Creating an impact, leaving an impression - learnings from the Australian Science of Learning Research Centre

Established as a Special Research Initiative of the Australian Research Council, the Science of Learning Research Centre (SLRC) was purposed with developing a scientific evidence base that can be used to inform teaching practices. A virtual research centre with nodes in each of Australia’s mainland states, the SLRC served to bring together researchers from the disparate disciplines of education, neuroscience and psychology. The SLRC was one of the major Australian initiatives, described in the previous chapter, designed to foster the science of learning. This chapter delves deeply into the SLRC, the history behind its establishment, associated policy objectives, and how it went about meeting the targets, and reviews the performance of the SLRC in seeking to achieve its vision of making a positive impact on student learning. Focusing on the translation of research findings to the classroom, a brief account of the Centre and how it was established sets the scene before providing a comparison of the Centre outcomes against its initial aims. Despite achieving outcomes far greater than ever envisaged, the link between Centre research and improved student learning for all students was more tenuous. A discussion of the facilitators of, and barriers to, the translation of research outcomes to the classroom, and lessons learnt, provides insight into the challenges of bringing about large-scale reform in education. With a call for teachers to engage with evidence-informed practice, this insight contributes to the policy discussion on how to facilitate engagement with evidence generated from scientific research. The discussion of facilitators of, and hurdles to, translation of research outcomes is further elaborated on in Part 4 of this book dedicated to the translation of research outcomes to the classroom.