Education plays a fundamental role in shaping opportunities, participation and social inclusion, yet educational inequalities remain a persistent challenge across Europe. Addressing them requires not only effective policies, but also a better understanding of their impact and stronger connections with research and practice. So how can we better evaluate the effects of education policies and understand their potential to reduce inequalities and foster inclusion? And how can research evidence more effectively inform the decisions that shape learning across Europe?
The new EU-funded TRANSFER project addresses these challenges by strengthening policy evaluation and knowledge exchange between researchers, policymakers and practitioners. Coordinated by the University of Fribourg, the team will develop and test a participatory, mixed-method framework to evaluate education policies throughout the policy cycle – from their development and implementation to their impact. Applied across Finland, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Lithuania, Norway, Spain and Switzerland, this comparative approach will help understand how policies work across different contexts and groups, with particular attention to inequalities related to socioeconomic background, migration, gender and disability.
Turning education research into societal impact
Within TRANSFER, EURICE will engage relevant communities, communicate project findings and create pathways for the project’s results and resources to be taken up in policy and practice. This work builds on EURICE’s expertise in strategic communication, stakeholder engagement and innovation management. As part of the EURICE Group’s SOCIETY innovation ecosystem, TRANSFER will benefit from synergies with other initiatives that explore participatory approaches, evidence-informed policymaking and the role of research and innovation in addressing societal challenges.
“What we see as particularly valuable in TRANSFER is its collaborative approach to strengthening the links between research, policy and practice. Bringing these different perspectives together can help us understand what works in different contexts and translate knowledge into solutions that respond to real societal needs. By developing practical resources together with their intended users and exploring approaches such as foresight, TRANSFER takes this collaboration a step further – creating tools for more informed and forward-looking education policy”, highlights Nadine Drechoux, Senior Research & Impact Manager at EURICE and Portfolio Manager SOCIETY.
