The need for evidence in education

In this article a plea is made to use evidence in education. A remarkable d ifference in attitude is noted between university staff in their role as sc ientists in their discipline and in their role as teachers. Whereas evidenc e is the key to guide scientists in the development of their discipline, ev idence on teaching and learning hardly affects their role as teachers. Teac hing is, rather, dominated by intuition and tradition. However, particularl y in education, intuitions and traditions are not always correct when they are submitted to empirical verification. It even often turns out that our i ntuitions are not justified or that assumed relations are far more complex. To illustrate the fallacy of our (implicit) intuitions and beliefs, a few of these assumptions are held against the available evidence. Two assumptio ns related to the learning of students and two assumptions related to the a ssessment of student achievement are discussed. The illustrations make clea r that we do need to use evidence in education, just as we do in any other professional area. Being a professional teacher requires more than being an expert in a content area; it also requires familiarity, use, and perhaps p roduction of educational evidence and theory.