There exist two types of reviews the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) is conducting, country reviews and thematic reviews. Although all country reviews are also thematic by nature, the focus lies more on one country and the analysis serves the specific needs of the country under review and the other member states as a reliable, standardised source of information. So-called thematic reviews treat one theme over many countries--at least five or six--and end in a comparative study that shows differences between countries, best practice in particular countries, tendencies, etpara. and should give an insight into the general mechanics of the chosen topic and be a guideline for all member states. The review of the educational research policy in England is somewhere in between the two types of reviews. The purpose of the Roundtable is to use the OECD "Report on Educational Research and Development in England" to ask questions about the direction of educational research within the European Educational Research Space. This stems from a strong interest within European Educational Research Association (EERA) about the changing nature of educational research and the collection of comparative data about performance in research as well as from the discussions that have been going on for some time within EERA about the purpose and features of a European educational research observatory. The key focus of the report being on the relation between educational improvement and "effective" research, and how knowledge about educational improvement could be applied to practice. If the report's approach will be followed, it is probable that educational research will be focused more on research capacity building and evidence-based practice, for the purpose of delivering educational improvements. Therefore, the focus of the debate will be not so much on the OECD report on England as such, but on the methodological-political-scientific criteria on which it is based, and the consequent possible advisability of applying in a more extensive way the approach that has been adopted, in the "reasonable assumption" that it could be a model for future research audits. In this framework the authors offer their comments on the present and future of educational research. (Contains 1 note.)