56TH Annual Report R

National Foundation for Educational Research 56th Annual Report 2001–2002 NFER, The Mere, Upton Park, Slough, Berkshire SL1 2DQ Tel: 01753 574123 Fax: 01753 691632 E-mail: [email protected] Website: http://www.nfer.ac.uk Company Registration Number 900899 Charity Registration Number 313392 Contents National Foundation for Educational Research 5 Introduction 6 Ensuring Reliability and Validity in the Development of Tests 8 Developing English Tests 10 The Use of Administrative Support Staff in Schools: Ways Forward 12 Talking of Disaffection: A Short History14 Which Schools Add Most Value? 16 Exploring Young People’s Views and Experiences of Re-engagement 18 WWW.PGRNET.ORG.UK: Information and Support for Parent Governor Representatives at the Click of a Mouse 20 Communicating the NFER Message 22 Finance – Year Ended 31 March 2002 24 Publications 26 Lists 31 Officers of the NFER and Members of the Board of Trustees 31 Staff of the Foundation 32 Members of the Foundation 38 NFER 56th Annual Report National Foundation for Educational Research The National Foundation for Educational Research is Britain’s leading educational research body. Its mission is to gather, analyse and disseminate research-based information in order to improve education and training. The Foundation maintains a large research programme, comprising over 100 projects at any given time. The major part of this programme is concerned with the public education system – early years, primary, secondary and further The Foundation has long been active on the education – and covers the full range of topics international front. A founder member of the from curriculum, pedagogy and assessment International Association for the Evaluation of through organisation, management and Educational Achievement (IEA) in the 1960s, it is professional development to resourcing, support an active member of many European and other structures and the environment within which networks for researchers. It has worked education is provided. There are many other collaboratively with institutions in many other strands to the research programme besides these, countries, and staff have made numerous and a full listing of projects represents a contributions to the work of the international comprehensive portfolio of topics concerned with agencies. education and training. The Foundation pays particular attention to Since its inception in 1946, the Foundation has disseminating its findings. It publishes research grown steadily and now comprises over 200 staff, reports in-house, targets academic audiences with headquarters in Slough and regional offices through Educational Research and school in Swansea and York. By constitution, it is audiences through TOPIC, feeds out research independent of government and is funded by findings through the activities of its information securing research contracts and providing services, maintains sites on the World Wide Web, information and consultancy services. It and pursues a wide range of ad hoc opportunities maintains particularly close relationships with the to convey findings to appropriate audiences. All of local education authorities in England and Wales this activity reflects a conviction that high-quality and provides a dedicated research and research must be matched by commensurate information service to them. efforts to communicate findings effectively. Page 5 NFER 56th Annual Report INTRODUCTION Dr Seamus Hegarty, Director environmental education, IT in the curriculum, whole-curriculum review, special educational needs and teachers’ professional development. A brief selection has been highlighted below. Further details on these and all our projects can be found on our website. Recent Annual Reports have highlighted the work of the main research departments in Slough, but Attitudes to research in education have shifted in we also have thriving units in Swansea and in York. recent years, and we are now less prone to the traditional charges of labouring the obvious or This year I want to focus on the work of the peddling irrelevance. It is worth reminding Northern Office which has grown from modest ourselves from time to time, however, why research beginnings in 1986. Initially conceived of as a is important in education. base for facilitating fieldwork and some research in the North of England, it has developed into a For all that we ‘know’ about education and schools thriving research centre in its own right. Its initial there is a great deal that we do not know. Though complement of three staff has grown to 24 and its we live in one of the richest and most privileged portfolio of work has expanded in step. The parts of the world, with an abundance of human Northern Office continues to carry out relatively and material resources, we seemingly do not know small-scale projects for local sponsors and to how to provide a decent education, let alone a support national projects being run from our high-quality one, for distressingly large numbers of headquarters in Slough, but it has gradually taken children and young people. We have some schools on its own national studies as well indeed as to which no parent would send their child on the international ones. basis of an informed choice. The disparity between our best schools – which can be very good – and Northern Office researchers have engaged in a our worst schools is one of the highest in the wide range of projects but the backbone of their developed world. work consists of four areas in which they have published widely and established a commanding This is just one area where our knowledge falls expertise: short of aspiration in respect of basic educational provision. There are numerous topics besides G arts education (e.g. young people’s where a vibrant school system needs far better participation in the arts, effectiveness of arts in understanding than is currently available. Think of schools, arts–education interface, the the challenge of the school of the future, the issue educational aims of orchestras, theatres and of teacher supply, how to produce socially dance companies, review of European research responsible young people, to note but a few. into arts and cultural education, media education); It is gratifying to report that once again we have been engaged in a wide range of research projects G teachers’ continuing professional that bear on these issues. These have development (e.g. the work of advisory encompassed the evaluation of school reform teachers, the effects of CPD, how schools use initiatives, notably Excellence in Cities, numerous non-contact days, sabbaticals, early assessment issues, citizenship in the curriculum, professional development for new teachers); Page 6 NFER 56th Annual Report staff of research and government bodies who have G pupil disaffection (e.g. truancy, school non- a responsibility for procuring or organising research. attendance, the role of the education welfare service, behaviour support plans, exclusions, Another notable achievement this year was the the causes of disaffection, offending patterns, expansion to Scotland of the services provided by alternative provision, student destinations); our Education Management Information Exchange (EMIE). EMIE is an information service for officers G pupils’ views on the curriculum (e.g. a major and advisers in local education authorities, longitudinal study of pupils’ experiences of the covering education policy and management issues. curriculum at key stages 2 through to 4 and This year it celebrated 20 years of service to the beyond). sector, during which time its coverage has This thriving research programme has been extended to all the authorities in England, Wales, matched by a vigorous engagement in Northern Ireland, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. We are delighted to announce that, dissemination. Besides producing conventional following an approach from the Association of research reports, Northern Office staff have been Directors of Education in Scotland, the majority of active in writing for practitioners and their output is Scottish authorities have now joined the service. highly regarded. They have also made numerous Given the cooperative nature of EMIE’s work and presentations to communicate research findings the premium placed on inputs received from directly to practitioner and policymaker audiences. participating authorities, this is a welcome For much of its existence the Northern Office was extension of our capacity to support all authorities based on the campus of the University of York and with appropriate information. it is now housed on York Science Park. This has led Accommodation issues continue to loom large in to valuable and mutually beneficial links with the our lives. Successive Annual Reports have noted University’s Education Department. A particularly the deficiencies in our accommodation and the notable collaboration was the joint organisation of planning difficulties encountered in trying to deal the very successful British Educational Research with them. The good news is that, finally, the Association annual conference in 1997. builders are in! Visitors to The Mere will find our pleasant parkland site is not as they might have Research capacity in the social sciences has been expected it, but work is proceeding apace and we the subject of much attention recently, and there is look forward to taking over the new offices in a growing appreciation of the need for appropriate autumn 2003. At that stage we should be able to house all our Slough-based staff on one site. professional

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