NFER work closely with schools as partners in our wide range of research, evaluation and test trialling projects.
We rely on the ongoing willing participation of schools to help us to gather sufficient evidence to ensure that our research is based on robust findings that are truly influenced by teachers, pupils and others involved in school life.
Participation in our research allows teachers to give professional input into the development of policy and practice in education. Pupil participation in test trials helps NFER to develop high quality assessment resources that help schools to understand pupils' performance.
Read about the impact of school participation in research in our latest review.
We are committed to making it as easy as possible to take part in our research projects. We will always try to give something back to schools - this might be feedback from a survey, test results or a summary of findings.
You can find our current active and recruiting projects below. For additional projects where we still hold participant data, please visit Research Projects for information.
Featured projects
We are currently working with the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) and the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) to evaluate the impact of the Rehearsal Room Writing Programme on pupils’ writing ability, alongside their enjoyment of writing, their belief in their writing ability, and their teachers’ perception of their ability to teach writing.
Expressions of interest to take part in this trial can be submitted until 20 June 2025.
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We are currently working with The Behavioural Insights Team (BIT) and the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) to evaluate the impact of small group maths tuition in Years 7, 10 and 11 on young people’s attainment in and attitude towards maths.
Expressions of interest to take part in this trial can be submitted until 30 June 2025.
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We are currently seeking participants for an evaluation of Speech and Language UK's Early Talk Boost intervention on the language outcomes of children aged 3-4 years.
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We are currently seeking expressions of interest for an evaluation of the Mastering Number at Reception and KS1 programme in the 2025/2026 academic year.
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