Abstract
ABSTRACTThe relationship between research and policymaking has been discussed repeatedly. However, the debate tends to be in general, abstract terms or from a macroeconomic perspective with any examples described in a fairly cursory way. Despite the inherent complexity of the research-policy interface, analyses tend to homogenise ‘research’ and ‘policy’ as coherent entities with discussions often focusing on products (research and policies) rather than on the relationships between producers (researchers and policymakers). Here, we take one piece of research on qualifications that has influenced policy rhetoric over the last 5 years. We trace the career of the research from its production in the late 1990s in order to understand the conditions of its dormancy, re-emergence and use over the ensuing years. The paper serves to document the case, which is important in its own right, but also proposes a typology of ways in which research gets adopted and adapted into policy.
Highlights
In 2014, the UK’s periodic assessment of university-based research included a measure of ‘impact’ for the first time
In a speech at the Institute of Education in March 2013 she said that “People who take Advanced Level (A-level) maths earn on average 10 per cent more than their peers” (Truss, 2013b) and, later that year, she explained that “Maths, for example, is the only school subject which has been proven to add to earnings, by up to 10% at A level, even when every other factor is taken into account” (Truss, 2013a)
All that can be said is that in 1991, amongst a small sample of men born in 1958, those who had completed an A-level in mathematics or computing in 1975 were earning, on average, between 7 and 10% more than their A-level peers who had not taken mathematics. b) To other subjects: Dolton and Vignoles’ work identified A-level Mathematics as having a unique effect
Summary
In 2014, the UK’s periodic assessment of university-based research included a measure of ‘impact’ for the first time. The Maths Pathways Project (following ‘Smith’) produces lengthy programme of curriculum and qualification development but has little impact; The Reform Group publishes ‘The Value of Mathematics’ (Kounine, Marks, & Truss, 2008); A-level Mathematics numbers rising, mainly as a result of larger cohorts and higher proportion of top grades at GCSE (see Noyes & Adkins, 2015). The theoretical explanation given by the authors matters less than the fact that policy makers have assumed a human capital argument, namely, that if a student is persuaded to study A-level Mathematics they are likely to reap an economic advantage To research this case we systematically collated and analysed a range of relevant literature from the turn of the century through to the present day. Nick Gibb, Truss’s successor has stated that ”those who do Maths A level will go on to earn 10% more”
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