Projects

EEF has commissioned IES to conduct an efficacy trial evaluation of the Early Talk Boost programme, which will begin in schools in 2024. Early Talk Bost is an early langugae intervention with 3 and 4-year-olds who have demonstrated difficulty with communication and language skills. Early Years practitioners are trained to deliver a nine-week intervention with groups of up to eight children per setting, and parents/carers receive guidance to support children's language development at home. The project will include an evaluation of outcomes and a process and implementation evaluation (IPE). Update, June 2024: This trial experienced significant challenges in the recruitment phase that meant the requisite number of children would not be enrolled. Due to this, IES reached an agreement with EEF that it would be cancelled. A lessons learned report will be published in 2024.

Youth Futures Foundation has commissioned IES in partnership with Global Development Network to lead a systematic literature review of ‘systems change’ interventions, including in-depth assessment of three key levers of systems change, to support their Connected Futures grants programme and wider work on systems change to improve employment outcomes for young people who are at risk of marginalisation in the labour market.

EEF has commissioned IES to conduct an efficacy trial evaluation of the Early Talk Boost programme, which will begin in schools in 2024.

Ofsted wish to track a small diverse group of teachers through their professional development journeys during 2022/23 to understand the experience of development and perceived impact/change over time and to make recommendations for policy. The work is part of the DfE’s golden thread, aiming to improve teacher retention and quality. This study includes those with experience of early career framework induction and national professional qualifications (NPQs) but excludes those currently in Initial Teacher Training (ITT) and uses qualitative methods to allow for reflection, gain true insights and build rapport and engagement to support tracking, and has a number of stages.

Many studies of summer job programmes examine impact on employment and education but there is growing interest in their impact on the reduction of antisocial behaviours, including youth violence and criminal activity. The initial evidence base on summer employment programmes offers some promise in terms of improving young people’s outcomes on these dimensions as well as their life chances. However, given the lack of a systematic review that estimates the extent of this impact, we cannot yet fully assert this. This current review seeks to fill this evidence gap.

Step Up is a PLIAS Resettlement project designed to support 120 young people aged 16-24 in Brent and Harrow who are unemployed/NEET and involved in or on the cusp of the criminal justice system. The project aims to support positive education/training outcomes, progress into meaningful, sustainable employment and a reduction in re-offending. Our evaluation will establish a project Theory of Change and participant journeys through the project. These will then be tested using: a participant pre-post survey; qualitative research with PLIAS staff, volunteers, stakeholders, employers and young people taking part in the programme; and analysis of management information collected by PLIAS. The study will also assess the feasibility for a future impact evaluation. The study will contribute to the growing body of evidence on what works being generated by the Youth Futures Foundation.

Youth Employment UK (YEUK) developed a Youth Friendly Employment Framework, which focusses on five key areas to address the barriers faced by young people entering and progressing in work, and make more high-quality opportunities available to young people. They now want to develop this into a Good Youth Employment Benchmark (with funding from YFF) – an online tool underpinned by high quality evidence. This will enable employers to self-assess and develop their practice. The key aim for the research is to provide evidence as to whether the existing standards in the framework speak to the needs of the youth employment system and, in addition, that employment outcomes for young people can be changed by the achievements of the standards. IES will conduct desk research into employer use of toolkits and benchmarks and review the YEUK framework. IES will conduct 15 employer interviews (a mix of focus groups and 1-2-1) to understand employers current practice around youth employment and youth employment frameworks.

This project is an extension of the Coaching Early Conversations Interaction and Language (CECIL) project working with experienced Early Years teachers from the maintained nursery sector in Liverpool, managed by Everton nursery school, to offer support as mentors to a group of early years settings (PVI and maintained sector) in the local area. We will be building on an existing model that the Everton team developed in partnership with Dr Sandra Mathers from the University of Oxford.

Ipsos, working in partnership with the Institute for Employment Studies (IES), has been appointed to deliver an independent evaluation of The Leadership College for Government public leaders programme. The evaluation will collect data and evidence on the effectiveness and impact of the activities delivered. We are delivering case studies showcasing systems change across the public sector following programme participation.

IES are partnering with Rocket Science in an evaluation of Active Lancashire’s Workplace Health Champions training for SMEs. It will examine the benefits SMEs gain from having Workplace Health Champions as part of their workforce as well as any synergies with uptake of wider aspects of the programme such as health checks. IES will lead on an evidence review and partner in qualitative data collection from employers, Champion trainees and other local stakeholders.