A new trial will find out if empowering well-connected pupils to
positively impact their fellow pupils’ attitudes and behaviours
can have an impact on attendance rates and bullying, the
Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) and Youth Endowment Fund
(YEF) announced today.
Secondary schools in England can sign-up to take part in the
randomised controlled trial of Grassroots, which
will be delivered by the Behavioural Insights Team (BIT) and
independently evaluated by researchers from UCL’s Faculty of
Education and Society (IOE).
In the programme, BIT will select a ‘seed group’ of around 30
pupils in each school. Trained research assistants will work with
the groups of pupils through fortnightly sessions. Together,
they’ll identify how student interactions in their school could
be improved, think about what they might do to encourage their
peers to have positive interactions, and make sure their
initiatives are visible to others, for example, through posters
and social media content.
In a trial in schools in the USA, the Grassroots programme was
found to reduce disciplinary events related to conflict and
bullying by 25% over one year. The independent evaluators of this
trial will find out if taking part in the programme improves
attendance levels in participating schools, as well as reducing
bullying and behavioural problems.
Grassroots is one of two new randomised controlled trials
launched today by the EEF and YEF to add to the evidence base of
what works for improving attendance and reducing exclusions. One
hundred secondary schools will take part in a trial of the
Behavioural Insights Team’s BITUP programme,
which sends personalised text messages to parents and carers to
update them on the number of days of school their child has
missed over the last half term. A smaller trial of BITUP boosted
rates of good attendance by four percentage points.
The EEF and YEF have also launched three research projects that
investigate the impact that different school practices have on
attendance and exclusions:
· ICF Consulting will find
out if employing attendance and family liaison officers reduces
the likelihood of an at-risk pupil being absent from
school.
· NFER has partnered
with The Difference to explore the impact of different approaches
to internal alternative provision in secondary schools on
exclusion rates and persistent absence.
· NatCen and UCL have come
together to find out what impact authoritative behaviour policies
have on attendance rates.
Today’s new trials and research projects are the first launched
through a partnership between the YEF and EEF to build evidence
of what works in improving attendance and reducing exclusions.
The partnership finds, funds, and evaluates programmes and
practices in England and Wales that could both keep children safe
from involvement in violence and improve academic attainment, by
ensuring they attend, positively engage with, and remain in
school or college.
It follows an evidence review published by the EEF last year that
found big gaps in the evidence on improving attendance and
reducing exclusions, with very few studies taking place in
English schools. The five projects announced today will add to
the evidence base, to give schools more information about how to
improve attendance and reduce exclusions. More trials and
research projects will be launched later this year.
Professor Becky Francis CBE, Chief Executive of the
Education Endowment Foundation, said:
“We know that pupils who are persistently absent from school
are less like to achieve well academically. Improving attendance
is also a real and immediate priority for schools. But we
just don’t know enough about the best ways to improve attendance.
Teachers deserve a much clearer picture of how best to support
their pupils who are persistently absent.
“Our new research projects with the Youth Endowment Fund will
help fill some of these evidence gaps. By funding high-potential
approaches like Grassroots and BITUP across many schools, we'll
also provide direct support to schools who are looking for
programmes to improve
attendance.”
, Executive Director of the Youth
Endowment Fund, said:
“Absence from school not only limits a child’s ability to
succeed academically, but also puts them at increased risk of
harm. Through our research with EEF, we’ll learn more about what
works to keep children engaged at school and away from the
streets.
“When you’re growing up, your peers have a huge impact on
your behaviour and attitude towards school. The Grassroots
programme is a really interesting model. It uses the social
dynamics of the classroom to challenge damaging behaviour like
bullying and create positive places to learn. It’s made a
difference in the US. We want to test if it has an impact
here.”
NOTES TO EDITORS:
1. Schools in England can sign-up to take
part in these trials through the EEF website.
2. The Education Endowment
Foundation (EEF) is an independent charity dedicated to
breaking the link between family income and educational
achievement. We do this by supporting schools, colleges, and
nurseries to improve teaching and learning through better use of
evidence.
3. The Youth Endowment Fund (YEF)
is a charity established in 2019 with a ten-year £200m endowment
from the Home Office. Its mission is to prevent children and
young people becoming involved in violence. It does this by
finding out what works and building a movement to put this
knowledge into practice.
