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Making the most of the EEF Teaching and Learning Toolkit

Getting beyond the surface of this brilliant resource

by Bradford Research School
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Mark Miller

Director of Bradford Research School

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434,000 users access the EEF Teaching and Learning and Early Years Toolkits each year. In a series of posts, we’re asking: what does it take to use EEF resources well?

The Teaching and Learning Toolkit synthesises evidence into 30 strands, from Arts Participation to Within Class Attainment Grouping. Beyond the headline page, it’s a treasure trove of nuance and detail. To get the most out of the toolkit, we need to understand how the EEF get to the headlines, and explore what lies beneath.

A living systematic review

A systematic review is a structured approach to synthesising research evidence. It provides an unbiased summary of findings, ensuring reliable conclusions that can inform decision-making and practice. The toolkit has recently become a living systematic review’, which means that it is being constantly updated. The EEF have included only studies after 1990 to be more reflective of current practice and they have also increased minimal sample size of studies.

In the first phase the following 10 strands have been updated with the new methodological changes: 

The rest will be updated over the next year.

Reading Comprehension Strategies

Understanding the headlines

The EEF choose to present findings in additional months’ progress. If we look at the example above for reading comprehension strategies, this means that pupils in the classes where reading comprehension interventions were provided made, on average, 6 months’ more progress than similar pupils in other classes. The number is used as a way to simplify the complexity of reporting effect sizes. See more on effect sizes in our blog here.

The padlock rating is the evidence strength. Padlocks are awarded for the number of studies e.g. 90 or more studies would get five padlocks. Padlocks can be lost for a number of reasons:

  • Few recent studies
  • Few randomised controlled trials
  • Large numbers in conditions removed from typical school practice
  • Lack of independent evaluation
  • Lots of unexplained variation in studies

Finally, the cost is calculated as additional expenditure e.g. on professional development, new resources, activities. Very low’ is classed as up to £2,000 per year per class of 25 pupils, or less than £80 per pupil per year.’; very high’ is over £30,000.

The strands

If you click on a strand, you get an accessible, nuanced summary of the evidence, split into the following sections:

What is it
– a clear definition of what is included and how it is defined. Clarity here ensures we are all talking about the same thing!
Key findings
– the most pertinent messages from the evidence.
How effective is the approach? – further detail and a little more exploration of what might work.
Behind the average
– nuance in the average e.g. differences in phases, subjects, contexts. For example, for one to one tuition, studies undertaken in primary schools tend to show greater impact (+6 months) compared with secondary schools (+4 months).
Closing the disadvantage gap
– although many studies don’t focus on this specifically, this section will share anything that might help to close this gap.
Applications and approaches – this is included where there are some notable distinctions in the evidence e.g. for oral versus written feedback; collaborative strategies with individual versus group goals.
How could you implement in your setting?
– key considerations for implementing findings. This helps close a knowing-doing gap.
What does it cost?
- a more detailed explanation of costs involved.
How secure is the evidence? - a more detailed explanation of the evidence strength.
Relevant EEF studies
– this takes you to connected EEF evaluations.
Learn more
– this links to other EEF resources, usually guidance reports.

Using the toolkit

The EEF provide a set of questions for school leaders that can help them make sense of the toolkit:

1. Are you clear on the improvement priorities for your school or Trust, particularly those likely to improve the outcomes of disadvantaged pupils?
2. Have you looked beyond the headlines of the Toolkit and dug deeper into the challenges of implementation?
3. Have you considered the cost and evidence strength of an approach, as well as potential impact?
4. Drawing upon your professional expertise, what is the likelihood of an approach having an impact in your specific context?
5. What attendant risks are there to this approach and how can you address these risks?
6. Have you considered other EEF evidence sources and resources which can be used alongside the Toolkit?

Everything in this post comes from helpful EEF guides, which you can download below:

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Teaching and Learning/​Early Years Toolkit Guide

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Using the toolkits – a summary

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Guide to 2025 Toolkit Update

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School leader reflections tool

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