Greater Manchester’s education tsar has said that he thinks the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) is “unhelpful” and “dangerous”.

Mel Ainscow, newly appointed chair of the Greater Manchester education and employability board, said that the attempt by the DfE backed research body to establish what does and does not work in the classroom through randomised controlled research trials is misguided.

Professor Ainscow, a University of Manchester education academic who has spent his career working on behalf of deprived pupils, told Tes: “Actually, what works in one place won’t work in others. I’m not against that kind of research, and it can be useful. But where, as is currently the case, it’s being seen as providing the answers, I think it’s unhelpful. Even worse, it’s dangerous.”

He believes that dictating to teachers what works in the classroom denies them the professional autonomy to determine what works best in their own schools or communities.

“It’s leading, I’m afraid, to a situation where teachers are increasingly seen as people who deliver something, rather than being professional people who make judgements and find ways of reaching the people who we need to reach,” he said.

“If we try to reach the children we’re not reaching at the moment by doing more of the same, my feeling is it won’t work. We have to trust teachers more; we have to leave more space. And they must be in a position to innovate. I think the current system isn’t allowing that.

“Once you start to take the professionalism out of the profession, then what’s left?”

False dichotomy 

But James Turner, deputy chief executive of the EEF, said that teachers need not necessarily choose between research evidence and classroom autonomy.

“We’ve always believed that it is the combination of high-quality evidence together with teachers’ professional judgement - knowledge of your pupils, your contexts, and their challenges - that really makes the difference,” he said.

“Research does not offer guarantees or silver bullets, but our work - and the work of many others - can help teachers resist fads and fakes and make the best possible decisions. Like all professionals making tough calls, teachers deserve the most robust evidence to help them focus their limited time and resources where it can have most impact.”

Professor Ainscow previously held the post of chief adviser for the Greater Manchester Challenge, a £50 million Labour initiative to improve educational outcomes for pupils across the region, inspired by the London Challenge scheme.

He has since been involved with similar schemes around the country. And, at the end of last year, he was appointed chair of the new education and employability board, looking at educational attainment throughout the region.

This is an edited article from the 23 February edition of Tes. Subscribers can read the full article here. To subscribe, click here. This week’s Tes magazine is available in all good newsagents. To download the digital edition, Android users can click here and iOS users can click here

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