Education Endowment Foundation:EEF response to Ofsted Pupil Premium Report

EEF response to Ofsted Pupil Premium Report

Author
EEF
EEF
Press Release •2 minutes •

Commenting on Ofsted’s Pupil Premium Report Dr Kevan Collins, Chief Executive of the Education Endowment Foundation said;

We welcome Ofsted’s findings that school leaders are spending pupil premium funding more effectively and tracking the progress of eligible pupils more closely. It is clear that some schools are making excellent progress in narrowing the attainment gap between poorer pupils and their peers.

However, nationally the attainment gap remains large and persistent and will only be narrowed by ensuring that good practice is shared amongst schools. In addition to internal monitoring and evaluation it’s vital that schools use rigorous research to inform decisions about spending pupil premium funding. The Sutton Trust-EEF Toolkit offers an accessible starting point. It summarises over 10,000 pieces of relevant educational research and is used by over half of secondary school leaders to improve teaching and learning in their schools.

The EEF is also currently funding five major trials to understand the most effective ways to share relevant research and information with teachers and school leaders.”

Notes to editors

1. The Education Endowment Foundation is a charity set up in 2011 by the Sutton Trust as lead foundation in partnership with Impetus Trust, with a Department for Education grant of £125m. It is dedicated to breaking the link between family income and educational achievement. Since its launch the EEF has awarded £42 million to 75 projects working with over 500,000 pupils in over 2,400 schools across England.

2. The Toolkit covers 34 topic areas, ranging from arts participation to collaborative learning, using the best research available to summarise the average impact on pupils’ progress, average cost and strength of evidence for each area.

3. The National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) surveyed a representative sample of 1,163 teachers in March 2014 for their Teacher Voice omnibus survey. The poll found 45% of senior leaders – heads, assistant heads and deputies – say they use the Toolkit. The proportion rises to 54% among secondary leaders.

4. In June 2014 the EEF announced five ground-breaking trials to investigate the best ways of getting teachers to engage with research and improve pupils’ attainment. They will involve over 8,000 schools across England and cost £1.8m. More information on the trials is available here.