difficulties when pronouncing the ERRE or other small problems of phonological articulation, despite the fact that the evidence has long shown that they are not effective; as the classic exercise consisting of putting the child a candle and telling him to blow strongly and then weakly. Or that blow with a straw in a glass of water, or in a balloon…. Since the 90s or even before there are studies that have proven that they have no effectiveness.
P. The manifesto warns that there are things that are presented as an informed education in evidence and are not. For example?
R. There are many erroneous concepts. One comes to say that this current imposes certain methodologies without taking into account teaching experiences or context. As if we give recipes that have to be applied unquestionably, when you always have to keep in mind that the investigation is limited, that there are no answers for everything, that the conclusions are provisional, and that we have to continue investigating and providing evidence. And there is no one left over. Nor the research that is done within school by teachers. Sometimes it is criticized that we use a very quantitative methodology that does not take into account the qualitative; On the contrary, all kinds of quality and rigorous research are welcome, and of course the experience and opinion of teachers, of the people who will apply it.
P. Its current gives special value to research that allows causal relationships. But they also admit the difficulty of doing so in a field, education, in which multiple variables intervene.
R. Each research, if it is of quality, tries to have a representation of the different types of different students and contexts. But that is why it is necessary not to have a single investigation, but an investigations body. And that is why what the meta -analysis, studies that collect a significant amount of research and draw general conclusions, beyond the particularity of a specific work are also so important.
P. Why do they publish the manifesto now?
R. In our country we are starting, and we found it interesting that from the beginning the concepts were clear. When things have more route, it is usually more difficult to eliminate misunderstandings.
