Schools are learning organisations that continuously strive to do better for the children and young people in their care. There is a wealth of research on best practices in education to improve learning outcomes, and social and emotional well-being for youths. Having research that explores how best to improve the educational achievements of students is vitally important, but it's working out how educators put that research into practice that really makes a difference in schools.
Implementation is a key component of what schools do to change and be more effective. It is, however, often an overlooked factor, and little consideration is given as to how new ideas should be managed and what steps should be taken.
The UK's Education Endowment Foundation came to CEI with a challenge: help create a practical, user-friendly, guide to good implementation practice for schools. Together with EEF, CEI explored how practitioners best access the existing knowledge, evidence and research available to them, and then successfully transfer it into practice in educational settings. The guide highlights the importance of foundations for good implementation including four essential stages of implementation; exploring, preparing, delivering, and sustaining. Actionable recommendations are also available for each stage.
The guide is being used by schools in the UK and beyond. It focuses on strategies that help the uptake and success of proven practices in education - in a way that practitioners can understand and action, bringing evidence to life. It helps demystify the professional practice of selecting good evidence, embedding it into routine practice and using it to guide schools' improvement decisions.