Education Endowment Foundation:Sir Kevan Collins responds to the government’s White Paper on education

Sir Kevan Collins responds to the government’s White Paper on education

Sir Kevan Collins responds to the government’s White Paper on education
Author
EEF
EEF
Press Release •1 minute •

The government published a White Paper on education today, setting out plans for the next five years. It includes many references to the work of the EEF and calls for a greater focus on evidence-based teaching.

Responding to the plans, Sir Kevan Collins said:

One of the biggest issues we face in education today is inconsistency across the system – there are big variations in attainment between similar schools, which creates winners and losers across the country

Evidence of what works is one of our greatest allies in the drive to achieve excellence across the board. So the government is absolutely right to focus on supporting teachers’ use of and access to high-quality research, from initial teacher training all the way through to school leadership.

There is a fine line between an autonomous school and an isolated one. So we also welcome the government’s focus on greater collaboration and sharing of best practice between schools. The EEF will be investing more in resources, like our Families of Schools database, which allow schools to share their successes, learn from their colleagues and build capacity in the system.

NOTES TO EDITORS

The Families of Schools database is a free tool that groups similar schools together on factors including prior attainment, percentage of pupils eligible for free school meals and the number of children who speak English as an additional language. For the first time, it allows schools to understand the size and nature of their attainment gap in relation to other similar institutions and to learn from the best-performing schools in their family. Launched in 2015, it covers all secondary schools and will soon include primary schools too.