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Getting interventions right: Popular EEF implementation guidance is revamped and updated

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The importance of “de-implementing” teaching and learning interventions that have run their course or proved ineffective has been stressed in a new evidence-based guide for schools.
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The Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) has published an update to its popular implementation guidance.

The new edition of A School’s Guide to Implementation (Sharples et al, 2024) is based on a review of the latest educational research and practice into what has and has not worked in the classroom in the past.

It advises on how to implement new teaching and learning strategies well and maximise the impact on staff practice and pupil learning – and crucially how to "de-implement" approaches, urging schools to do "fewer things better".

The guide sets out a “people-centred” approach to “effective and careful” implementation and focuses on three key elements: 

  1. Behaviours that drive effective implementation: It says that changes to practice are more likely to be effective when staff are “actively engaged and united and given opportunities to reflect on implementation as it progresses”.
  2. Contextual factors that facilitate implementation: Those leading interventions should consult robust research to select and judge the suitability of potential new approaches as well as looking at how well the school infrastructure, such as timetables or data systems, supports staff to implement new approaches. Implementation leaders should consider how different members of the school community can be drawn on to support the changes.
  3. A structured but flexible process of implementation: This process helps schools navigate and manage implementation by defining four phases: Explore, prepare, deliver and sustain.

The guidance states: “Changing the established habits and behaviours of educators through implementation isn’t straightforward. On the one hand, schools need to develop a practical infrastructure that supports implementation, such as sufficient time and resources; on the other, implementation is fundamentally a social process, and getting the interactions right between people across the school is essential.

“Most robust evaluations of education interventions show little or no impact on pupil outcomes compared to existing practices. While poor implementation may contribute to this, often the interventions themselves simply aren’t effective enough.

“Making evidence-informed decisions on what to implement in the first place is therefore vital. A theme across this guidance report is that evidence and data should inform all aspects of implementation, both what to implement and how.”

The guide also warns that schools must “de-implement” approaches that have run their course and that it is better to do “fewer things better”.

He states: “An implication of taking a more thoughtful and purposeful approach to implementation is that schools should probably do fewer things better. To make room for this, schools can de-implement approaches that have served their purpose or have proven to be ineffective.

“Stopping practices is rarely straightforward, particularly in the dynamic environment of classrooms where teaching strategies become routine and habitual. This means it can be hard to stop established practices even if there is a clear rationale and instruction to do so. Just as when introducing an approach, de-implementation should be conducted in a similarly thoughtful and structured way.”

The previous iteration of the guidance is one of the EEF’s most popular resources, having been downloaded more than 100,000 times a year since its launch in 2018.

The EEF says that its national Research Schools Network will now work with schools in their areas to “build on the recommendations” and provider support.

Professor Becky Francis, EEF chief executive, said that a key lesson from the EEF’s work in the last 10 years is that the way schools approach implementation of educational interventions is crucial – that “implementation matters”.

She explained: “Our schools are some of the most research engaged in the world – but changes to practice must be carefully managed in order for that to pay.

“As well as using evidence to identify which approaches or interventions to implement, it also matters how education settings put these approaches into practice. Ultimately, it’s not just what you implement but how you do it too.” 

The EEF is an independent charity dedicated to breaking the link between family income and educational achievement. It works to support schools to improve teaching through effective use of research evidence.