Evidence-Informed Educational Practice in Catalan Education: From Public Agenda to Teachers’ Practice

This article analyzes the long tradition of school innovation movements in Catalonia. These have increased in recent years as public administration and private entities have initiated substantial school reforms oriented towards the use of evidence in teaching practice. Since the Catalan educational system is highly autonomous, not all schools have adopted the evidence-based practice (EBP) movement, and this has created differences between schools that choose to implement change or innovation based on scientifically proven evidence and those that do not. This paper aims to understand the current state of the inclusion of empirical practice in Catalonia and assess teachers’ perceptions of its adoption as part of their daily practice. To address these issues, we begin by exploring the legal and structural framework that underpins the implementation of evidence-based practice in the Catalan system, and through interviews conducted with a sample of primary school leaders and teachers, we approach the organizational and individual levels to explore the opportunities for implementing a genuine evidence-based practice approach in the Catalan educational system.