4.4.4 Evidence-informed policy (EIP) development
EIP has been promoted in the last few decades in the field of development studies. Policy development should consider the available evidence to design teacher policies resulting in better outcomes. EIP is particularly important in developing countries (Sutcliffe and Court, 2005). Facilitating EIP may require developing the country’s research capacity and fostering the systematic integration of research and policy. Likewise, to facilitate greater use of evidence by policy-makers, academic researchers need to strengthen their understanding of the policy research nexus and of how to communicate relevant policy evidence to policy-makers (Segone, 2008).
Evidence-informed policy development requires managing and collecting data for use in teacher policy development (and implementation – see Chapter 5). An effective TMIS may help manage the data, either as a stand-alone database or component of a larger EMIS. A TMIS may feature data relating to all aspects of the teaching force important to a teacher policy. Certain conditions determine the usefulness of a TMIS (or EMIS) for effective policy, including: reliability, consistency and timeliness of data across education levels and administrative boundaries (national and decentralized); funding, maintenance and technical support capacity over time; user and core professional engagement (notably teachers and principals/head teacher) in planning, testing, piloting, rolling out and feedback; and user friendliness, training and capacity (ILO, 2012: 13–14).
4.4.3 Engaging teachers