Education research is woefully disconnected from the needs of teachers and students. A new paper by academics from Auburn and Newport Universities in the US is the latest to detail the problem of bias in education research.
The study analysed themes across 25,000 presentations at the American Educational Research Association’s (AERA) annual meetings between 2021 and 2025. Topics related to equity, identity, and social justice appeared at twice the rate of any other research area. Yet these priorities were completely disconnected from the concerns of the more than 260 teachers they surveyed.
Teachers were focused on “more immediate and practical” issues, such as managing student behaviour, maintaining discipline, and improving teacher retention. When practical matters like school discipline were addressed, AERA presentations often emphasised restorative justice approaches, which have failed to hold up under rigorous evaluation.
Continue reading the entire piece here at UnHerd
______________________
Neetu Arnold is a Paulson Policy Analyst at the Manhattan Institute.
Photo by PeopleImages/Getty Images