5 ways to engage with a new EEF Guidance…

29 March, 2019 —
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5 ways to engage with a new EEF Guidance Report

EEF reports provide clear & actionable recommendations for teachers & leaders on a range of issues, based on the best evidence

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by Unity Research School
on the 29th March 2019

The Education Endowment Foundation’s (EEF) Guidance Reports provide clear and actionable recommendations for teachers on a range of high-priority issues, based on the best available evidence. They are a valuable resource and the following five, simple suggestions will help you get the most out of a new guidance report, such as the newest publication released today which focuses on Digital Technology and aims to help schools consider how they can use digital technology to improve pupils’ learning.

Schools use technology in many ways and with a wide range of aims, from those that seek to change classroom practice directly to others that support schools more broadly, for example by tracking pupil data or to facilitate a whole-school behaviour management policy. Though some wider uses are mentioned, the main focus of this report is on applications of technology that aim to improve learning directly. The report does not focus on teaching computing or coding, or on questions related to screen time or the use of mobile devices. This most recent report provides guidance for schools based on the best available evidence. Summarising evidence on technology is challenging due to the speed of development within the field, the variety of ways in which technology has been applied in the classroom, and the diversity of contexts in which technology has been studied. Nonetheless, it is striking that, across an evidence base that has been built over 40 years, some common messages clearly emerge.
EEF Guidance report - USING DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY TO IMPROVE LEARNING

Find out more and access the newest guidance report on Digital Learning:

1. Download a copy of the new guidance report from the EEF website (Practical Tools – Guidance Report)

This way you will be creating your own library of the ever growing collection of guidance reports and ensuring you have them at your fingertips.

EEF steps Digital technology for learning

2. Check out the Summary of Recommendations

You’ll find these located in the first few pages of the guidance report. Colour coded and dual coded for ease of interpretation you’ll be able to quickly get a sense of the main recommendations.

3. Read, consider, question the guidance

From the Foreward and Introduction at the front of the guidance report, setting the context and highlighting intent, on through the detail of the Recommendations themselves and then the References upon which the guidance has been developed … invaluable evidence, insights and guidance is presented for you to consider.

4. Share with colleagues

Send colleagues a link or a pdf copy of the guidance report you’ve downloaded. Schedule an opportunity to have a conversation about it, either in person or virtually. Consider how it could be utilised within your context. Who else do you need to be aware of the recommendations? How might the guidance report inform professional learning and CPD? How might you be able to utilise accompanying resources that are provided (summary poster, audits tools etc)?

5. Bring alongside the EEF Guidance Report ‘Putting Evidence to work: a school’s guide to implementation’

To maximise its impact, the new guidance report should be read in conjunction with the EEF guidance on implementation. It begins to describe and demystify the professional practice of implementation and provides an evidence informed framework to support schools to manage change well. Ultimately, it doesn’t matter how great an educational idea or intervention is in principle; what really matters is how it manifests itself in the day-to-day work of people in schools. The guide can be used to help implement any school improvement decision, whether programme or practice, whole-school or targeted approach, or internal or externally generated ideas. The framework sets out two foundations and then four further recommendations (Explore, Prepare, Deliver, Sustain).

For further support and insights on the growing library of Guidance Reports you may also want to seek support from the national network of Research Schools, a collaboration between the EEF, the Institute for Effective Education, and the Department for Education. Research Schools aim to lead the way in the use of evidence-based teaching, building affiliations with large numbers of schools in their region, and supporting the use of evidence at scale.

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