Research School Network: The Teaching and Learning Toolkit Update The latest updates from the new Teaching and Learning Toolkit

The Teaching and Learning Toolkit was updated and launched on Friday 17^th September and can be accessed here https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/education-evidence/teaching-learning-toolkit

For those who are new to the toolkit, this short video gives a clear explanation what it is and how to use it.

Earlier this week, we were really lucky to have Jonathan Kay, Head of Evidence Synthesis as the EEF, run a webinar for the ELEs of Aspirer Research School and for colleagues within our Trust and other Trusts in our local area.

From this session, I will try to summarise some of the key changes that I think are important to schools.

Initially, it is hard to see where the changes have been made to the toolkit as the landing page is very similar to the previous version. It does just look like they’ve changed the colour and the font! But that is the beauty of the update, they have kept the essence of the toolkit – its simplicity of presenting nuanced information in a clear and understandable way to schools. All the major changes have been made behind this page and they have made the toolkit even more robust and useful to schools.

The previous version was a meta-meta-analysis which means that they used reviews of research, so the toolkit was a summary of summaries to put it bluntly. Whereas, the update is a summary of the research studies and there are a lot of research studies behind this – over 2,600 in fact. It is worth mentioning too that when the EEF are finding these studies they are not starting with a key idea and finding studies to support their hypothesis. Instead, they start with a pre-defined search criteria and then read everything that matches – the good, the bad and the ugly. The criteria, for example, ensures that only research conducted in schools is used and studies where there is a comparison group so the data can be compared to ​‘normal’ conditions.

The best way to use the toolkit is to look at the headlines on the landing page and then click on the strand you want to know more about. This is where the EEF tell you what is behind the average months progress, where the cost implications really lie and the real strength of the padlocks. Then you can have a further delve into the research by clicking on the Technical Appendix tab. This is where you can see each individual study and the overall pattern of impact so you can have a more nuanced understanding of the best bets for your school.

Here you can see the studies used in the homework strand.

Do I think that teachers need to go into this and read all the studies – absolutely not! The EEF have already done the reading and found the key themes and reported them in the toolkit. What the appendix is good for is to show how transparent the EEF are being about what has gone into the toolkit and the studies they have used.

I am really excited to start sharing this new update with schools and colleagues as I think it will really help to reduce contradictions about what does and does not work as these often dilute or confuse the key messages.

Some initial thoughts from those who attended were

- Really useful for using when considering projects in school. Clear to understand and share with staff and other stakeholders. Thanks. (Ms Elkington, Assistant Head Teacher at Rolls Crescent, Manchester)

- Easy to navigate & interrogate. I’m sure that more colleagues will get to grips with it now! It’s such a good way to dip your toe into research.

- Very comprehensive and helpful as a guide for improving our practice! Thanks!

- I think the changes to the methodology are really positive. Having the one larger meta-analysis that sifts out previous low scoring studies is definitely an improvement and as was mentioned, more transparent.

If you would like any support from Aspirer Research School in using the Toolkit or on how to become more evidence-formed then please do get in touch.

Sarah Izon

Director of Aspirer Research School