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The Department for Education is asking the education and children’s sector to help set research priorities.

Researchers, and those who work in education and children’s services, have been given the opportunity to discuss what the research priorities for those areas should be, how the gaps can best be filled and how research can influence policy development and delivery.

As part of the department’s commitment to make its research more collaborative and driven by the needs of the education sector, a series of research priority and question papers have been published.

These papers set out what the department thinks the important research questions are across our key policy areas. However they are also asking the public and interested parties to have their say on those priorities.

This is to ensure that research carried out in education and children’s services by the department and by others helps government and practitioners access a growing evidence base which has real impact on policy design and delivery and drives further improvements.

The department already has a growing base of evidence available to schools, education and children’s groups, local authorities and academics but we want to ensure that evidence continues to grow.

Researchers who may already be working on these areas can also contact the department and ensure studies are linked up.

A series of feedback sessions to discuss the papers further will be organised. For more information on how to get involved in those sessions or to comment on the papers:

The department will continue to commission research. But now, that commissioning will be informed by the published priorities and further discussions with the public.

See an overview of research at the department.