New research push to help schools succeed together

School trusts from across England are launching a new research initiative to look at how schools working together can support transformative teaching. The goal is to share the best of what is happening in school groups.

The new Centre for Multi School Effectiveness will build on existing research work. It will look specifically at how groups of schools can help improve education.

The Confederation of School Trusts (CST), the sector body for school trusts, is establishing the centre with support from 21 partner trusts.

The partner trusts have helped to shape the centre concept. They have committed to supporting the initiative, but research activity will be open to schools across the sector. An independent advisory board will also help ensure the research is high quality and credible.

Centre to build evidence base for multi-school effectiveness

The findings will be free to access for all school groups in England. The centre is also looking to international perspectives from multi-school organisations in places like the USA and Australia.

CST deputy chief executive, Steve Rollett, said:

“We know a great deal about school effectiveness and school improvement, and schools – but especially trusts – have embraced research-based approaches over the last 20 years to improve children’s education.

“Our recent Advancing Education established that schools working together in trusts overall did better, but not why that is the case. How does knowledge travel? How is expertise built and deployed? How do groups of schools create improvement that is more equitable and sustainable?

“The centre’s aim is to connect practice in our schools, and in schools internationally, with evidence of how that can be effective in not just one school, but across many, and share that so that everyone can benefit.”

The centre will be a sector-led research capacity. It aims to connect the knowledge being generated inside multi-school organisations: surfacing it, testing it, challenging it and sharing it.

It will sit alongside and amplify the work of organisations like the Education Endowment Foundation to understand how classroom best practice can be applied at scale. The aim is to also build on CST’s previous work with ImpactEd through the School Improvement Hub.

Its first major programme, launching in Spring 2027, will be to build an evidence base of applied practices. This will include understanding the problems when leading education at scale and the solutions that have been found.

Sector leaders welcome the new centre

St Joseph Catholic Multi Academy Trust CEO, Andrew Truby, said:

“It is a fantastic opportunity to work alongside the Confederation of School Trusts and 20 other trust programme partners nationally to begin shaping the concept of the new Centre for Multi School Effectiveness. We know first-hand how a high-quality, coherent curriculum delivered through effective evidence-based teaching and leadership supports our family of schools to thrive, and we’re delighted to be contributing to such important research which will continue to transform teaching practices and ensure all children have the opportunity to reach their full potential.” 

Education Endowment Foundation chief executive, Professor Becky Francis CBE, said:

“Over the last two decades, schools in England have increasingly embraced evidence-informed approaches to teaching and learning. As the evidence base has grown, so too has our understanding of the importance of effective implementation. The Centre for Multi School Effectiveness is a welcome initiative to support groups of schools to work together to use evidence, develop expertise, and support improvement at scale.”

Northern Education Trust chief executive, Jane Wilson, said:

“Educationalists have long embraced evidence-based teaching practices, but we must bring that same research-informed approach to leadership. This CST initiative will help us identify the leadership practices and organisational structures that most effectively transform outcomes for children across our communities.”

Olive Academies chief executive, Mark Vickers, said:

“The diversity of the school trust sector, serving a wide range of pupils, communities and contexts, is a real strength. We have much to learn from one another, and the new centre provides an important opportunity to do that in a rigorous, evidence-informed way that can benefit every school and every child.”