Education for All: Evidence from the past, principles for the future

The idea for a ‘review of reviews’ – an attempt to summarise and distil the policy implications of recent studies of the education system – was formed early in the development of the Teaching and Learning Research Programme. It was inspired by the National Commission on Education which, under the leadership of Sir Claus Moser and with funding from the Paul Hamlyn Foundation, had produced a report: Learning to Succeed (1993). While ultimately the TLRP could not stretch to a project on that scale, it was decided to attempt a pragmatic harvesting of reviews which, together, provide evidence on most sectors of education in England. The work is one product from a TLRP Fellowship, held by Andrew Pollard during 2009/10, and funded by the Economic and Social Research Council. This was supplemented by an award from the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation to the Institute of Education, University of London, which enabled Richard Pring to work on the project. We are grateful to colleagues who led the reviews and initiatives on which we have drawn. We acknowledge the advice provided by Robin Alexander (director, Cambridge Primary Review), Alan Brown, Miriam David and Mary James (directors’ team, TLRP), Tom Schuller (director, Inquiry into the Future of Lifelong Learning) and John Vorhaus (director, Center for the Wider Benefits of Learning). The work was launched at the House of Lords.