Research into the deployment and impact of support staff who have achieved HLTA status
This is a report from the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) commissioned by the Training and Development Agency for Schools (TDA) to carry out research into the deployment and impact of support staff who have achieved Higher Level Teaching Assistant (HLTA) status. The project took place from August 2006 to August 2007.
Ensuring the Best Start in Life: Targeting versus Universality in Early Childhood Development
This is a research paper published by the Institute for Research on Public Policy – an independent Canadian national non-profit organisation. This report identifies the strategies for enhancing the development of vulnerable children in Canada and focusing on early intervention programmes. The report explores four policy issues influencing early childhood education centres in Canada. The report is supplemented by American findings of initiatives involved in providing early childhood care.
Language Learning at key stage 3: the impact of the KS3 Modern Foreign Languages Framework and chang
Produced by the DCSF, this research brief reports on interim findings from the first half of a two-year investigation undertaken by the University of Cambridge into the impact of the KS3 Framework for Modern Foreign Languages (MFL) and other initiatives on current provision and practice at KS3.
Extended schools - testing and delivery of the core offer in and around extended schools
The resource is the final report, issued in 2008, of a two-stage programme of research to explore the delivery of the core offer of extended school services in England. The programme was commissioned by the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF), to be undertaken by Ipsos MORI.
Curee/TLRP Research Tasters
This part of the CUREE website hosts a number of ‘research tasters’, which are short articles encouraging practitioners to engage in evidence-based enquiry in their own educational setting through collecting evidence available to them and using it to reflect upon, inform and enhance their own practice. Here, a variety of materials have been produced by TLRP in collaboration with CUREE, in order for the findings of the TLRP and other relevant research to be disseminated to those with an inter
Optimising Challenge to Young Children: Action Research in a Nursery School
This resource is from NFER's Topic (now PRE) online journal. The focus of the resource explores the use of action research to improve the learning for young children in a West Sussex nursery school. The study reported on had its origins in the results of an Ofsted visit to the school. The resource outlines the procedures undertaken by the school to collect and analyse data, in order to continue the success experienced at the school, to engage children in scaffolding their own learning, and to pl
Sex Education in Primary School in Tayside: An Evaluation of Sexuality and Relationship Training for
This is an evaluation of the Sexuality and Relationship Training for Primary Teachers in Tayside region of Scotland. It was sponsored by the Scottish Executive Education Department (SEED) and published by them in February 2007. The resource aims to look at a training programme for teachers in Sex and Relationship Education (SRE) and to map its provision in Tayside’s primary schools.
The resource details the background to SRE development in Scottish primary schools. It goes on to present the q
The impact of a thinking skills approach (CAME) on students’ mathematical ability
This is a research digest from the DCSF Research Informed Practice Site (TRIPS). The article is a précis of the paper entitled ‘Fostering cognitive development through the context of mathematics: Results of the CAME project’ published in Educational Studies in Mathematics (2007). It reports the findings of an intervention project, Cognitive Acceleration in Mathematics (CAME), initiated in 1993. The aim of the project was to investigate whether the CAME approach would accelerate the cognitiv
Curiosity Kits: The impact of non-fiction book bags on boys’ reading at home
This 2001 NFER Topic (now PRE-Online) article reports on a small-scale pilot project which was supported by the National Year of Reading (1998–99) and the UK Reading Association, as well as publishers and other businesses. This research involved placing sets of book bags (‘Curiosity Kits’) in four Year 4 classes across the country, and monitoring the home-school reading patterns of these pupils compared with four control classes. The kits, contained in sports bags, comprised at least one
Influences on Children’s Development and Progress in Key Stage 2: Social/behavioural Outcomes in Y
The resource is a DCSF research report. It is linked to the Effective Pre-school Provision Evaluation conducted jointly by researchers from University of Nottingham, Oxford, University of London and the Institute of Education (University of London). The findings of the report focus on the social and behavioural outcomes for children in year 5.
Future of Chemical Research
Interviews with leaders from academia and industry explore the frontiers of chemical research. Chemistry is changing our lives through medical advances, new resources, and new molecules. Chemists come from a variety of backgrounds and share a curiosity about the world. Chemistry will be essential to the solution to the problems that face our world today, and new technolo
TDA Standards case study: PMFL Pathway for Undergraduate Trainees
A case study charting the experiences of trainees on a primary undergraduate programme, including the ways in which the provider tailored provision to prepare trainees to deliver a modern foreign language.
The Gender Agenda: report from the Autumn 2008 seminars
The latest round of DCSF gender agenda seminars took place during the Autumn, hosted by Kings College London, the University of Warwick and Leeds University. These days provided the opportunity for feedback from the first seminars, as well as to discuss and reflect on the implications of recent research into gender in education issues from a subject and practitioner perspective.
National Academy for Gifted and Talented Youth: Evaluation
This is a summative evaluation to the now historical National Academy for Gifted and Talented Youth (NAGTY) that was funded from 2002-2007 by the then DfES. The project was initially based at the University of Warwick, but following a competitive open tender process in August 2007 was awarded to CfBT Education Trust, who replaced NAGTY with the Young Gifted and Talented (YG&T) Learner Academy. Over the five years that Warwick held the contract, NAGTY developed a three 'academies' structure: the
Marc Heuer, 4th Grade
Research about water facts and the water cycle, including where the town gets and purifies its water, engages students. The students use the think-pair-share strategy as they work in their groups.
Professional Cultures of Creativity and Care in Performative Primary Schools
This conference paper, presented at the European Conference on Educational Research in September 2008, discusses the findings of a study that focused on the introduction and impact of performative policies in primary schools and the current discourse on creativity. The research took place over two years and discusses whether the effects of such initiatives have had an adverse impact upon the professional cultures of the primary school.
Children’s Well-being in Primary School: Pupil and School Effects
Morrison Gutman and Feinstein published this report with data from their longitudinal study in 2008. It was produced within the context of children’s well-being and the UNICEF report card in 2007. The Morrison Gutman and Feinstein study investigated the pupil and school effects on children’s well-being for eight to ten year old children. The resource includes a succinct background to the study, outlines the research methodology employed and describes the findings with implications for school
Citizenship Education Longitudinal Study (CELS) - Sixth Annual Report
This is the sixth annual report from the national Citizenship Education Longitudinal Study (CELS), conducted by the National Foundation for Educational Research. The eight year CELS aims to identify, measure and assess the short-term and long-term effects of citizenship education in schools on students over time. The focus of this, the most recent annual report, is upon ‘Young People’s Civic Participation In and Beyond School: Attitudes, Intentions and Influences’.
Enhancing the communication learning environment of an early years unit
This research paper, presented at BERA 2001, reports on an action research project in which a group of teachers, nursery nurses and teaching assistants worked with an Open University consultant, Melanie Nind, to improve the language and communication provision in an early years unit. The project took an inclusive approach, rather than starting with a deficit model, through which the learning environment was enriched for all children. The development and evaluation of changes was guided by the co
NALDIC ITTSEAL: Making Maths curriculum more accessible: Strategies for children learning EAL
There are certain activities especially those relating to vocabulary associated with abstract concepts (e.g. problem solving) that some pupils learning EAL find challenging. We also know that all children develop their mathematical skills more when involved in inclusive collaborative activities, especially those that invite active participation. The key aim in this short guidance is to explore the role of children’s first languages in developing their understanding of abstract mathematical con
