EXPLORING CONSTRAINTS TO THE ADOPTION OF EVIDENCE-BASED PRACTICES IN TECHNOLOGY EDUCATION: PERSPECTIVES FROM EDUCATORS AND POLICY MAKERS.

Abstract

The global push toward evidence-based practice in education has intensified 
expectations that teaching, curriculum development, and policy decisions 
particularly in technology education be grounded in rigorous empirical research. Yet 
the implementation of evidence-based research (EBR) in technology education 
remains uneven and contested. This paper critically examines the persistent barriers 
to embedding EBR in technology education from the perspectives of educators and 
policy makers. This paper identifies five interrelated constraints: structural and 
resource limitations, limited research literacy and professional capacity, cultural 
resistance and epistemological tensions, misalignment between research 
production and policy cycles, and weak knowledge-mobilization systems. It argues 
that the challenge is not merely access to evidence but the ecology within which 
evidence is interpreted, negotiated, and enacted. These opinions reveal not only 
logistical hurdles but also deeper attitudinal and structural factors that sustain the 
research-practice gap. Addressing these barriers requires collaborative, context
sensitive approaches that prioritize practitioner input and institutional support to 
foster meaningful integration of evidence in technology education. It concludes by 
proposing systemic, collaborative, and capacity-building strategies to enhance 
research uptake and strengthen the research policy practice nexus in technology 
education.