Pressure for quick fixes can outweigh research evidence when ministers set schools policy, according to a study of three decades of education initiatives.

Frost/Morris: Do ministers respond to media pressure more than evidence?.

Media pressure and political expediency are more likely to influence decision making, says a report from the CfBT education charity.

The report draws upon interviews with former ministers and civil servants.

It calls for the setting up of an independent chief education officer to give objective advice.

The report, Instinct or Reason, due to be published next week, examines the pressures that have shaped education policy since the late-1970s, across Conservative and Labour administrations.

Short-term

Using interviews with previous education ministers, academics and education figures, the report highlights how decisions can be taken without adequate research-based evidence.

The figures contributing to the report included former education secretaries Estelle Morris, David Blunkett and Gillian Shephard, senior civil servant Michael Barber and head teachers' leader, John Dunford.

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