Invitation to tender: 16 – 19 Setting Choices – GCSE resit exam board continuity

The EEF is commissioning a Setting Choices evaluation to understand whether sitting a GCSE resit with the same exam board as a learner’s initial sitting improves English and maths outcomes for 16 – 19 resit learners.

The socio-economic attainment gap is at its widest in the 16 – 19 phase. The Education Policy Institute’s (EPI) 2026 annual report found the 16 – 19 disadvantage gap has remained broadly stable at around 3.3−3.4 grades, reaching 3.4 grades in 2025. This phase represents a significant opportunity to improve attainment and strengthen young people’s future life chances.

This funding round forms part of the EEF’s Setting Choices programme, which evaluates setting level practices that are not easily testable through the experimental impact evaluations the EEF usually funds. interventions. It aims to generate evidence on whether aligning a GCSE resit learner’s exam board with the one used at their initial sitting affects outcomes.

EPI’s Drivers of Success report notes that exam board choice, and continuity with a learner’s original board, may matter for GCSE resit success.

An EEF survey of our college network (around 90 colleges) found that some deliberately align exam boards with feeder schools (for English, maths, or both), while others do not align at all.

Continuity may help learners feel more confident and familiar with exam structure, but some learners could instead benefit from a different approach.

We are keen to fund research answering the question: does sitting a GCSE resit with the same exam board as the initial sitting (vs a different board) affect English and maths outcomes for 16 – 19 resit learners?

We expect this to be answered through:

• a causal impact evaluation (quasi-experimental design
• a light-touch Implementation and Process Evaluation
• subgroup analysis of disadvantaged learners

Research teams with experience of conducting impact and process evaluations in the 16 – 19 sector are invited to apply.

We are interested in expressions of interest (EOIs) from single research teams and/​or consortia with complementary expertise and where the consortium can demonstrate that they will work well together to ensure the quality and efficiency of the project.

This call for EOIs is open. Researchers do not need to be part of EEF’s panel of evaluators.

Please note that we accept applications only from legally constituted organisations, not from individuals.

The organisation does not have to be based in England, but if not based in England, we would expect the team to demonstrate the knowledge required to complete this work.