Research and evidence use in education policy: supranational discourses, systemic conditions and implications for decision-making communities

Purpose This study investigates how supranational organisations conceptualise and strategically promote research engagement and evidence use in education policymaking. It examines the systemic conditions they advocate to support uptake and analyses how these conceptualisations are discursively constructed in policy texts. The paper also considers implications for decision-making communities, including policy teams, school leaders and professional networks, who interpret and enact these framings in practice. Design/methodology/approach The study employs interpretive policy analysis to examine how meanings, assumptions, and discursive devices are embedded in supranational policy texts. A curated set of six documents from the OECD, UNESCO and the World Bank (2020–2025) were analysed. Coding focused on rhetorical devices, metaphors, claims and systemic conditions, supported by inductive thematic analysis. This approach highlights how supranational discourses construct evidence cultures and configure systemic conditions for research engagement and evidence-informed policymaking. Findings Supranational organisations frame evidence as a strategic and symbolic resource, privileging certain epistemologies while marginalising others. These framings shape infrastructures and norms through which evidence is mobilised, influencing how decision-making communities engage with research. The analysis identifies tensions between instrumental and symbolic uses of evidence, highlights the role of metaphors in constructing evidence cultures, and shows how systemic conditions, such as governance traditions, institutional capacity and dissemination mechanisms, enable or constrain inclusive and reflexive engagement. Originality/value This paper advances interpretive policy analysis of supranational discourses, offering a conceptual framework that theorises how global framings configure systemic conditions for research engagement and evidence use. It contributes to debates on evidence cultures, epistemic inequality and symbolic versus instrumental use. The study provides insights into the discursive devices through which organisations coordinate evidence cultures and identifies implications for policy design, capacity-building and epistemic justice in education systems.