Vocabulary Mastery for GCSE English Resit – trial

What is Vocabulary Mastery for GCSE English Resit?

Vocabulary Mastery for GCSE English Resit is a 12-week, targeted programme which aims to support learners working towards a grade 4 in GCSE English resits, by developing their understanding and application of Tier 2 vocabulary (defined as words with high frequency in written texts, such as ​‘parallel’, ​‘dispersed’, ​‘adjacent’). The aim is to help learners to develop and use new vocabulary and also to support the decoding of unfamiliar words by exploring the building blocks of words. The intervention has been developed from a maths mastery approach.

Learners will be invited to attend a 60-minute, small group workshop alongside their usual GCSE English classes each week. Workshops will be delivered by specialist English teachers within participating colleges, who will be trained and supported throughout the programme.

Who is leading this project?

The intervention is designed and delivered by East Lancashire Learning Group (ELLG), a Further Education provider in East Lancashire. ELLG is one of six EEF 16 – 19 Evidence Partnership colleges. ELLG will be working with three other colleges (hub leads) to co-deliver the programme.

What will this project look like in your setting?

Two specialist English teachers from each college will receive training and support to deliver the intervention in their setting. This will include:

• One in-person training session
• Three online twilight webinars
• Access to a full suite of resources for delivering the intervention
• Access to online drop-in sessions to seek additional support if required

Teachers will deliver two, 12-week cycles of the programme: one in the autumn term and one in the spring term. In each cycle, colleges will run two workshop groups with four to eight learners per group. This means that each setting will run four workshop groups over the academic year.

This evaluation is a randomised control trial, meaning that learners within settings (college campuses) will be randomly allocated to be invited to attend the workshops as well as their normal classes (intervention groupAs part of a Randomised Controlled Trial (RCT), settings will be randomised into either the intervention or control group. Settings in the intervention group will receive the programme being tested. ) or will only attend their normal GCSE resit classes (control groupAs part of a Randomised Controlled Trial (RCT), settings will be randomised into either the intervention or control group. Settings in the control group continue with their usual practices and help provide a comparison to measure the intervention’s impact. They are usually offered a monetary compensation as thanks for their contribution.).

As this is a research evaluation, colleges participating in the trial will be asked to complete some evaluation activities throughout the project. Exact evaluation activities will be set out in the information materials if you express an interest in this project. Settings will receive £1000 for completing all evaluation activities, and up to £480 is available (per setting) for teacher cover required to allow teachers to attend the in-person training.

Who can take part?

To participate, settings must meet the following criteria:

• Be a campus of a state-funded Further Education College or Sixth Form College in England
• Have a minimum of 64, 16 – 19, English GCSE resit learners enrolled on a full-time study programme
• Be in the 50% most deprived areas in England as defined by the Income Deprivation Affecting Children Index (IDACI)
• Not previously participated in the Vocabulary Mastery Early-Stage Programme Development project and incorporated the approach into the standard GCSE English resit curriculum
• Not currently using the Lexonik literacy intervention as part of your GCSE English resit course in AY2526 and not intending to use it during AY2627 (settings that have used Lexonik in the past but are no longer using it may participate in this study)
• Not be taking part in the following EEF project: STEER tracking to support 16+ transition, attendance and retention

How can you register your interest?

Complete the short form at the bottom of this page.

This evaluation aims to fill an evidence gap in a much-needed area of support for colleges. GCSE English resit results have seen a drop in the pass rate in recent years, and this continued in 2024 with 21% of learners passing, compared with 26% the previous year.

The Vocabulary Mastery programme was previously developed through an EEF early-stage programme development project (ESPD). As part of this process, the programme was delivered in 11 college settings, receiving positive feedback from teachers on the perceived usefulness of the programme. All settings reported that they intended to embed the programme into ongoing delivery and would recommend it to other settings. The EEF are interested in funding this efficacy trial to test the programme’s impact and scalability in a larger number of colleges, via an independent evaluation.

The approach is well-aligned with recommendations from the EEF’s secondary literacy guidance report: providing explicit vocabulary instruction, focusing on morphology to help learners make connections between words, and prioritising teaching of tier 2 vocabulary (EEF, 2018).

The project will be evaluated by The Policy Institute at King’s College London using a randomised controlled trialAn RCT is used evaluate an educational programme by assigning settings to one of two groups: the intervention group, who receive the programme or the control group, who continue with business as usual. This ensures that any differences in outcomes can be confidently attributed to the programme, providing a robust estimate of the impact and contributing to the evidence for what works in improving educational outcomes.. The evaluation will be an efficacy trial meaning it will test the impact of Vocabulary Mastery under developer led conditions.

All learners in a setting will have the same chance of being allocated to the intervention groupAs part of a Randomised Controlled Trial (RCT), settings will be randomised into either the intervention or control group. Settings in the intervention group will receive the programme being tested. (receiving the Vocabulary Mastery programme). Learners allocated to the control groupAs part of a Randomised Controlled Trial (RCT), settings will be randomised into either the intervention or control group. Settings in the control group continue with their usual practices and help provide a comparison to measure the intervention’s impact. They are usually offered a monetary compensation as thanks for their contribution. will continue with business as usual and not receive the Vocabulary Mastery programme.

An implementation and process evaluationAn IPE is used to understand how and why an intervention has (or has not) been successful. Data is analysed to explore programme quality, reach, adaptation and differentiation, as well as setting fidelity and responsiveness to the trial design. will be conducted alongside the impact evaluation to explore how settings implement and perceive the programme. It will also assess whether tier 2 vocabulary improves for learners in the intervention groupAs part of a Randomised Controlled Trial (RCT), settings will be randomised into either the intervention or control group. Settings in the intervention group will receive the programme being tested. .