At an event hosted by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the Sutton Trust later today the Education Secretary Justine Greening will announce the expansion of the Opportunity Areas programme – targeted investment in social mobility ‘coldspots’ – to a further six areas across England, along with a new £3.5m programme that will see the Education Endowment Foundation establish a Research School for each of the twelve Opportunity Areas
Commenting on the announcement, Sir Kevan Collins, Chief Executive of the Education Endowment Foundation, said:
- The Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) is a grant-making charity set up in 2011 by the Sutton Trust as lead foundation in partnership with Impetus Trust (now part of Impetus – The Private Equity Foundation), with a £125m founding grant from the Department for Education. The EEF is dedicated to breaking the link between family income and educational achievement. Since its launch the EEF has awarded £80 million to 133 projects working with over 850,000 pupils in over 8,300 schools across England. The EEF and Sutton Trust are, together, the government-designated What Works Centre for Education.
- The Research Schools Network is a partnership between the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) and the Institute for Effective Education (IEE) to fund a network of schools who will support the use of evidence to improve teaching practice.
The Research Schools will become a focal-point for evidence-based practice in their region, building affiliations with large numbers of schools and supporting the use of evidence at scale. Research Schools will engage with local schools in a variety of ways and with varying degrees of intensity. The first five Research Schools, appointed following a competitive application process, are:- Aspirer Teaching School Alliance, based at Ash Grove Academy, Macclesfield
- Huntington School, York
- Kingsbridge Community College, Devon
- Kyra Teaching School Alliance, based at Mount Street Academy, Lincoln
- Shireland Collegiate Academy, Sandwell