This paper draws on the EEF’s early experience of funding and managing post-16 interventions aimed at supporting GCSE resits and their evaluations, relevant research commissioned by the EEF, as well as feedback received from evaluators, developers and other researchers in the post-16 sector. While we have faced various challenges, the scarcity of rigorous research at post-16 and the importance of this stage of education as a ​‘last chance’ for supporting socioeconomically disadvantaged learners means there are significant benefits for educators and policy makers if we can tackle them. 

This paper is a first attempt at providing a set of focussed, practical recommendations for teams planning to conduct post-16 evaluations for the EEF. It is intended as an early summary of lessons learnt from past evaluations and does not aim to provide an exhaustive list of risks or mitigation strategies.