Considering the changed responsibilities brought about by the 2017 Education Reform Act and building on existing efforts and available opportunities, there are a number of possible inroads for Austria to consider in its continuing efforts to promote the use of evidence.
Structuring collegial exchanges around explicit purposes, building on existing habits. Results show that interactions with peers, for both school leaders and school quality managers, are important ways of exchanging experiences and methods of evidence use. Where evidence use is not yet systematic, collegial exchanges could be structured around an explicit purpose, such as developing skills to gather, access and make sense of evidence, developing a common understanding of what makes evidence fit for a specific purpose, and developing an agreement on how evidence should be used in a specific situation. Importantly, basing such efforts on existing work habits and processes would increase their uptake and minimise administrative burden.
Increasing availability of specific training on guiding and instructing evidence use. For both school leaders and school quality managers, developing the skills to guide and instruct the use of evidence in schools is essential. Yet, reports indicate that such training is not widely available. Increasing the availability of specific training can help promote use of evidence directly and insert important new knowledge into the widely reported collegial exchanges.
Developing a common understanding around using evidence. This pertains to developing agreement around which evidence is fit-for-purpose for which tasks and how it is best used in concrete situations. This is particularly relevant in the transition to new responsibilities as specific decision-making situations and habits are still emerging.
Collaboratively reflecting on which evidence is best gathered where. While schools are important evidence producers, in some circumstances other providers, such as school quality managers, will be in a better position to gather and prepare fit-for-purpose evidence. In the same vein, schools will be in a better position to gather evidence needed at other levels. Different levels of governance – in particular, school leaders and school quality managers – should be involved in a collaborative reflection on how to optimise evidence provision.
Improving tailoring of evidence based on direct feedback from decision makers. Not all decision makers will be equally prepared to gather and prepare evidence as needed for their new responsibilities. Evidence providers need information about decision makers’ work processes and habits, so that they can tailor evidence to their needs. Responses indicate that school quality managers are motivated to be directly involved in preparing evidence. Informational exchanges may be better suited for feedback on schools’ needs.