Since our programme is running in the only predominantly research institution in the field of education in Slovenia, it represents a substantial liaison with global research developments in the area of educational research. In the sphere of the basic areas it promotes such sciences as philosophy of education, sociology of education, etc., which have not been developed enough yet. However, the main focus of the programme are sciences such as pedagogy, psychology of education, etc. In a complex view all these aspects enter into the domain, where the Slovenian national identity is being generated. Results of our research concern the scientific communication in the Slovene sphere of the social and human sciences on the epistemological level, at the same time they bring about new views and knowledges which are in the centre of the concern of the educational practice on the level of applicative and empirical studies (which are an integral part of the educational research). Something which can be at the first glance perhaps described as "un-useful" research (as in the philosophy of education, anthropological aspects of education, linguistic research, etc.) turns out to be the way to enter the global discussion within the social sciences. In this way we produce the internationally comparable conceptual bases also for the applicative research. In Slovenia, as elsewhere in the world, the formation of policies in education and the optimisation of educational work cannot exist without an accurate, continuous and rather complex scientific complement. Misunderstandings between the politics and professions, the different and controversial views within the professions do happen. But through a democratic dialogue they lead to a more effective management of the system and more successful work in schools. The preconditions for such a result are a sufficient understanding of scientific knowledge in the sphere of practice as well as a scientific autonomy of researchers. Individual results in the framework of the programme present directly usable outcomes as for instance the findings of research on the pre-primary educational level concerning the lowering of school entering age of children; or comparative findings on the level of pupils' achievements in natural sciences or in the citizenship education, etc. Other results bring about conceptual "tools" and criteria for determining the state of educational system, as well as parameters of possible changes. In this respect an operative analytic model of the structural indicators of education in the information society plays an important role. It enables us to interpret the collected data and the research materials. For practical usages of the model we are stressing the need for the improvement of the parallel activities. The result of IEA studies have become the inevitable "tool" from the perspective of maintaining and improving of the international comparability of our school system. At the end let us point out that almost all researchers in our group collaborated in different boards and other bodies that worked on the contents of the changes of the school system. In addition to university lectures the dissemination activities also include direct work with teachers and in-service training courses.