High quality implementation of educational approaches can have a significant impact on improving students' outcomes (Mitchell, 2011, as cited in Vaughan, 2017). But when it comes to implementing a new approach, how can schools ensure it’s being done effectively?
Our 10th annual reader survey is underway and many of you are letting us know you’d like more content on implementation. In this article, we speak with Kate Griffiths, Senior Manager of Evidence Adoption and Implementation at the Australian Education Research Organisation (AERO) about the organisation’s new resources on evidence-based implementation.
Earlier this month, AERO released 5 explainer papers and one discussion paper on evidence-based implementation. The first explainer paper provides an overview of how schools can take a deliberate and structured approach to implementation, and the following 4 dive into the key components of a deliberate and structured approach to implementation.
The 4 key components of this implementation approach outlined by AERO are:
- Using a staged approach
- Addressing enablers and barriers
- Using key implementation strategies
- Monitoring implementation outcomes
‘In education, we know a lot about what works to improve learning outcomes for students … but what we know less about is the how. So, how we put these practices into practice, so to speak, in schools,’ Kate Griffiths, Senior Manager of Evidence Adoption and Implementation at AERO tells Teacher.
‘This project is important for us to learn about the how of implementing evidence-based practices in schools. This is the first set of publications that's come from this project and we think it's important to put our insights out there so that teachers and leaders and schools can learn alongside us about a deliberate and structured approach to implementation of evidence-based practices in schools.’
Understanding a deliberate and structured approach
Broad terms like ‘evidence-based implementation’ can have slightly different meanings and understandings in different school contexts.
When it comes to AERO’s definition of a deliberate and structured approach to implementation, Griffiths explains that a ‘deliberate approach’ means a process that is thoughtfully planned and committed to, and a ‘structured approach’ refers to a systematic series of interconnected activities and decisions working through the 4 key components of implementation.
Implementation science is the discipline this body of work is drawing on, she adds. ‘Implementation science is thinking about or looking at how we bridge that gap between what the knowledge or the evidence tells us, and how we implement that evidence in practice (so, in a school in this case). It's often described in the implementation science literature as the “know/how gap”.
‘Typically, in education implementation is seen as less complex than it possibly is, according to implementation science. Often in schools, teachers or leaders might see implementation as synonymous with just something like professional learning or something like coaching and modelling … However … if you want to effectively implement evidence-based practices, it's more complex than that.’
In what areas do schools need more support?
The discussion paper that was published alongside the explainer papers shares initial findings from The Learning Partner Project, which sees AERO working with a small group of primary schools across Australia to learn about implementing evidence-based practices.
Griffiths says the initial findings are showing that schools tend to be familiar with 2 of the 4 key components of a deliberate and structured approach to implementation of evidence-based practices. ‘The first one is using a staged approach. Schools tend to liken this to doing school improvement framework processes, so they're sort of familiar with using that staged approach. Schools are also relatively familiar with the key implementation strategies – so, they're sort of discrete implementation strategies, such as professional learning or modelling and coaching.’
Findings are also showing that schools are less familiar with the other 2 key components: addressing enablers and barriers, and monitoring implementation outcomes. ‘When we're talking about addressing enablers and barriers, they're the enablers and barriers in a school's own context that may either hinder or enhance the uptake of evidence-based practice. A barrier, for instance, could be teachers not buying into the evidence or not believing that a certain evidence-based practice will work, but barriers over time can become enablers. So, you can work within the school to overcome those barriers,’ Griffiths shares.
‘We also find that monitoring implementation outcomes is something schools are less familiar with, and by that we mean thinking about, I guess, what are the success criteria that will let us know if we're effectively implementing an evidence-based practice? So things like fidelity or acceptability, etcetera.’
Finding the time for evidence-based implementation
A common concern around implementing a new approach is the time and resources involved.
‘What our 2023 evaluation told us of our Learning Partner Project is that within 6 months of putting in place a deliberate and structured approach to implementation, teachers, leaders [and] schools were telling us that they could see it was worthwhile and they had the time, energy and resources to put into it. So, that was quite a fast turnaround,’ Griffiths shares.
‘In terms of where to start with implementation and how to get across that barrier of time, [we] would advise starting with a small group of teachers in a key learning area and then thinking about how to reprioritise time rather than adding extra time on. So, thinking about how time and resources could be used differently. So, for example, you could be using existing planning or professional learning time to focus on implementation strategies such as modelling. So you're not adding extra time, you're just repurposing existing time.’
Griffiths says AERO will look to scale up the Learning Partner Project to include more schools with diverse settings in the future. It also plans to produce more discussion papers and practical resources for school leaders.
References and related reading
Australian Education Research Organisation. (2024). Insights into implementation: What AERO is learning alongside schools about implementing evidence-based practices. https://www.edresearch.edu.au/research/discussion-papers/insights-implementation
Australian Education Research Organisation. (2024). Taking an evidence-informed approach to implementation. https://www.edresearch.edu.au/summaries-explainers/explainers/taking-evidence-informed-approach-implementation
Australian Education Research Organisation. (2024). Using a staged approach to implementation. https://www.edresearch.edu.au/summaries-explainers/explainers/using-staged-approach-implementation
Australian Education Research Organisation. (2024). Addressing enablers and barriers to implementation. https://www.edresearch.edu.au/summaries-explainers/explainers/addressing-enablers-and-barriers-implementation
Australian Education Research Organisation. (2024). Using implementation strategies. https://www.edresearch.edu.au/summaries-explainers/explainers/using-implementation-strategies
Australian Education Research Organisation. (2024). Monitoring implementation outcomes. https://www.edresearch.edu.au/summaries-explainers/explainers/monitoring-implementation-outcomes
Vaughan, T. & Albers, B. (2017, June 20). Research to practice – implementation in education. Teacher magazine. https://www.teachermagazine.com/au_en/articles/research-to-practice-implementation-in-education
Kate Griffiths says initial findings from the Learning Partner Project research show schools need more support in 2 of the key implementation components: addressing enablers and barriers, and monitoring implementation outcomes.
Reflect on these findings in the context of your own school setting. How well do you address enablers and barriers to implementation? Are you confident in monitoring implementation outcomes?
