The Centre for the Use of Research and Evidence in Education (CUREE), working in partnership with the School of Education, University of Wolverhampton, was awarded the contract for a 3.5 year project to develop the Evidence Base for the Curriculum in September 2007. The project includes four activity strands focused on exploring successful approaches to the obstacles to progress which schools are encountering.
The project was commissioned by the Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency (formerly the Qualifications and Development Authority) with the aim of developing a modern, world-class curriculum that will inspire and challenge all learners and prepare them for the future. QCDA wishes both to uncover and build the evidence base for its development work on the curriculum and to devise and implement processes for the diffusion and use of the evidence amongst policy-makers and practitioners.
The project will create an alternate year cycle of pupil and school surveys complemented by research maps, bounded research-reviews, probes and action research in order to facilitate more differentiated and targeted monitoring. This approach will also enable the evidence gathering process to be related to the needs and interest of practitioners.