After 5 years of EEF grant-making, Stephen Tall takes a look at the ‘scores on the doors’ to illustrate what’s happening where…
Today the EEF announced our latest set of six grants, which, collectively, will involve 660 schools and 150 nursery settings
Here’s an overview of EEF grant-making to date, as we try and find out how best to raise the attainment of 3 – 18 year-olds, particularly those facing disadvantage; develop their essential life skills; and prepare young people for the world of work and further study…
1) The total reach of EEF grant-funding so far
More than £80 million has so far been invested by the EEF in supporting 133 projects. Collectively, these have involved close to one-third of all schools – 8,300 schools, nurseries and colleges in England – and reached over 860,000 children and young people. If you want to volunteer to take part in an EEF-funded trial, you can see which projects are currently recruiting here.
2) Who is delivering EEF-funded projects
We have awarded grants to schools, local authorities and academy chains (c.22%), charities (c.46%) and universities (c.32%) delivering projects across England. Our current funding round is open until 9 December if you have an idea with some initial promising evidence of a measurable impact on attainment or a directly related outcome – details on applying are here.
3) What stages of education the 133 EEF-funded projects cover
The EEF funds projects working with children and young people at any stage of education, from age 3 to 18. A significant amount of our early work focused on improving the literacy outcomes for struggling 11 year-olds as they transition from primary to secondary school. Our recent decision to expand our remit to include the post-16 sector means we will soon be funding projects at Key Stage 5 also.
4) Where EEF-funded projects are happening
The EEF funds work across England, with our regional spread broadly reflecting the distribution of disadvantaged children and young people. Analysis of our 60 published independent evaluation reports indicates that 34% of children and young people involved in these trials were eligible for free school meals; for targeted interventions only, this figure rises to over 40%.
5) What about the next 5 years…
The EEF aims to devote more of its time and resources to scaling up those programmes which have demonstrated promising findings when first trialled in order to increase their reach across England: you can see our full list of nine ‘Promising Projects’ here. We have already committed approaching £11 million to scaling them up, together with trials in our two Campaigns promoting effective use of evidence, in over 1,750 schools in the next couple of years.