Civitas Education Research

Welcome to Civitas Educational Research

Our research seeks out an objective view of standards of education in Britain. By doing so, we aim to offer an improved perspective on how best to deliver equitable and high standards of education for all.

We aim in particular to generate evidence-based policy, with realisable strategies for implementation. This includes a commitment to giving parents greater control over how government invests in their child's education, as well as supporting independent teaching combined with a flexible curriculum.

This complements the practical education projects we run: Civitas Schools.

Current Projects Include:

• Exam boards and school standards: What role do awarding bodies play in educational standards?

• Teacher training: Identifying the most effective way to get good teachers in the classroom.

• Practical learning: What makes for effective vocational training? An investigation into best - and worst - practice in England.

Analysis

• ANALYSIS: The English Bacc

• ANALYSIS: The Budget's Implications for Education (PDF)

• ANALYSIS: The Other Half - of students

• ANALYSIS: The unlikely losers of decentralisation

• ANALYSIS: Looking to the TV debates

• EDUCATION: The Pre-Election Briefing

  March 2010, Today's figures and the parties' promises

Articles

• Should A-level exam resits be banned? Yes

  - Anastasia de Waal, Times, September 30 2010

• Resits undermine A-level standards

  - Anastasia de Waal, New Statesman, 19 August 2010

• There is no doubt that Sats are deeply pernicious, but it is not fair to identify testing as the problem

  - Anastasia de Waal, Times Educational Supplement, 3 September 2010

• The licence of academies

  - Tristram Hunt and Anastasia de Waal, Guardian 10 June 2010

• Is academy school success just a sham?

  - Anastasia de Waal, Guardian 14 December 2009

• Turning the tables on education

  - Anastasia de Waal, Guardian 27 August 2009

• A gender gap at 5 - so what?

  - Anastasia de Waal, Guardian 30 July 2009

• Stop Twittering, learn Latin

  - Anastasia de Waal, Guardian 29 March 2009

Publications

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  Liberal Education and the National Curriculum

  - David Conway, January 2010 (PDF)

  
  

  
  

  
  

  Professor David Conway traces the history of proposed school curricula from the liberal reformers of the 1860s to modern times. All children, whatever their backgrounds, should be introduced to 'the best that has been thought and said'.

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  Inspecting the Inspectorate: Ofsted under scrutiny

  - Anastasia de Waal (ed.), November 2008

  
  

  
  

  
  

  Informed perspectives on Ofsted's school inspection regime: what is working and what is not?

Reports, Briefings and Overviews

• A New Secret Garden?

  - Tom Ogg with Emily Kaill, November 2010 (PDF)

  Alternative provision, exclusion and children's rights

• The secrets of Academies' success

  - Anastasia de Waal, December 2009 (PDF)

  Is the freedom being granted to Academies being abused?

• Straight A's? A-level teachers' views on today's A-levels

  - Anastasia de Waal, August 2009 (PDF)

  Senior A-level teachers explain the rise in A grades.

• Education in England: Policy vs. Impact

  - Anastasia de Waal, July 2009 (PDF)

  How is the government doing in education?

• Media Info: Increase in Infant Classes Over 30

  - Anastasia de Waal, Press Briefing, May 2009 (PDF)

  The issues with the rise in infant class sizes.