Following extensive professional, political, academic and lay consultations going back to 2004, we decided to concentrate on ten broad themes, central to which are questions of value, purpose, process, content and quality in England’s primary schools. The Review is combining analysis of the current system with exploration of the national and global challenges which lie ahead; and it is considering how, in the interests of both children and society, primary education should respond to these.

The Review is firmly grounded in both national and international evidence. There are four evidential strands:

• submissions, written and electronic, which are open to all who wish to contribute, 
• oral soundings taken from identified individuals and groups, including parents and children,
• systematic searches of official data, and 
• comprehensive surveys, commissioned from leading national experts, of published research relating to the Review’s ten themes.

This range of evidence will enable the Review to be authoritative, balanced, responsive and visionary.

The Review will run for two years from 1st October 2006, and will culminate in a report containing recommendations for future policy and practice. Interim reports and briefings will be published along the way in order to stimulate debate.

The Review is directed by Professor Robin Alexander, Fellow of Wolfson College, University of Cambridge, Professor of Education Emeritus at the University of Warwick, and past member of CATE, QCA and other public bodies, and of the ‘three wise men’ primary enquiry of 1991-2.

The work of the Review’s Cambridge-based central team is supported by about 60 research consultants, an Advisory Committee chaired by Dame Gillian Pugh, a Management Group led by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, and a Director of Communications, Richard Margrave. In recognition of the importance of locating questions about primary education in their wider social, cultural and economic context, the Advisory Committee contains 21 distinguished members drawn from varied walks of life both inside and outside education.

See the sidebar for answers to frequently-asked questions about the Primary Review.

Many reasons, but here are some of them:

• Despite social and economic changes, there has been no comprehensive investigation of English primary education since the Plowden enquiry of 1967. There have been a number of much smaller enquiries, reports and initiatives, but none has had the broad scope or visionary aspirations of Plowden, or its independence.
  
  
• Primary schools have been subject to two decades of continuous yet piecemeal reform – national curriculum, national testing, a new national inspection system, national strategies for literacy, numeracy and the primary phase as a whole, workforce reform, targets, centralisation, delegation, inclusion, personalised learning, and much more. Big claims have been made for these initiatives by the reformers themselves, but these claims are not universally accepted, and objective evidence may tell another story. The relevance and impact of all this activity need to be carefully assessed.
  
  
• Primary schools are now part of a complex structure linking education with provision in health, welfare and childcare, and children’s primary schooling with what precedes and follows it. Or, at least, that’s the intention: but how coherent is the system really?
  
  
• Primary education suffers more than its fair share of claim, counter claim and mythology. Standards are rising/standards are falling ... Today’s teachers are the best ever/teachers merely follow the latest gimmick ... The 3Rs are being neglected/schools are concentrating on the 3Rs to the neglect of everything else ... Children’s behaviour is deteriorating/today’s children are better motivated than ever... And so on. What is the truth?
  
  
• Our system of primary education was created on the basis of a particular view of society and people’s place within it. But today’s Britain is diverse, divided and unsure of itself. Some commentators argue the virtues of a pluralist multi-culture. Others deplore the loss of shared identity and social cohesion. It’s time to revisit the vital debate about the relationship between education and society.
  
  
• This is the era of globalisation, and perhaps of unprecedented opportunity. But there are darker visions. The gap between the world’s rich and poor continues to grow. There is political and religious polarisation. Many people are daily denied their basic human rights and suffer violence and oppression. As if that were not enough, escalating climate change may well make this the make-or-break century for humanity as a whole. What are the implications for education of such scenarios? Carry on regardless? Make minor adjustments? Develop a radically different approach?
  
  
• As we say, these are some of the concerns which prompted this initiative. During 2004-6 we consulted widely about the idea of this review. We received overwhelming support for it and helpful suggestions about how it should be undertaken. People believe that the Primary Review is needed.

The Review hopes to:

• Stimulate debate about the current condition and achievements of state primary education in England, and about its future purposes and character.
  
  
• Bring into that debate not just professionals and policy-makers but also parents, children and the wider public; and the work of experts outside as well as inside education.
  
  
• Link up with parallel debates and initiatives in other countries.
  
  
• Ask the questions about primary education that need to be asked, without fear or favour.
  
  
• Draw on a wide range of both national and international evidence.
  
  
• Disseminate findings as widely and quickly as possible while the Review is in progress.
  
  
• Produce a well-argued final report, backed by evidence, which contains recommendations for future policy and practice in English primary education.
  
  
• Generate ideas which, even if not implemented immediately or in their entirety, will remain influential and will continue to inform the educational debate.
  
  
• Begin to make a real difference to the character and quality of English primary education over the first decades of the 21st century, and to the contribution which that education makes to individual lives and the collective good, at a time of change, uncertainty and growing concern about the future.

The Review’s approved terms of reference are:

1. With respect to public provision in England, the Review will seek to identify the purposes which the primary phase of education should serve, the values which it should espouse, the curriculum and learning environment which it should provide, and the conditions which are necessary in order both that these are of the highest and most consistent quality possible, and that they address the needs of children and society over the coming decades.
   
   
2. The Review will pay close regard to national and international evidence from research, inspection and other sources on the character and adequacy of current provision in respect of the above, on the prospects for recent initiatives, and on other available options. It will seek the advice of expert advisers and witnesses, and it will invite submissions and take soundings from a wide range of interested agencies and individuals, both statutory and non-statutory.
   
   
3. The Review will publish both interim findings and a final report. The latter will combine evidence, analysis and conclusions together with recommendations for both national policy and the work of schools and other relevant agencies.

• The review is funded by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, one of the UK’s largest independent funding bodies.
  
  
• It is directed by Professor Robin Alexander.
  
  
• It is being undertaken by a central team based at The University of Cambridge's Faculty of Education, assisted in their assessment of the evidence by an appointed team of specialist research consultants.
  
  
• The review is guided by a broadly-based Advisory Committee chaired by Dame Gillian Pugh.
  
  
• It is formally administered by a Management Group representing both the Foundation and the Cambridge team, and chaired by Hilary Hodgson, Education Programme Director at Esmée Fairbairn Foundation.
  
  
• The Review’s Director of Communications is Richard Margrave. Email: richard@margrave.co.uk
  
  

As independent as we can make it. The Review is:

• politically independent – we are consulting all the main political parties, the statutory national agencies and the education unions, and hope to establish a constructive dialogue with them; but we are beholden to none of these bodies, and none of them is in any way involved in the commissioning, funding or oversight of the Review;
  
  
• financially independent – the Review is funded by a major independent charitable foundation rather than a research council or government department and is therefore independent of the public purse;
  
  
• intellectually independent – the Review is based in one of the world’s leading universities, with a strong commitment to the defence of academic freedom, and is undertaken and supported by people who share that principle.
  
  
• even-handed – it’s not enough to be independent; we also strive to be even-handed and objective in our consultations, evidence, analysis and conclusions, and to listen to the many different voices which on a matter of this importance have a right to be heard.
  
  

• The Review formally began on 2 October 2006 and will end on 30 September 2008.
  
  
• At the end of the funding period we shall publish the Review’s final report. But this, we hope, will mark the start of the next phase – the phase of dissemination, discussion, implementation and transformation. We want this Review to make a difference.

The Primary Review will disseminate its thinking and findings in various forms, for example:

Media

• Press releases
• Newspaper articles
• Interviews

Information leaflets

• Basic information about the Review

Interim findings

• Interim reports and briefings from the research surveys, official data searches, submissions and soundings

Final report

• Volume 1: analysis, conclusions and recommendations
• Volume 2: sources of evidence, lists of witnesses, statistics and other appendices, together with a selection of the research reports.

Dissemination events

• Following the publication of the final report there will be a programme of dissemination events. Watch this space.

Format

• Most published material from the Review will be placed on this website. Briefings will also be circulated in print versions. The final report will be published in hard copy, and summaries will be downloadable from this website and will be widely circulated in print.
  

Please contact the Review Administrator with any queries.

You can become directly involved in the Review by:

• As interim reports are published, download them, discuss them, and feed back the results of this discussion to us. Find the published interim reports here.
  
  
• Set up your own Primary Review Forum to discuss the themes and questions, and use this as the basis for a submission.
  
  
• Respond directly to the invitation to submit evidence : click on How you can submit evidence.
  
  
• If you are a school, consider not only making a submission on behalf of the staff and governors, but also promoting discussion of some of the issues among parents and children – and, again, let us know the outcome. Click on Setting up your own Primary Review Forum, and invite your pupils to look at our Children's Challenges.
  
  
• Contact us with any questions or if you require any further information.
  
  
  
• Please note: the deadline for submissions was 31 March, 2007, but we would still like to hear from those with ideas and evidence we should know about.