They could provide the evidence-base that Hargreaves advocates. They are a succinct way in which educational research can contribute to professional discourse. Putting Research Reports on the Internet Academic researchers tend to publish their research reports in journals. Teacher researchers sometimes put their findings in journals, but othertimes may print no more than a few copies which are passed around immediate colleagues. The TTA is doing an important service in funding and publishing small scale projects by teacher researchers, but there is much more to do in making sure that teachers can access research reports.
Fuzzy generalisations are of little value unless teachers can examine their justification.
One way of doing this is through Education-line. It is a readily accessed compilation of research reports in what is sometimes called 'the grey literature', meaning reports which have not been published in journals. It is based at the University of Leeds and is easy to access and to contribute to. The TTA could fund a project to draw out fuzzy generalisations from the existing literature and make it available on the Internet to teachers everywhere. This is what a searchable listing of fuzzy generalisations could offer.