There is an increasing emphasis on seeking and using the views of children and young people in research, evaluation and consultation. This question was at the centre of a day-long event of presentations and workshops organized by the National Foundation for Education Research in November 2007. Key objectives for the workshop included. (1) Review…

Many thousands of children in the UK are educated at home, and the subject of support for the home-education community is debated. The National Foundation for Educational Research conducted research to examine the views of home educators about the support they receive from local authorities, other home-educating families, schools and other…

Local Government Employers (LGE) was created by the Local Government Association (LGA) in April 2006. The aim of LGE is to work with local authorities, regional employers and other bodies to lead and create solutions on pay, pensions and the employment contract, to ensure the provision of excellent and affordable local services. The LGE…

This report summarises key findings from the statistical aspects of the research conducted to assess the impact of the pilot on the attainment of bilingual pupils in participating primary schools. Research was conducted by a team at the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) between 2004 and 2006 on behalf of the Department for…

The report was commissioned by the Department for Culture Media and Sport (DCMS) to provide information on organizations providing education focusing on the built environment in three regions (London, the South East and Yorkshire and the Humber). The findings from this study will be used to inform "Engaging Places," a project from DCMS, in…

The National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) was commissioned by Kent County Council (KCC) to conduct an independent survey of children and young people in Kent. The council and its partner agencies wanted to find out what children and young people thought about a range of issues related to the five Every Child Matters (ECM) outcomes.…

The report was commissioned by the Department for Culture Media and Sport (DCMS) to provide quantitative and qualitative information on the perspectives of teachers, headteachers and governors, from the three pilot regions (London, the South East and Yorkshire and the Humber), towards using local buildings, places and spaces to support learning…

"Engaging Places" is a partnership between the Department for Culture Media and Sport (DCMS), English Heritage, the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE), in association with the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF--formerly DfES) and the Academy for Sustainable Communities (ASC). It was set up by DCMS to…

Calls for more school instructional time are coming from multiple quarters. Academic standards and frequent assessments have changed the nature, but not the length, of the instructional day. Schools find themselves "robbing Peter to pay Paul," taking time from the arts, recess, and physical education to give to reading and math, subjects that…

This document offers guidance to schools on how assessment can support enterprise education. It presents the interim findings from research carried out by the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) for the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) in secondary schools in England. Enterprise capability is the key outcome of enterprise…

PIRLS is the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study. This rigorous international survey compares the reading attainment and attitudes to reading of over 200,000 9- and 10-year-old children in 41 countries. It is the only international study to provide information on the reading habits of primary-aged children: the survey collects…

In 2007, the Local Government Association (LGA) commissioned the NFER to review the best evidence on what works in narrowing the gap in outcomes for vulnerable groups across the five Every Child Matters areas. The review aimed to underpin the Narrowing the Gap Programme, a major development programme being implemented by the LGA and the DCSF. …

Teachers' classroom grading and assessment practices are important elements of assessment reform. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of classroom learning factors such as class size, subject area, and school size on teachers' classroom assessment practices. The results of a survey of 513 high school teachers showed evidence that…

This article explores the expectations of support for and the experiences of substitute teachers in an urban school division in Saskatchewan. Data were collected in semistructured interviews with seven substitute teachers. The purpose of the study was to explore how substitute teachers frame their professional experiences and construct their roles…

In recent times many educational researchers have moved away from the traditional purist approach of strictly adopting either a qualitative or quantitative approach to conducting research. Instead they have attempted an eclectic mix of both methods in their research inquiry, combining aspects of both the traditions at various stages of their…