Education Endowment Foundation:14 new research projects to test approaches in schools, early years, and colleges

14 new research projects will test the impact of different programmes and approaches on pupil, student, and children’s outcomes.

All the programmes will be independently evaluated by research teams from separate organisations.

These projects are part of the EEF’s work to build the evidence base on what works to improve attainment outcomes for children and young people from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds, and to support the sector to put that evidence into practice.

Schools, early years settings, and further education colleges can take part for low or no cost.

The new projects announced by the EEF are:

For Early Years Settings (in alphabetical order):

• Early Skills for Life: training for staff to deliver lessons in personal, social, and emotional development to 3- and 4‑year-old children. The programme aims to improve self-regulationHow children monitor their emotions and thoughts, and adapt their behaviour in different circumstances..
• Positive Early Childhood Education: professional development for educators working with 3- and 4‑year-old children. It focuses on how to encourage positive behaviour and self-regulationHow children monitor their emotions and thoughts, and adapt their behaviour in different circumstances. through how you respond to children.
  
• Talk with Tales for Children: training and coaching to deliver nine story sessions, based on classic fairy tales. The sessions are designed to encourage conversation and develop language.

For Reception classes (in alphabetical order):

• Maths Through Picture Books: training for reception teachers and teaching assistants to deliver targeted, small-group sessions that teach children foundational maths through picture books and conversation.
• University of Oxford – Nuffield Early Language Intervention (OxEd Whole Class and NELI): building children’s language skills through scripted activities and games to improve vocabulary. After being proven to help children struggling with language in small groups, it’s now being trialled with full classes.

For Primary Schools (in alphabetical order):

• Exploring the Impact of Offsite Planning, Preparation and Assessment: testing whether allowing primary teachers to take their Planning, Preparation and Assessment (PPA) time offsite improves staff retention, job satisfaction, and wellbeing. Schools will determine how the policy is communicated and implemented, with the process evaluation examining variations in delivery – including timetable adaptations, resource changes, and staff guidance. (This programme builds on a previous EEF scoping study published in October 2025.)
  
• Fluency Focus: training for teachers and leaders to deliver lessons on different strategies to increase reading fluency. Schools selected to deliver the programme will implement structured reading lessons delivered once a week over two terms, with a focus on the explicit teaching of six fluency strategies to support pupils’ engagement with text.
• Peer Assisted Learning Strategies UK (PALS-UK): a whole-class, structured peer tutoring intervention that improves reading comprehension, oral reading fluency, and overall reading attainment of pupils in Year 5. Pupils are paired and take part in four activities in each session: partner reading, re-tell, paragraph shrinking, and prediction relay.
• Rich Retrieval: a professional development programmeA programme is a package of support, including professional development, that helps early years educators to improve particular areas of practice and children’s outcomes. for Key Stage 2 science teachers on how to use retrieval practice (bringing information to mind from memory) to encourage pupils to better remember and connect scientific concepts. It focuses on moving beyond retrieval practice based on factual recall and encouraging them to Compare and Contrast, Connect, Categorise, Create, and Question.
• Stepping Stones: a whole-class programme for Year 2 pupils that supports teachers to develop children’s metacognitive strategies for mathematical problem-solving and reasoning. The 15-week programme involves three 20-minute sessions per week, where pupils learn through ​‘think-alouds’, worked examples, and debriefs.

For Secondary Schools (in alphabetical order):

• Commando Joe’s Inspire to Achieve Programme: a targeted in-school personal development programme for Year 9 pupils. It combines collaborative mission-based activities, physical and emotional challenge, and structured reflection to improve pupils’ self-regulationHow children monitor their emotions and thoughts, and adapt their behaviour in different circumstances., resilience, teamwork, peer relationships and overall wellbeing.
• Learning Together for Mental Health: a whole-school programme for pupils aged 12 – 15 that uses restorative and relational practices and student – staff action groups to improve mental wellbeing, reduce bullying and aggression, and support better attendance and academic outcomes.
• Outward Bound Trust’s Adventure and Challenge Programme: a 5‑day personal development programme for Year 9 pupils that aims to improve non-cognitive skills such as self-regulationHow children monitor their emotions and thoughts, and adapt their behaviour in different circumstances., teamwork, communication and behaviour, alongside academic outcomes. The programme is delivered in nature-based settings with activities such as wild camping, hiking, and gorge walking. These are followed by supported reflection sessions to help pupils apply lessons learned to the school context.

• STEER Tracking for Post-16 Transition: an online tool to help learners manage the transition from Year 11 to post-16 education by monitoring wellbeing and supporting attendance.
  

Settings across England can search their name or postcode on the EEF website to check their eligibility and apply.