The Institute can be commissioned to:

• undertake research projects
  
  
• design interventions and evaluations
  
  
• support school or organisational research activities.
  
  

Our staff have conducted evaluations for government departments, national organisations, schools and local authorities. We provide staff with appropriate expertise and can also offer support services including marketing and publications. Clients include:

• The Arts Council
  
  
• Kent, Surrey and Sussex Postgraduate Deanery
  
  
• Independent State School Partnerships
  
  
• Local Authorities
  
  
• The DfES
  
  
• The Centre for Excellence in Leadership
  We have worked in the statutory
  education sector, and in professional
  development for health care professions.

Client case study: The Arts Council

The Arts Council commissioned a team of academics with expertise in the arts and professional development to carry out an evaluation of the effectiveness of continuing professional development activities for teachers and artists in the national Creative Partnerships initiative. The evaluation team:

• made visits to and conducted interviews with eleven regional teams;
  
  
• prepared a background survey of contemporary policy development;
  
  
• developed and distributed a questionnaire;
  
  
• analysed around three quarters of a million words in existing evaluations, reports and publications;
  
  
• delivered a briefing on their findings to an invited audience of key personnel at national policy organisations, representative bodies and subject associations;
  
  
• developed a framework of effective CPD in Creative Partnerships.

The report had a national circulation in Creative Partnerships, and was disseminated through national conferences.

‘We had an excellent relationship with the evaluation team from Oxford Brookes. Not only were they thorough and exceptionally reliable, they added value to Learning Through Creativity for the duration of the project, contributing ideas, enthusiasm, expertise and a thorough knowledge of their field. They weren’t just critical friends, they were a vital part of the project.’

Karen Marshall, Oxfordshire County Council Evaluation of Oxfordshire Independent - State School Project

Other Commissions have included

• An evaluation of a ‘Classroom of the Future’ project for local authority architects
  
  
• Project management for the Learning and Skills Development Agency of an evaluation of the national ‘14-16 Increased Flexible Learning Programme’
  
  
• Support for a number of school-based action research projects to improve the quality of teaching and learning
  
  
• The evaluation of a new approach to the development of reading skills for a Local Authority
  
  
• The evaluation of a mathematics teaching scheme for a major educational publisher
  
  
• The design of an evaluation schedule for the DfES pilot of the National Quality Standards in Gifted and Talented Education
  
  
• The design of a quality assurance system for a DfES National Change Programme
  
  
• Research into the use of Individual Learning Plans in teacher education programmes for the DfES Standards Unit
  
  
• Research into the preparation of teacher training students to address challenging behaviour in schools for the Training and Development Agency for Schools