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A three-year international programme to enhance the use of research evidence as an essential aspect of efforts to improve education has resulted in the creation of a permanent network to continue the work. Three years ago, 18 partners from 10 European countries joined a project on evidence in education, set up by the EPPI Centre at the Institute of Education in London and funded by the European Commission.

An abundance of research and inspection evidence on the effectiveness of school spending on the pupil premium has been published in recent weeks, including reports from Ofsted (http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/resources/pupil-premium), IPPR (http://www.ippr.org/articles/56/10277/maximising-the-pupil-premium), and the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) and Sutton Trust.

This summer saw a promising glimpse of the coalition government’s will to back the development and growth of evidence-based interventions in education, through the formation of the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF).  Under the guidance of the Sutton Trust and Impetus Trust, the EEF is planning to invest as much as £200m over the next 15 years in initiatives that raise the achievement of pupils in the most challenging circumstances.

The Institute for Government has published the results of its year-long research into better policy-making in a recent report, Making Policy Better. The research - drawing on interviews with over 20 former ministers and 50 civil servants - suggests that despite attempts to improve policy making under the last government, reforms fell short, with a lack of coherence between different elements of the policy making process.