According to the report Instinct or Reason from the CfBT Education Trust that was made after conducting several interviews with former ministers and civil servants, mass media and politics influence education policy. The report calls on for setting up of an independent chief education officer who would give objective advice without being pressured upon. The report considers the interviews with academics, previous education ministers and education figures and shows the results of decisions that were taken without considering preliminary made research. It also highlights that mass media had great influence upon many decisions that were taken by the government. This caused problems with setting up effective long-term strategies in the educational system. As an example, governments of all parties may take wrong decisions being under pressure from media that continues saying that "something must be done".
Researchers have found out that politicians are even given greater consideration than education experts and academic researchers in some issues. They also wrote in their essays that public opinion on education does not play any role in decision making process because the main pressure goes from politics and media. If the government is in power for a long time, it does not trust evidences given to it. The report also stresses that there should be found a way to raise importance of evidences given by research and independent experts for casting more practical light on the political agenda. Nowadays the relationship between education politics and education research are difficult and it is necessary to do something so that academic research and expert opinion play a larger part in forming decisions.
