A systematic critical review of research on ‘research use’ in education: Towards more profession-sensitive conceptualisations

This article presents a systematic critical review of the research literature on ‘research use’ in education. The concept of research use has gradually developed with increased policy expectations that teachers should engage in externally produced research. With such expectations, it is important to ask how existing research positions the teaching profession in relation to ‘research’ and its ‘use’. The characteristics of these relations have implications for how the professional knowledge and practices of teachers are conceptualised. Based on a full-text analysis of 34 articles published in renowned databases and peer-reviewed English scholarly journals, we find that research on research use is characterised by similar problem framings and results over a 30-year period. Based on the analysis, we argue that there is a need for more profession-sensitive conceptualisations of research use in education and for more complex understandings of what it entails to employ a system perspective on research use. We argue that the next generation of studies on research use must be developed to include a conception of the teaching profession and of teachers’ professional knowledge. • 'Research use' expectations in education have grown with policy demands • Research on research use tends to reproduce similar problem framings and results over time • There are underlying challenges in how the teaching profession is positioned in research • There is a need for more professionally sensitive conceptualisations of research use • A next generation of studies on ‘research use’ should be developed