Implementing change in educational contexts as a topic for research

As is the case in other fields, quality assurance in educational contexts is often achieved by innovation and reform. The potential of an innovative approach to produce the desired impacts in educational practice is usually ascertained by scientifically validated pilots, or "model projects". The process of implementation, i.e. the transfer to, and consolidation of, a pilot scheme throughout the education system, however, is as yet but poorly understood. In the present contribution, we first describe what is meant by innovation and implementation in educational contexts. We then go on to review key factors to success, as well as key challenges to implementation in education. We conclude by pleading the case for the establishment of implementation research as a new and distinct area of inquiry, involving psychological expertise in the narrow sense of the term.