Abstract
The article aims at explaining the educational research in Britain by historical progress. Scotland is in the lead in establishing the basic structure of educational research. After Labour Party becomes the ruling party in 1997, Scotland, Wales, and North Ireland have become more autonomous in educational policy and educational research follow suit by the policy of devolution. On the evaluation of educational research, after David Hargreaves’ TTA speech, it is followed by Hillage report and James Tooley report. The characteristics of educational research in Britain are, first, there are close relations between educational research and the formation of education as a discipline. However, educational research in Britain has preoccupied in social reform at the start which remains as a tradition for practical purpose; second, educational research has close relation with teacher training; third, the pursuit for practical use has become a main issue in British educational research. The author holds that practical use of educational research is only one part of its values.