Report

This research examines the working experiences of older individuals and the effects of changes in age composition on workplace performance

Powerful Learning Conversations (PLC) sought to improve the feedback that teachers give to pupils in Year 9, by training them to apply techniques used in sports coaching. It is based on the idea that feedback in sports coaching is often provided immediately after a task is performed, and delivered in a way that children are more likely to respond positively to. The training programme adopted a ‘cascade’ model: expert teachers were trained in the approach and then expected to disseminate their training to English and Maths teachers in their school.

Abracadabra (ABRA) is a 20-week online literacy programme composed of phonic fluency and comprehension activities based around a series of age-appropriate texts. Four 15-minute sessions per week are delivered by a teaching assistant (TA) to groups of three to five pupils. This report summarises the findings of a randomised controlled trial assessing the impact of ABRA on literacy outcomes for Year 1 pupils. The trial also assesses the impact of an offline, paper and pencil version of the same intervention (referred to here at ‘the non-ICT intervention’).

Two issues dominated the UK's Brexit referendum debate: immigration and the economy. But the nature of discussion of these two topics was very different, and to a large extent compartmentalised. During the campaign, there was extensive discussion of the economic impact of Brexit on the UK economy. Detailed projections, under different scenarios for the post-Brexit UK-EU relationship, were produced by HM Treasury, the
IMF and OECD, among others (HM Treasury, 2016; International Monetary Fund, 2016; OECD, 2016).

In 2016, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) and the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) published two GB-wide reports exploring a programme of research to investigate the prevalence and nature of pregnancy discrimination and disadvantage in the workplace (Adams et al., 2016a and b). They reported findings from surveys carried out with 3,034 employers and 3,254 mothers, and covered the views and experiences of employers and mothers on a range of issues related to managing pregnancy, maternity leave and mothers returning to work.

The purpose of the analysis upon which this report is based was to estimate the impact of participation in the initial phase of the Troubled Families programme on a range of outcomes encompassing benefit receipt, employment, educational participation, child welfare and offending. This analysis estimates the impact of programme participation on these outcomes, relative to non-participation.

In January 2013, Ecorys was commissioned by Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) to lead a consortium providing an independent evaluation of the Phase One Troubled Families Programme1 . The evaluation included process, impact and economic strands of work, culminating in a set of final reports in September 2015. This report presents the overall summative findings from the evaluation.

This report seeks to identify policies and practices which ensure the integration of people with the following neurological conditions into mainstream employment: 

• Attention Deficit Disorders
• Autism
• Dyslexia
• Dyspraxia

The report, in addition, aims to ensure that the benefits of having a ‘neurodiverse’ workforce are fully-realised.

This research was undertaken for ACAS

This report describes the tasks that have been undertaken to adapt an existing model developed at the National Institute for use as part of the JRF programme to develop anti-poverty strategies for the UK. Discussion focusses upon LINDA, a structural dynamic microsimulation model of the UK population cross-section that the National Institute delivered to HM Revenue and Customs and Treasury in 2014.

The EU referendum gave an equal say to all eligible voters but some had more of a stake in the outcome than others, among them employers of EU migrants. Between the end of 2015 and early 2016 we interviewed 24 employers in the low skilled sectors of food and drink, hospitality and construction about free movement and the implications of a Leave vote, publishing our findings in April.