Reconstructing “Evidence-Based Education” from the Point of View of Educational Practice: In the Era of Standardization and Marketization of Education

 The purposes of this paper are as follows: (1) To clarify the current structure of issues around evidence-based education by systematically discussing the controversies around it and the relevant political and social contexts, such as structural changes in educational systems; and (2) to show how we should respond to significant questions raised in regard to evidence-based education, striving to create an ideal image of teaching profession, accountability systems, and educational research, while avoiding the standardization and marketization of education.<br> First, I sketch the development of evidence-based education. I summarize the main ideas of evidence-based practice and policy in the field of medicine. Based on the statements of D. H. Hargreaves, I clarify the claims of proponents of evidence-based practice and policy in the field of education. These include claims about the need to make teaching a research-based profession and to increase the practical usefulness of educational research. Additionally, I organize the discussion on evidence-based education and clarify some critiques, including criticisms of applying the causal model and the technological model to education, the danger of an overemphasis on efficiency and the omission of questions of value, and the important role of “knowing in action” in professional judgments.<br> Second, I describe ways of integrating technical knowledge and quantitative/scientific evidence with the qualitative/practical judgments of teachers. In the field of medicine, the importance in professional judgments of elements beyond quantitative empirical evidence, such as clinical expertise and patient values, has begun to be reevaluated. As a result, the integration of evidence-based medicine and narrative-based medicine has begun. As judgments in classroom practice are situational and complex, causal and technical knowledge has a limited use. Although qualitative and experiential knowledge should be prioritized in the process of classroom interaction, quantitative and empirical data play the larger role in decision-making at the macro policy level, where the framework of the educational system is decided. <br> Third, I describe the structural change of educational systems and the development of standards-based reform, which forms the political and social background of evidence-based education. I explain the problems that structural change has brought about in educational practices. Currently, the decision-making of educational professionals is required to be not only educationally effective, but also easy to understand and transparent. The pressure of accountability in this search for transparency tends to lead to the standardization and marketization of education, which in turn contributes to the de-professionalization of the educational profession.<br> Finally, I propose a design for a system of educational objectives and assessment which would integrate the democratic governance of education with the autonomy of the educational profession while avoiding the standardization and marketization of education. Many opponents of evidence-based education completely deny the validity of standards-based education and accountability. However, in the United States, there are some attempts to reconstruct standards-based education and accountability systems to accomplish equality and democracy rather than to strengthen competition and bureaucracy. The new accountability system (1) should be designed around the actual learning process of children in the classroom and the situational complex judgment of professional educators and (2) should emphasize local democratic school management through the participation of parents and local residents in the decision-making about their schools.