Spotlight on Evidence
In this section we will spotlight individual influential pieces of research evidence, providing a summary and links to source documents and linked resources, where appropriate.
This section will also feature case studies of the use of research evidence in practice written by Evidence Leads in Education and school practitioners.
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You may also find the EEF 'Evidence into Action' podcast series useful.
- 04/03/24
Essex Research School
Essex Research School is based at Lyons Hall Primary School in Braintree. Lyons Hall is one of the three schools that make up the Learning Pathways Trust and is a relatively new Research School having launched in 2023. Its director is Kate Alliston, a primary teacher with over 20 years’ experi...Read Full Story - 13/11/23
REACHout Early Years Stronger Practice Hub - East of England
The Early Years Stronger Practice Hubs programme was launched in November 2022 and is part of the DfE's Early Years Education COVID-19 Recovery Package. The REACHout East of England Stronger Practice Hub, based in Halstead, Essex is holding a launch event in Chelmsford on 22 November 2023...Read Full Story - 01/07/23
Effective Professional Development
The research tells us that professional development for teachers works – if it is well designed, carefully selected and robustly implemented. For busy teachers and practitioners, it needs to be worth the investment of time and energy. That is why it is so important to look at the evidence on...Read Full Story - 17/05/23
Take part in research projects and access funding through the EEF
The Education Endowment Foundation provides access to a vast amount of existing educational research and guidance of evidence led practice. However, not everyone is aware that it also offers opportunities to take part in research trials or to apply for funding for your own locally based project.Read Full Story - 17/03/23
Evidence for the early years - new support and resources for professionals working in schools, nurseries and other early years settings from the EEF
This Spotlight focuses on a new Early Years resource area launched by the Education Endowment Foundation in February. This marks a big step forward in their mission to support early years practitioners by providing the most up-to-date evidence about how effective different approaches are likely to b...Read Full Story - 01/02/23
Evidence Into Action – the EEF podcast series
This Spotlight article, rather than exploring a single piece of research, focuses on the EEF’s Evidence into Action podcast series.Read Full Story - 05/12/22
The skills imperative 2035: Essential skills for tomorrow’s workforce
In this Spotlight, we temporarily move away from the world of specific pedagogical research to a wider topic which is currently being explored by NfER in a 5-year research programme - The skills imperative 2035: Essential skills for tomorrow’s workforce.Read Full Story - 13/10/22
Great Teaching Toolkit Evidence Review
This Spotlight article focuses on a resource first published in June 2020 but which may well have been overlooked by teachers and leaders as they necessarily dedicated huge amounts of time and effort to coping with the challenges of day-to-day survival in a pandemic.Read Full Story - 07/06/22
Moving forwards, making a difference
"For two years, schools have been grappling with real uncertainty. Questions from whether they would be open one day to the next, to how best to support learning, both remotely and in-class, have loomed large over daily life in schools. Amidst these challenges, teachers and school leaders...Read Full Story - 25/04/22
Social and Emotional Learning in Primary Schools
“Upon returning to the classroom after partial school closures, staff reported that a significant proportion of children were demonstrating noticeably poorer interpersonal skills than they had prior to partial school closures. Specifically, children were increasingly struggling...Read Full Story - 09/03/22
Making Best Use of Teaching Assistants
The number of full-time equivalent TAs more than trebled in the period from 2000 to 2018, when the second edition of Making Best Use of Teaching Assistants was published. By that point Teaching Assistants comprised over a quarter of the workforce in mainstream schools in England: 35% of the pri...Read Full Story - 01/02/22
EEF launches updated version of the Improving Literacy in KS2 Guidance Report
The Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) published this ‘second phase’ Guidance Report in November 2021, including additional examples, explanations and resources to support implementation of the 7 original core recommendations. You can access the report and associated resources here...Read Full Story