Stakeholder engagement with funding bodies, steering committees and surveys: Benefits for education projects

Stakeholder engagement is fundamental to the implementation of effective education research projects. Indeed, funders often partially judge research project applications on the evidence of quality stakeholder engagement. Thus, with high levels of competition for funding in education, and some community members judging successful projects by the reflection of community input, stakeholder engagement is an important area to explore. This discussion paper examines the definitions, as well as the benefits and challenges of stakeholder engagement. The discussion is framed around the current theories of stakeholder engagement and stakeholder management. These theories are used as a lens to view an Australian early childhood education online research project utilising a steering committee, funding bodies and stakeholder surveys. Discussion about the benefits and challenges these inputs bring to a project is situated in the literature. Such discussion will be of interest to those undertaking educational projects and funding.