Resources
Many different organisations contribute to the context for educational research in the UK and internationally; funding bodies, networks, regulatory authorities, national research projects, national databases, subject associations and a host of other players and resources. Here are some starting points for schools - for teachers, managers, governors and others who want to find out more about using research and evidence to inform their work.
Government Departments and Agencies
Opportunities and resources for practitioner enquiry
Research Networks and Organisations
Other Sources of Research Information
Government Departments and Agencies
Department for Children, Schools and Families
The DCSF website is a source for government publications and guides as well as information and examples of good practice across a range of educational issues. The site also contains information on the DCSF's Best Practice Research Scholarships, available to teachers in England and Wales and links to the National Grid for Learning (NGfL) and the Virtual Teachers' Centre.Teacher Training Agency (TTA)
The Agency's purpose is to raise standards in schools by attracting able and committed people to teaching and by improving the quality of teacher training. The website includes a research section where teachers can access and download summaries of teacher research on a very wide range of pedagogical issues: from teaching reading to ICT, and find out about other initiatives designed to support teacher use of research.
Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA)
The QCA is responsible for the curriculum, assessment and qualifications from nursery school through to A Level and vocational qualifications.Office for Standards in Education (OFSTED)
The full range of OFSTED publications including a small number of research reviews and a range of thematic reviews is accessible through the inspectorate"s website.
National College for School Leadership (NCSL)
For research and policy developments in school leadership access the NCSL website
Opportunities and resources for practitioner enquiry
National initiatives for communicating with teachers about research
| TLRP - ESRC Teaching and Learning Research Programme ESRC - Economic and Social Research Council EPPI - Education for Policy &N Practice, Institute of Education NERF - National Education Research Forum NTRP - National Teacher Research Panel TRG - TTA Teacher Research Grant BPRS - Best Practice Research Scholarships |
GTC RoM - Research of the Month Interactive Web site research summaries Consortia - TTA School Based Research Consortia plus IQEA partnerships, BUSIP etc NLCs - Networked Learning Communities NCSL - National College for School Leadership |
Research Networks and Organisations
Many educational research associations have member lists and email contacts and would welcome more practitioner members. It is well worth a visit to their home pages to get a flavour of current national and international research interests and to browse through some of the most recent publications on relevant topic areas. Here are some ideas.
American Educational Research Association (AERA)
American Professional Membership Society for educational researchers. This website can be searched by keyword and topic and contains numerous unpublished papers as well as articles in a number of educational research journals published by the association.British Educational Management & Administration Society (BEMAS)
This comprises a mixed group from schools, local authorities and higher education institutions. The website focuses on educational management, administration and leadership.British Educational Research Association (BERA)
A British professional membership society for those interested in research in education. Practitioners can access this website to find out what is interesting educational researchers in the UK. Most of BERA's conference papers are published on the website Education-online (see below) and offer an annual snapshot of the latest research interests in education. The Association has a growing section of teacher membership.Collaborative Action Research Network, University of East Anglia (CARN)
A national and international network drawing its members from a variety of educational, health, social care, commercial, and public services organisations. CARN is committed to supporting and improving the quality of professional practice, achieved through systematic, critical and creative inquiry into the goals, processes and contexts of professional work. CARN aims to encourage and support:- action research projects of varying scope (personal, local, national and international), accessible accounts of action research projects, and contributions to the theory and methodology of action research.Centre for Using Research and Evidence in Education (CUREE)
An independent centre which advises and supports national and local organisations engaged in developing research and evidence-based practice.Current Educational Research Database in the United Kingdom (CERUK)
The National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER), DCSF and the Evidence for Policy and Practice Information and Co-ordinating Centre (EPPI) have jointly developed a practical and readily accessible UK based educational research database is available free of charge via the Internet. The database holds information on educational research projects being undertaken in the UK - covering pre-school, FE, HE, adult lifelong and continuing education.Evidence for Policy and Practice Co-ordinating Centre (EPPI-Centre)
The Eppi-Centre is a centralised resource for people wishing to undertake systematic reviews of research in education and those wishing to use reviews to inform policy and practice. It is funded by the DCSF. Systematic reviews are conducted and updated by review groups, supported by the EPPI Centre. The first four reviews are available for searching on the EPPI website. Four more are currently in progress.The Evidence-Based Education Network
The Network is a group of people who want to promote the use of evidence as a basis for policy and practice in education. Its membership includes:- teachers and other educational practitioners;
- those in advisory or support roles, such as LEAs or teacher associations; and
- educational researchers.
National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER)
This is a large independent research organisation which conducts research into all aspects of education and develops assessment benchmarks etc. NFER provides information on current projects, and produces summaries of completed projects. Research papers given at the NFER Annual General Meetings, are available to read in full here.National Educational Research Forum (NERF)
NERF has been set up to develop a national strategy for educational research in England e.g. to improve the quality and relevance of research. Its members include practitioners, researchers, funders and policy makers.Neighbourhood Renewal Unit (NRU)
The NRU's new website reviews the problems affecting the country's most deprived areas. Education is one of the key areas targeted by the NRU, along with others such as housing, crime and health. NRU's website aims to help local people tackle the main problems in their areas. Leading experts in the different fields have used research and evidence to produce a series of papers showing what the main problems and their causes are; describing interventions and strategies which have been used on different contexts; and offering a series of case studies to show how these were implemented on the ground.National Teacher Research Panel (NTRP)
The NTRP is a group of serving teachers recruited to provide an expert teacher perspective on research policies, proposals, strategies and outputs. Teachers are recruited for their practice and research expertise. The panel's services are used by national agencies, including the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), DCSF, GTCe and National College for School Leadership (NCSL) as well as by individuals, and research teams. Teachers are recruited for three years and applications are invited occasionally to fill vacancies when they occur.Scottish Council for Research in Education (SCRE)
SCRE supports the Scottish Teacher Research Support Network (STRSN) One of SCRE"s aims is to contribute to the effective use of research and research methods. A particular emphasis is on providing guidance and support for teachers and other practitioners in education who are doing research. There is online information on teacher research initiatives and support for teachers with no previous research experience.Other Sources of Research Information
If you are interested in searching for research evidence on a particular topic or 'problem' area, you can try and start by searching some of the comprehensive on-line library catalogues, central databases and unpublished reference collections. Government departments, agencies and other organisations can also be valuable sources of information and advice.
The unified catalogue of 12 of the UK"s top universities is an easy to search, accessible site.Educational Resources Information Centre (ERIC)
This is a major US-based international bibliographical database for educational researchers. ASK ERIC is a lay version and is free to search. It identifies titles and short abstracts for articles which match your search terms.This site contains copies of research papers, literature reviews and other unpublished research on a wide variety of teaching and learning issues. Papers from the annual BERA conferences are also available from this site.
General Teaching Council for England (GTCe)
The GTCe is committed to the principle that teaching should be a more systematically evidence-informed profession and especially that teachers should be able to benefit more directly from others" research as well as initiate their own. Its web-based "Research of the Month" feature focuses on a particular topic of research which the Council thinks will be of interest and relevance to practitioners.National Information Services and Systems (NISS)
NISS contains information on all UK university libraries and other institutions and organisations, including professional associations.