Work packages

The researchers working on WP 1 will begin with an extensive review of the research on the root causes of and social factors leading to children not succeeding at school. They will also identify and compare existing policies to better understand the factors that contribute to a reduction in the number of students leaving school early. Research findings will then be discussed with citizens in a process of co-creation to develop new policies.

WP 1 will begin with a systematic review of the research on the root causes of and social factors leading to children not succeeding at school. This includes looking at academic journal articles published in the past 20 years, relevant academic books, research reports and other documents on this topic from sources in education, psychology, sociology, economics, linguistics, etc.

The teams will also identify existing policies from the past ten years at local, regional or national level which have contributed to the reduction of early school leaving in Europe. They will compare successful policies with less successful policies to better understand the factors in those policies that have effectively reduced underachievement and early school leaving.

The final step in this work package involves co-creating new policies. This will bring the research together with the perspectives of those who have personal experience of the impact of these issues in their own lives or work. This will include families, teachers, civil society organisations and policymakers. On the basis of this joint work, this WP will produce a report highlighting the social impact of policies to improve achievement at school and outlining specific recommendations for developing successful schools.

WP 1 leader: Dublin City University, Ireland

The researchers working on WP 2 will begin with a comprehensive analysis of the research about the impact of early childhood education and care on the development of children’s basic skills at primary and secondary school. Based on this work, they will produce a set of quality indicators that will frame a self-applied quality assessment tool. This tool will be piloted in 18 early childhood education and care centres across Europe. A large-scale survey will then be conducted in 12 European countries to gain a global picture of the quality of these centres. The final task is to discuss the findings with young children, families and staff of the centres involved in this work package to make policy recommendations for high quality early childhood education and care.

The first task is to carry out a special analysis of published studies assessing the impact of early childhood education and care on the development of basic skills in primary and secondary school students. Based on this analysis, the researchers will then produce a set of quality indicators for early childhood education and care which promote the successful development of basic skills in later stages of a child’s school career.

Building on these results, the second task of WP2 focuses on developing a self-assessment tool called ‘the Self-Assessment Quality Instrument for ECEC Centres’, (SAQE).  It will be piloted in 18 early childhood education and care centres with 36 educators.

The third task will be a Europe-wide and UK survey of early childhood education and care centres. Findings from the second task will inform this survey which will be conducted in 12 countries – three in the north, three in the centre, three in the south and three in the east. Survey questionnaires will be easily accessible and available in the official languages of the countries selected. The survey responses will be analysed using various statistical methods to find out the quality of early childhood education and care in Europe and highlighting those aspects which determine high quality provision.

The final task will feature the voices and experiences of children (aged 4-6 years), families and staff linked to the centres involved with this work package. Team members will host a total of 15 focus groups – five partners carrying out three focus groups each. These discussions will focus on policy recommendations for early childhood education and care in the light of the research findings in this work package.

WP  2 leader: Universidad De La Iglesia De Deusto Entidad Religiosa, Spain

The teams working on WP 3 will look in detail at the way that some schools have been able to successfully support their students’ learning and ability to thrive in all aspects of their development. Case studies will explore the specific ways these schools are supporting their students to gain the basic skills they need and to feel included in the learning environment. Based on this research, the teams will produce a toolkit for teachers and school leaders. It will feature resources for planning and delivering successful learning opportunities for the benefit of the children in their school life and in terms of their psychosocial development.

There are three tasks in WP3. The first task will be studying twenty schools in ten different European countries selected on the basis of:

• serving families from socially or economically disadvantaged settings, from refugee or migrant backgrounds or from Roma communities and
• having reduced the number of children not acquiring basic skills and/or the rate of students leaving school early in the past 10 years (to at least 20%) and those which are below the European average.

The researchers will write up case studies about each school, taking account of different aspects of students’ learning, the way that teachers are trained and deliver their teaching, and how families and the community support the students’ whole development, including how schools keep their spaces safe from bullying and violence. Information will be collected from school records from the past five to ten years regarding students’ achievement in maths, reading, sciences and digital skills, rates of absenteeism and children leaving school early. Alongside this, in-depth interviews and focus groups will take place with teachers, school staff, students, their families and stakeholders. There will also be systematic observations across the learning environments (minumum of 20).

The case study datawill be analysed to identify the factors that foster or hinder quality education and whole child development. At this point, the participants of the case studies will be invited to discuss the conclusions drawn from the case studies in a process of co-creation. On the basis of this joint work, a report will highlight the pathways to school success.

The second task is ‘a research brief’ which will report on the features of successful schools in enabling children to do well at school and thrive in their lives. The writers will draw together published research on this topic and include findings from the experiences of children and families reported in the case studies.

The third task is a toolkit to guide teachers and school leaders who wish to improve opportunities for their students to acquire basic skills and to promote the psychosocial development of the children. It will be co-created by the case study participants and other stakeholders. It will feature useful teaching and learning resources (available online) relating to the planning and delivery of successful learning activities and be available in a number of different languages. The toolkit will be piloted in WP4.

WP 3 leader: University of Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom

The researchers working on WP4 will do a four-month pilot aimed at creating ‘successful learning environments’ in 16 schools across Europe. The successful learning environments will feature the factors identified in WP3 that promote quality education and whole child development. The pilot will include training teachers on new approaches and practices to help their students to achieve better outcomes. Children and families will also participate in regular discussions during the pilot period about their experiences of the research. The pilot will be evaluated and those participating will discuss whether it has the potential to be scaled up successfully in bigger settings and with more students.

The first task is setting up arrangements for the pilot. Altogether 16 schools with children from 6-16 years in eight different European countries will be identified. They will be selected on the basis that:

• the schools need to address difficulties for their students in acquiring basic skills, with achievement rates lower than the European average, and
• they have not previously implemented any such new approaches as suggested in the toolkit (developed in WP3) or in other similar resources.

The teams will design a protocol which outlines the details for the research so that all the schools follow the same steps. For example, the research depends on knowing the impact of the pilot on students’ learning. This means a test of students’ existing capacity in reading, maths, science and an assessment of their psychosocial wellbeing will be carried out before the pilot begins and another one at the end of the pilot.

The second task is implementing the pilot. The starting point is a series of six training sessions for the teachers in the selected schools. Teachers will have access to the toolkit developed in WP3 and will join a community of learning and practice with participants from WP3. Once the training has been completed, the four-month pilot will begin. During this time, there will be monthly meetings for teachers and families and others to reflect on their experiences. These meetings are seen as a crucial element of the pilot, helping in the co-creation process of the activities. The pilot will be monitored and evaluated carefully in each school setting using information from tests and from interviews and focus groups.

The third task is combining the results of the pilot from all 16 schools. A meeting with teachers from all the schools, participants from WP3 and researchers will be arranged to discuss the potential of the approaches used in the pilot being scaled up.

The fourth task is the production of a scalability report based on a series of seminars with policymakers. Policy briefs outlining policy recommendations for separate European countries will also be produced giving practical guidance for scaling up approaches to promote quality education.

WP 4 Leader: University of Helsinki, Finland

The teams working on WP5 will look at the learning experiences of successful students from disadvantaged groups. The aim is to gain insights into the conditions and circumstances that have supported students in building ‘trajectories of success and wellbeing’ at school. WP5 starts by identifying the young people (from 16-25 years of age) in seven countries. The young people will be interviewed as well as school counsellors and others and the responses analysed. The journey of each young person through school will be written up as individual reports and a final report produced bringing all the findings together.  The final task in this work package is the development of a community of practice for student support called STUDENET. Students from disadvantaged groups will be invited to share their own experiences and find support from peers and others in overcoming their difficulties.

The first task is concerned with the 56 young people sharing their life stories. They will use a range of creative methods, such as making documentaries about themselves, art, and photos. They will reflect on the challenges they have faced at school and in their communities and on the conditions and circumstances that have supported them in overcoming these challenges, against the odds. Each young person will be invited to name a significant adult in their lives who has been influential in their school career. This could be, for example, a school counsellor, a tutor or a family member.

The second task is to design and test two sets of interview questions. One set of questions are for the students themselves to identify key incidents and factors in school life which have been transformational in their success at school. The other set of questions are aimed at school counsellors and tutors to highlight good practice in school guidance, counselling and tutorial support.

The third task is conducting the interviews with the selected candidates and designing the process to code the responses to the interviews. The teams will also design a template for a ‘learning biography vignette.’ This will be a way of documenting the journey each student has made through school, showing their social, community, and family context and indicating the key incidents and factors that have been significant for their success at school.

The fourth task is to analyse the responses to the interviews. Individual reports will be written linking to each of the 56 young people who have participated in this study. The individual reports will include the learning biography vignette. There will be a one-day workshop for all partners involved in this work package to discuss the results together. A final report bringing all the findings together will then be written called ‘Transformative Drivers in Successful Academic Journeys’.

The fifth task is the co-production of recommendations for teachers, tutors, school counsellors, and families to encourage and support all those in learning communities to enable students from disadvantaged groups to succeed at school.  The 56 young people who have taken part in this work package will co-design the recommendations alongside other key people in each of the seven countries where this study is to take place.

The final task in this work package is the development of a community of practice for student support called STUDENET. This will bring students, teachers, counsellors, and tutors together across Europe, together with academic staff from SCIREARLY. The community of practice will use an existing social media platform. Students from disadvantaged groups will be invited to share their own experiences, talk about any difficulties they are facing and to ask questions. Resources and guidance will be made available.  There will be mentorship training and support for setting up a network of advocates for quality education. It is hoped that the students who have participated in this work package will become advocates to support other students facing similar challenges.

WP 5 leader: Universidade Do Porto, Portugal

The teams working on WP 6 will be drawing on the findings of the different work packages and integrating them to make them available in various formats to a wider audience. This includes the development of an evidence-based framework that addresses underachievement in Europe which will be co-created by relevant educational stakeholders.  A final report will be published too, detailing the research findings and setting out a set of key recommendations for practice in schools and for policy at national and European level. The third development in this work package is the launch of a community of practice called the SCIREARLY Impact platform which will form a connecting point for all those concerned with children leaving school early.

The first task is the development of a framework to integrate the findings of the whole project. The framework will draw on the first five work packages (WP 1-5):

• identifying the causes of and social factors leading to children not succeeding at school
• highlighting key indicators of early childhood education and care which lead to successful learning in primary and secondary school
• describing the features of a successful learning environment
• working out how successful learning environments could be scaled up
• describing ways of enabling students from disadvantaged settings to succeed at school.

As each work package will not take place at the same time, the framework will be developed as each work package progresses. All partners of the consortium will meet as each work package is completed to discuss how the findings contribute to the overall framework.

The second task is the launch of the SCIREARLY Impact platform which will be an online community of practice and learning. It is aimed at practitioners, communities, civil society and policymakers as a connecting point around creating transformative learning environments for children. The platform will be open to all and give access to resources and tools developed in the course of the research. WP 6 teams will also seek to share products from the research on other platforms such as the European Toolkit for Schools to contribute to wider interchange.

The third task is the final report which will present the findings of the whole project and include a comprehensive set of recommendations for teachers and others in schools and for policymakers. The toolkit produced in WP 3 will be included as an annex.

WP 6 leader: L-Università ta’ Malta, Malta

This work package focuses on the responsibility for communicating and disseminating SCIREARLY’S objectives and results throughout the three years of the project. WP 7 teams will also support the collaboration of various groups as described in the work packages above involving young people, families, and others, such as the SCIREARLY Impact platform.

WP 7 leader: MHPSS Collaborative, Denmark

This work package focuses on coordination and communication across the SCIREARLY consortium. It sets up the management procedures necessary for the effective and timely implementation of the project, as well as the fulfilment of financial obligations associated with it. More specifically, WP 8 oversees progress on the work plan, monitors and guarantees the timely submission of the project’s technical and financial reports and deliverables, and chairs and co-organises online and face-to-face consortium meetings.

WP 8 leader: Universidad De La Iglesia De Deusto Entidad Religiosa, Spain

This work package sets out the ethical requirements for the whole project, with responsibility for liaising with the internal and external Ethics Board to provide further guidance on appropriate actions and data management procedures relevant to the activities of SCIREARLY. WP 9 will also be responsible for providing annual reports to the European Commission on the project’s ethical compliance, ensuring that relevant ethical and data management regulations of the EU, Member States, and participating institutions as well as the code of conduct of relevant professional associations are observed.

WP 9 leader: Universidad De La Iglesia De Deusto Entidad Religiosa, Spain