The Impact of Educational Researches on Formulation and Practice of Educational Policies in Nigeria

Dr. Dayo Odukoya
Education & Development Consultant
Email: dayoodukoya@gmail.com

Executive Summary

Concerted education and empirical researches are the instruments per excellence for individual and national development.  However, for an educational research to have significant impact in this direction, it should be strategically focused on issues of national interest, issues that border on formulation and practice of educational policies.  Informed government worldwide are guided by policies at virtually all tiers of government.  The bane of many African countries’ poor development with its attendant problems could be attributed to dearth of pragmatic policies and perhaps poor implementation.  Sound policy formulation and implementation are products of sound researches backed with appropriate advocacy drives. It is findings from valid empirical studies that inform sound policy formulation and practice.  It is against this background that the need to assess the impact of educational researches and their relative impact on policy formulation and practice in Nigeria was conceived. 

This paper is aimed at finding empirical answers to the following questions.  What is the proportion and rate of occurrence of policy-oriented empirical educational researches reaching the policy makers? What is the degree of relevance (in terms of application) of the identified research studies? How appropriate is the process of educational policy formulation in Nigeria? How appropriate are the educational policies on ground in Nigeria? What is the process of policy implementation in Nigeria to date, especially with changing governments? How effective is the policy implementation? What is the overall impact of educational researches on policy formulation and practice in Nigeria?  Using the ex-post facto and survey designs, the researcher intends to collaborate with expert policy analysts from international development agencies like UNDP and UNESCO based in Abuja.  The fieldwork will take 5 working days and will demand air travel and hotel accommodation for the researcher, honorarium for policy analysts, among other expenses.  This would cost approximately $2,500 USD (@ $1 = #150 NRN).  The study, with the write up, should not last more than one month.  In the final analysis, it is expected that this paper will furnish useful/reliable findings and recommendations that would positively impact on policy formulation and practice in Nigeria.