Research and analysis

Investing in ‘what works’ activity in further education and adult learning: policy brief

Published 21 January 2020

Applies to England

This paper sets out the case for establishing a What Works Centre for Further Education (FE) and Adult Learning. It presents the rationale for investment in ‘what works’ activity to support evidence-based decision making in the sector, providing analysis of the scope of existing activity and evidence in the FE and adult learning sector. It then proposes an approach to establishing a Centre that aims to transform understanding of what works for FE and adult learning. It follows an evidence review of what works to improve attainment among disadvantaged students in technical education, as well as consultation with stakeholders from the sector.

Recommendation: Government should create an independent What Works Centre for FE and Adult Learning that is embedded within an existing organisation and hold s a budget of £20 million over 5 years.

Why do we need a ‘What Works Centre for FE and Adult Learning’?

It is vital to improve evidence on what works in FE in order to raise levels of participation and attainment, and improve social mobility.

The FE and adult learning sector are central to the Government’s ambitions to raise productivity, improve standards of living, help people adapt to changes in the economy and support social mobility. FE and adult learning can improve employment outcomes at various stages in individuals’ working lives, alongside health, wellbeing and social integration outcomes. It plays a vital role in supporting people from disadvantaged backgrounds, who are overrepresented in the sector compared to other post-16 routes. Developing understanding on what works for disadvantaged learners in particular would help to improve inequalities in access, raise attainment levels and improve socio -economic outcomes. Improving the evidence on what works and sharing knowledge and best practice in FE and adult learning more broadly is especially pertinent at a time of significant government reform, including the Apprenticeship Levy, the National Retraining Scheme and Post -16 Skills Plan.

What is the FE and adult learning sector?

Further education (FE) refers to ‘any study after secondary education that is not part of higher education that is, not taken as part of an undergraduate or graduate degree)’. The Further Education and adult learning sector (FE sector) comprises a wide range of public, private and voluntary sector providers and includes FE colleges, Adult and Community Learning and Work Based Learning providers.

The sector delivers a spectrum of learning, from basic skills (such as English, maths and English for Speakers of Other Languages, or ESOL ) to specialist vocational training. While most higher education provision would not be included in the definition, higher apprenticeships are. Courses are delivered across a range of learning environments from classrooms to distance and blended learning. The main budgets for publicly funded provision include funding for 16-18-year old’s in FE (£3.7 billion), the Adult Education Budget (£1.5 billion) and apprenticeships (£1.7 billion).

The sector has a large and diverse learner population (2.2 million learners participated in government-funded adult further education) from a wide range of backgrounds and with a range of different needs. Nearly a third of students are from the 20% most deprived areas in England. FE students are also likely to be on low incomes, with 25% claiming out -of-work benefits before they started their course.

But the sector lacks a structured approach to boosting research, experimentation and evaluation to fill the evidence gaps compared to other policy areas.

Our evidence review on attainment in FE and adult learning found 63 studies that met the minimum standard of quality.^{[footnote 1]} This is in stark contrast to the schools sector: it is anticipated that over 3,000 studies will be included in EEF’s new teaching and learning toolkit. While the sector uses available evidence to inform strategic decision making and teaching practice, there is work to do in building a structured and systematic approach to producing and sharing evidence with practitioners on the ground. When compared to other areas, such as early years education, there is limited evidence on the effectiveness of different interventions, what works for whom and in what context, and very little information on the cost-effectiveness of interventions. Despite increased efforts to build the evidence base across other policy areas there are still comparatively few trials run to build the evidence base in the FE sector.

The sector lacks a mechanism for sharing knowledge and best practice on what works.

The current evidence base on what works in FE and adult learning is fragmented. There are mechanisms for sharing best practice , such as the Education and Training Foundation ’s Professional Exchange Networks (PEN) which bring together practitioners working in FE colleges. But these tend to be limited to particular approaches or parts of the sector. As a result, the sector as a whole lacks a mechanism to share best practice with those commissioning and delivering provision.

Tackling these shortfalls could help inform policy, as well as helping to maximise its impact.

Against the backdrop of continued funding pressures on FE, there is an urgent need to share knowledge across the sector, improve judgments about investments through the use of evidence and support an increase in research and experimentation across the sector. Investment in ‘what works’ style research in FE and adult learning would help providers make evidence-based decisions with funding, and would support the Student Premium for students aged 16 to 19 that we have proposed. Taking this approach has resulted in significant transformation across a number of policy areas through the emergence of What Works Centres (see Annex).

Existing ‘what works’ activity in FE and adult learning

Several organisations undertake ‘what works’ research in policy areas that are relevant to FE and adult learning (see Figure 1). This includes a number of What Works Centres (WWCs) which aim to ensure spending and practice in public services are informed by the best available evidence.

Since 2013, the impact of the What Works Centres has been significant and wide ranging. The Education Endowment Foundation (EEF ) ‘Breakfast Club’ RCT found that breakfast clubs in schools supported improved concentration and increased attainment. As a result, more than 1,770 schools have benefited from a £26 million investment from the Department for Education (DfE). A recent 2018 review of the What Works Centres described how collectively they have helped to create a culture of enquiry in their respective policy areas and improved the use of existing evidence more broadly.

In addition to the What Works Network, a number of other organisations conduct research on FE and adult learning (see Figure 1). This includes the Behavioural Insights Team, Centre for Vocational Education Research (CVER), Education and Training Foundation and Learning and Work Institute.

Figure 1: Organisations undertaking ‘what works’ research in FE and adult learning

What Works Centre/research organisation	Policy area	FE and adult learning research
Educational Endowment Foundation/Sutton Trust	Education outcomes for 3- to 18-year olds	Testing some initiatives to increase engagement and attainment among 16- to 18-year olds in FE[footnote 2]
What Works Centre for Local Economic Growth	Local economic growth	Evidence reviews on apprenticeships and employment training with a focus on economic outcomes
What Works Centre for Wellbeing	Wellbeing	Evidence review of adult learning and the potential wellbeing impacts
Centre for Vocational Education Research	Further and vocational education	Analysis of the returns to FE and vocational education
Behavioural Insights Team[footnote 3]	Multiple	Tested ways to improve retention and success in post- 16 English and maths
Education and Training Foundation	Further education and training	Workforce and professional development body for the FE and Training sector
Learning and Work Institute	Employment and skills	Research and evaluation on policy and practice in post-16 FE and adult learning

There is no overall strategic approach to investing and testing what works, and no systemic approach to sharing what works.

The existing What Work Centres touch upon some of the issues affecting FE and adult learning but these are not yet covered in the level of detail that would support better judgments about investment and improve practice across the sector. In addition, while there are a number of other organisations conducting research on FE and adult learning, there is not a coordinated or joined up approach across them.

Why do we need a dedicated ‘what works’ centre?

There are several reasons to establish a dedicated What Works Centre for FE and adult learning:

• complexity of the sector - the complexity of the sector at a provider, learner and outcome level warrants a Centre that can dedicate sufficient resource to the range and scale of FE and adult learning issues. A dedicated centre can also provide sufficient focus to develop evidence to support what works for different groups such as those who struggle to access and achieve in FE and adult learning

• nature of the current evidence base - the current nature of the evidence base requires the development of bespoke quality standard to make the best use of evidence available and ensure that the quality of evidence is improved through future testing and evaluation

• potential to raise the visibility and profile of the sector - a Centre would help to improve the visibility and profile of the sector more broadly. It has the potential to stimulate wider interest in the area of adult learning and highlight inequalities in terms of access, attainment and wider impacts of learning

• ability to develop strategic partnerships that translate evidence into practice - there is more potential with a Centre to develop specific strategic partnerships – to build the evidence and support its implementation and dissemination. The sector comprises a diverse range of private, public and voluntary sector providers. Extensive partnership building is required with the sector to improve awareness of evaluation and the use of evidence in policy and practice decision making more broadly

A new What Works Centre for Further Education and adult learning

The following sections set out a proposal for a new What Works Centre for FE and adult learning (WWFE).

What would the new Centre focus on?

The new Centre would aim to improve attainment for disadvantaged individuals 16 years and over in FE and adult learning. The Centre would cover both classroom and work-based training (for example traineeships and apprenticeships) and a ll levels of education within FE and adult learning (from foundation courses to HE access and vocational HE courses). It would aim to support workforce development in the sector by sharing best practice.

Understanding what works for a diverse range of learners, including those that face specific forms of disadvantage, should cut across areas of work. The Commission has already highlighted the inequalities in accessing FE and adult learning for individuals on low incomes and with low or no qualifications. A dedicated Centre for FE and adult learning could take the lead in supporting robust evidence that examines experiences of a range of learners and develop interventions that support the participation of those who find FE and adult learning most difficult to access.

It is important to understand what works across the whole learner journey in order to raise attainment and realise the benefits of doing so. This includes what works to: engage different groups to enable fair access to all types of learning; improve retention and completion for different groups and types of learning; and improve socio-economic outcomes.

• engagement and participation: participation in adult learning is at a record low and highly uneven. If we are to engage more adults in learning and raise attainment, it is vital that we understand what works to engage a diverse range of learners

• retention and completion: course completion varies across different courses, learner groups, institutions and local areas. In addition, the way people learn across FE is changing. Distance and blended learning have transformed the way people participate in and complete courses, while apprenticeships and technical education has diversified the way people achieve qualifications

• economic and social outcomes: research shows there are a range of benefits of taking part in FE and adult learning that go beyond gaining qualifications.^{[footnote 4]} However, the scale of robust evidence that exists to support a better understanding of economic and social outcomes from specific interventions, particularly over the medium to longer term, is limited

How would it operate?

The Centre will have greatest impact if it develops a s a consortium model, working with other organisations active in FE and adult learning research, policy and practice. The Centre would collaborate with others to support the translation, dissemination and implementation of existing evidence about what works.^{[footnote 5]} The Centre would establish and act as the main coordinator of a wider network spanning research, evaluation, policy and practice professionals that will use outputs created by the Centre’s activities as well as generating further evidence of what works for FE and adult learning.

Establishing a single entity to play this role is particularly important in a sector with a diverse range of actors. This approach would establish the Centre as the ‘go -to-source’ for practitioners, with a clear identity and mission. This would help to improve the awareness and accessibility of guidance and best practice in the FE sector, and to promote the use of evidence in policy and practice.

What activities would the Centre undertake?

The core activities of the Centre would broadly follow those of other what works centres, with activity falling into six core areas: synthesising evidence; translating evidence; disseminating and implementing evidence; evaluating and improving practice; and producing primary evidence (Figure 2).

We anticipate that a new Centre will predominately be focused on synthesising, translating and disseminating evidence alongside supporting the sector to implement and improve evidence informed practice, at least in the first two years. There is a longer-term opportunity (from the third year onwards) for a What Works Centre for FE to establish itself as a sector lead in the design of trials to support new interventions and commission robust evaluations (in partnership with partners). We envisage that these would be relatively small scale in the first instance, starting with proof of concept and prototyping before moving to larger scale trials.

Figure 2: Core areas of activity^{[footnote 6]}

• Synthesise existing evidence - assess and summarise the existing evidence base
• Translate evidence - make findings comparable and easily understood
• Disseminate evidence - publish and disseminate findings to key audience
• Implement evidence - support practitioners and commissioners to utilise evidence
• Evaluate and improve evidence - encourage practitioners and commissioners to evaluate activities and adapt practice
• Creating evidence - conduct and support primary research that fills gaps in the evidence base
• Repeat the process by returning to Synthesise existing evidence

Synthesising existing evidence

The Centre would systematically collate evidence across the different stages of the learner journey, assessing the quality and relevance of evidence. This would build on the evidence review undertaken for SMC by examining the impacts of interventions on aspect s of the learner journey, such as engagement and economic outcomes, in greater detail. Future reviews could also consider other types of evidence, where there may not be any substantial causal evidence, to help identify a series of ‘best bets’ in improving attainment.

There is also a role for a WWFE to ensure evidence is assessed against a quality framework or ‘standards of evidence’ that takes account of the nature of existing evidence in FE and adult learning. A clear set of standards will support practitioners navigate the evidence in an informed manner. It should also encourage academics and evaluators to develop more robust and ambitious approaches to evaluation and other forms of evidence in the sector.

Translating and disseminating evidence

There is a role for a WWFE to support the wide range of stakeholders involved in the sector to make sense of existing evidence by translating, distilling and presenting findings in an accessible and useful way. EEF’s teaching and learning toolkit acts as an interactive summary of the best international evidence on teaching 5 to 18 year olds and is used by two-thirds of school leaders. Any reports and evidence tools developed by the Centre would need to be carefully designed in collaboration with end users.

Working with end users to produce guidance for the sector is also likely to support the implementation of evidence, as EEF has discovered. EEF started producing guidance reports in 2016, which are developed with practitioner panels to provide clear and actionable recommendations for teachers. Our evidence review found that a range of behavioural interventions can be effective in improving attendance on FE courses. A WWFE guidance report could be developed on how to improve attendance with practical advice on how to implement findings or test similar approaches.

Supporting implementation of evidence

Active engagement with the sector will support improved decision making and implementation of evidence at all levels. The Centre would disseminate findings from evidence in ways that are targeted, meaningful and support practical application for both policymakers and practitioners. For example, the devolution of the adult education budget (AEB) presents a key challenge for local commissioners who must decide where investment is best placed to provide positive outcomes for learners, while also presenting value for money. The Centre would be well placed to support evidence informed decision making by actively engaging with AEB commissioners to support the use of existing evidence and testing new interventions through impact evaluations (see ‘creating evidence’).

Evaluating and improving evidence

The Centre would take the lead in making the case for, and enabling, more and better evaluation to improve practice. This could include a focus on improving knowledge and skills for self-evaluation that supports local level or organisational decision making. Bespoke tools for evaluation can be developed by WWFE that meets the needs of the complex range of stakeholders involved in FE and adult learning. This has worked effectively for a wide range of other WWCs. The EEF, Early Intervention Foundation, What Works Centre for Wellbeing and the What Works Centre for Children’s Social Care all produce their own detailed evaluation toolkits to support improved practice and use of evidence.

Creating evidence

Alongside highlighting a general lack of evidence, our review showed that most existing evidence has been conducted in the United States and therefore findings are not as easily translatable to a UK context. The Centre would take the lead in promoting the generation of more robust evidence in a number of ways by forging partnerships with academics, researchers and practitioners. The Centre would convene key academics working in the fields of adult learning and education in order to stimulate ideas and action on existing and emerging issues affecting the FE and adult learning sector. This activity would be coordinated with other research organisations to minimise overlap with other trials.

Initial priorities

There are a number of priorities that should be considered in developing the programme for the Centre for the first two years. These include:

• gaining access to key data sets: it will be important to establish access to key data sets that support an improved understanding of participation in FE, adult learning and their related outcomes. These include the Longitudinal Educational Outcomes (LEO) data set held by DfE and related labour market statistics held by DWP.^{[footnote 7]} Access to LEO data will enable better and longer-term evaluation of programmes

• building strategic partnerships: any new what works activity in the area of FE and adult learning must be able to forge strategic partnerships with a variety of organisations in order to establish itself as a hub for evidence. These include organisations within or affiliated to the What Works Network, academic institutions and centres, such as the Centre for Vocational Education Research, and international evaluation experts, such as MDRC.^{[footnote 8]} Engagement with individuals in the academic community , including the Policy, Evaluation and Research Unit (PERU) at Manchester Metropolitan University, who might conduct future trials should also be a key activity in the early stages. It will also be crucial to build partnerships with colleges and other learning providers, through organisations like the Association of Colleges (AoC), the Education and Training Foundation (ETF) and the Association for Employment and Learning Providers (AELP), to support the implementation of evidence and create an environment in which trials can successfully operate in the future

• breaking down the complexity of the FE and adult learning sector: the audience and users of WWFE includes commissioners in local and central government; practitioners (including colleges, independent training providers and employment services providers); and those making spending and policy decisions (in government and outside). It is crucial to the success of the Centre to ensure that distinct areas of activity are appropriately understood by the organisation and broken down into themes or key areas of work that are useful for the range of audiences for the Centre

• synthesising and translating evidence: bringing together existing evidence and developing accessible ways of translating findings across the sector will be important to establish the Centre as a hub for what works in FE and adult learning. Establishing evidence standards in the initial activity of the Centre will also help this. The Centre should give careful consideration during this period to where evidence generation should be prioritised and how the evidence is made accessible for the range of commissioners, policymakers and practitioners with a stake in FE and adult learning

What level of investment would be required?

The overall budget available to a new Centre will influence the scope and nature of activities that can be undertaken]. The What Works Team at the Cabinet Office has estimated the levels of funding required to undertake different activities on varying scales.^{[footnote 9]} Based on these estimates and levels of investment in the existing what works centres , capability would vary according to the following budgets:

• annual budget of £1 million - an annual budget of £750,000 to £1.5 million would provide sufficient fundi ng for evidence synthesis and the development of evidence toolkits but there would be limited capacity for dissemination work or to invest in evidence generation until the third or fourth year

• annual budget of £2 million - an annual budget of £2 million would allow for some dissemination work and small-scale evidence generation

• annual budget of £4 million - an annual budget of £4 to 5 million would enable the Centre to test and evaluate existing programmes and practices, and to run or commission trials

We recommend that a 5-year budget of £20 million would enable the Centre to promote the use of evidence, test the effectiveness of existing interventions, and commission trials to fill evidence gaps. The annual budget for the Centre for the first two years would be £2 million, reflecting an initial focus on synthesising and disseminating existing evidence, and identifying promising programmes. It would then increase in the third, fourth and fifth years to £5 million to enable the Centre to develop prototypes and commission trials to test the most promising interventions and build the evidence base.

A 5-year budget cycle would enable the Centre to develop meaningful partnerships across the diverse range of policy makers and practitioners with the FE and adult learning sector, and take stock of the existing evidence before developing trials to build the evidence and transform understanding of what works in FE and adult learning. A one-year budget, by contrast, would limit the Centre’s capability to build and generate evidence; have a negative impact on recruitment (as the Centre would likely be restricted to offering only short-term contracts); and hinder the Centre’s ability to build strategic partnerships.

The Centre could be funded wholly by the DfE; through a multi -departmental bid with Department for Work and Pension s (DWP) and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS); or with departmental funding matched by an external organisation. One of the benefits of e stablishing a centre housed within an existing organisation is that it can raise money through funding partnerships and sponsorships. The return on government investment would be realised through the improved impact of the £6.9 billion spent annually government on FE and adult skills.^{[footnote 10]}

Efficiencies would be realised by establishing a WWFE within an existing body or organisation. It would be possible to capitalise on existing partnership networks, methodological expertise , learning from previous what works centres and fundraising synergies to support the success of What Works for FE.

Recommendation: DfE, either alone or in partnership, should invest £20 million over 5 years to create a What Works Centre for FE and adult skills.

This centre would:

• be embedded within an existing organisation, following a competitive procurement exercise

• in years 1 to 2, have an annual budget of £2 million to focus on synthesis and dissemination, building strategic partnerships, coordinating the sector, gaining access to data sets, and prioritising research priorities

• In years 3 to 5, have a budget of £5 million to begin trials to generate new evidence

Annex

Table 1: What Works Network

National Institute for Health and Care Excellence

Policy Focus:

Health and social care

Activity:

• providing evidence-based guidance and advice for heath, public health and social care practitioners
• developing quality standards and outcome measures for providers
• do not fund or conduct evaluations
• do not develop DIY evaluation toolkits

Main areas of policy work:

• effective health practice
• quality of life
• technological health innovations Education Endowment Foundation Educational outcomes for 3 to18 years

Education Endowment Foundation

Policy Focus:

Educational outcomes for 3 to18 years

Activity:

• summarising the best available existing evidence through reviews
• developing practical tools to support improved practice and foster improved use of evidence across schools
• generating new evidence of what works by designing and running trials, with focus on RCTs
• DIY evaluation toolkits

Main areas of policy work:

• raising the attainment of school aged children
• pupil Premium
• parental engagement
• careers education
• teacher practice, including: written marking, digital learning, peer learning
• English as an Additional Language for pre-16
• in post 16 education specifically, the EEF has published a literature review of available evidence on what works for improving Level 2 English and maths outcomes for 16 to 18-year olds (2016); and guidance on the role of Learning Support Assistants in FE and training sector (2019)
• the EEF has also funded evaluations focused on: increasing attendance of 16 to18 students in FE (due to report in Autumn 2019); an alternate approach to the assessment of progress in FE colleges (due to report in 2021); embedding contextualised learning in English and maths for post-16 learners; a feasibility assessment of a post-16 learners maths GCSE resit tool (due to report in 2020) and; a revision approach to post-16 maths GCSE resits (due to report in 2021).

What Works Centre for Crime Reduction

Policy Focus:

Crime reduction

Activity:

• summarising the best available existing evidence through reviews
• developing evidence-based policing guidance
• building capacity and understanding of research evidence among police officers and staff
• generating new evidence of what works by designing and running trials, with focus on RCTs
• do not produce DIY evaluation toolkits

Main areas of policy work:

• victimisation and vulnerability to crime
• perpetrator programmes
• disrupting serious and organised crime
• the future of crime prevention

Intervention Foundation

Policy Focus:

Early intervention

Activity:

• summarising the best available existing evidence through reviews
• working with government, local partners and other agencies to take evidence informed decisions on early intervention
• DIY evaluation toolkits
• do not fund or conduct evaluations

Main areas of policy work:

• development issues from birth to 18 years
• early years
• parenting and families
• mental health and wellbeing
• vulnerability and antisocial behaviour

What Works for Local Economic Growth

Policy Focus:

Local economic growth

Activity:

• summarising the best available existing evidence through reviews
• translating evidence to improve outcomes for local economies
• helping local practitioners to conduct good quality evaluations through workshops and events
• do not fund or conduct evaluations
• do not produce DIY evaluation toolkits

Main areas of policy work:

• apprenticeships
• broadband
• employment training
• estate renewal
• sport and culture
• transport
• area based initiatives

Centre for Ageing Better

Policy Focus:

Improved quality of life for older people

Activity:

• summarising the best available existing evidence through reviews
• translating evidence to improve outcomes for older people
• building strategic partnerships across England to establish age-friendly communities
• design new interventions and commission evaluation in areas where experts and users identify need
• produce DIY evaluation toolkits

Main areas of policy work:

• fulfilling work, including age-friendly employers and improving support for people returning to work
• safe and accessible homes
• healthy ageing
• connected communities

What Works Centre for Wellbeing

Policy Focus:

Wellbeing

Activity:

• summarising the best available existing evidence through reviews
• translating evidence to improve wellbeing outcomes
• do not fund or conduct evaluations
• DIY evaluation toolkits

Main areas of policy work:

• predominately focused on adulthood between 16 and 60 years
• housing, infrastructure and where we live
• unemployment
• workplace culture, training and job design
• adult and community learning
• community wellbeing
• sport, dance and physical activity
• culture, music and singing
• measuring wellbeing

Centre for Homelessness Impact

Policy Focus:

Homelessness

Activity:

• summarising the best available existing evidence through reviews
• translating evidence to improve outcomes for people affected by homelessness
• mobilising a ‘learning culture’
• designing and testing new interventions
• do not produce DIY evaluation toolkits

Main areas of policy work:

• at risk homeless groups
• housing policy reform
• access to health services
• housing First
• supported Housing

What Works for Children’s Social Care

Policy Focus:

Social care, child development

Activity:

• summarising the best available existing evidence through reviews
• translating evidence to improve outcomes for children, young people and families
• developing tools to support better evidence use across social care
• designing and test new interventions
• produce DIY evaluation toolkits

Main areas of policy work:

• social work practice
• child mental health and trauma prevention
• parents and carers

1. Learning and Work Institute, Improving attainment among disadvantaged students in the Further Education and Adult Learning sector: An Evidence Review, 2019 ↩

2. Note: EEF’s remit does not cover learners over 18 years or the broader learner journey such as recruitment to courses or longer-term impacts of FE. ↩

3. The Behavioural Research Centre for Adult Skills and Knowledge (ASK) – now disbanded – was created via a £2.9 million grant from the former Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS). ASK conducted a series of experimental studies focused on improving recruitment, engagement and attainment amongst adults undertaking basic maths and English. Predominately focused on early years and schooling, the Behavioural Insights Team continue to produce evidence and guides for practitioners on how to apply behavioural insights to their work. ↩

4. Government Office for Science, What are the wider benefits of learning across the life course?, 2017, accessed 30 September 2019 ; Centre for Vocational Education Research, The benefits of intermediate level skills, 2017, accessed 30 September 2019 ↩

5. There are several structural ways it could achieve this. For example, the EEF has a relatively large in-house team that oversees the delivery and evaluation of programmes by independent organisations in schools and other settings (and accounts for 93% of funding). The Centre for Wellbeing has a small core team that focuses on coordination and dissemination, with four consortia of academics and NGO staff that produce research and engage with stakeholders. ↩

6. Adapted from: What Works Network, The What Works Network: Five Years On, 2019, accessed on 15 September 2019 ↩

7. The LEO dataset is made up of information from the National Pupil Database, the Individualised Learner Record, the Higher Education Statistics Agency, HM Revenue and Customs data, the National Benefit Database, the Labour Market System and Juvos, the unemployment research database. ↩

8. MDRC are a not -for-profit education and social policy research organization dedicated to learning about ‘what works’ to improve policies that affect the poor in the United States. ↩

9. Levels of investment in the existing WWCs vary considerably and they operate in different ways as a result. The Wales Centre for Public Policy had an annual budget of £530,000 in 2017, whereas EEF operated with an annual budget of £16.5 million. The Wales Centre for Public Policy, funded by Welsh government and the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), provides expert advice upon demand to the Welsh government. It conducts rapid reviews and analyses as opposed to systematic reviews and analysis. The EEF, funded through a DfE endowment, by contrast, has commissioned 190 large RCTs at an average cost of £500,000, while also conducting evidence synthesis and dissemination activity. ↩

10. The proposed annual investment in a WWFE represents less than 0.06% of the total of key budget lines for FE and adult learning. ↩