What Works: Sir Peter Lampl Welcomes Designation of Sutton Trust And EEF as ‘What Works’ Centre

The Sutton Trust and the Education Endowment Foundation have been designated a What Works centre today, in recognition of their pioneering approach to independent evidence-based policy making.

Sir Peter Lampl, chairman of the Sutton Trust and of the Education Endowment Foundation, said today: “I’m delighted that our work has been recognised as an exemplar of What Works in evidence-based policy making. For over 15 years, the Sutton Trust has been using research to inform policy development, and since its launch the Education Endowment Foundation has begun some of the most rigorous trialling of education interventions yet seen in Britain.

“In the past teachers and policy-makers have often lacked a solid evidence base to support their decisions. I hope the new network will change that, and with our help, we will see more effective schools and improved outcomes for our young people as a result.”

What Works is a network of independent evidence-based organisations, which draws its approach partly from the work of the Sutton Trust and Education Endowment Foundation, and also from the National Institute of Clinical Excellence, to develop evidence-based policy making in central and local government and among practitioners.

Thousands of schools already use the Sutton Trust-EEF Toolkit, an interactive summary of over 5,500 studies on the impact of a range of educational interventions including effective approaches to teaching, pupil feedback and behaviour.

NOTES TO EDITORS

1. The Education Endowment Foundation is a charity set up in 2011 by the Sutton Trust as lead charity in partnership with Impetus Trust, with a Department for Education endowment of £125m. It is dedicated to breaking the link between family income and educational achievement. Since its launch the EEF has awarded £24.4 million to 55 projects working with over 275,000 pupils in over 1,400 schools across England.
2. The Sutton Trust is a foundation set up in 1997, dedicated to improving social mobility through education. It has published over 120 research studies and funded and evaluated programmes that have helped hundreds of thousands of young people of all ages, from early years through to Access to the Professions.
3. The Sutton Trust-EEF Toolkit is an accessible summary of educational research which provides guidance for teachers and schools on how to use their resources to improve the attainment of disadvantaged pupils. It currently covers 30 topics and is based on work by Durham University. To access the Toolkit please visit: http://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/toolkit/.
4. The Cabinet Office press release can be read here
5. The policy paper, ‘What Works: evidence centres for social policy’ can be readhere