Overall, though our treatment of the available evidence tries to be balanced rather than partisan, we subject current assumptions, policies and conventional wisdom to particular scrutiny.

Evidence about what is (‘What is happening?  ‘How successful are we?’) has been combined with the development of a vision for what should be (‘What should we be doing?’  ‘How should things change?’). A retrospective enquiry is useful, but the more important task was seen to be to identify how the system should develop over the next few decades, what values it should embody, what goals it should seek to achieve, and how.

There are four main evidential sources and procedures. Two of these – the submissions and soundings – opened the Review to that range of voices, experiences and perspectives without which an enquiry like this would have little credibility as a truly national and democratic exercise; while the other two – the research surveys and official data searches – used published evidence of a more formal kind. The four evidential strands sought to balance opinion-seeking with empirical data; non-interactive expressions of opinion with face-to-face discussion; official data with independent research; and material from England with that from other parts of the UK and from international sources. This enquiry, unlike some of its predecessors, looks outwards from primary schools to the wider society, and sought to make full but judicious use of international data and ideas from other countries.

Click here to see the current status of the Cambridge Primary Review.

After a three-year period of preparation and consultation, the Review was launched on 13 October 2006 and published its final report on 16 October 2009.

Infrastructure. The Cambridge team, Advisory Committee, Management Group and research consultants were all in place well in time for the Review launch on 13 October 2006. The website was also fully functioning by that date.

Submissions. Following the convention in enquiries of this kind, submissions were invited from all who wished to contribute. By early 2009, 1052 submissions and thousands of emails had been received and more were arriving daily. The submissions range from brief single-issue expressions of opinion to substantial documents of up to 300 pages covering several or all of the themes and comprising both detailed evidence and recommendations for the future. They came from an exceptionally diverse array of individuals and organisations both inside and outside education, and highlight strengths and weaknesses of the current system as well as identifying priorities for the future.

Soundings. This strand has two parts.
The Community Soundings were a series of nine regionally-based one- to two-day events, each comprising a sequence of meetings with representatives from schools and the communities they serve. The Community Soundings took place between January and March 2007, and entailed 87 witness sessions with groups of pupils, parents, governors, teachers, teaching assistants and heads, and with educational and community representatives from the areas in which the soundings took place.
Click here to access the Community Soundings report.
Click here to access the Community Soundings briefing document.

The National Soundings were a programme of more formal meetings with national organisations both inside and outside education. Some of these, with government, statutory agencies, public bodies and unions, took the form of regular consultations throughout the Review’s duration. Others, which included seminars with a specially-convened group of teachers and other practitioners, and sessions with representatives of major non-statutory organisations, took place between January and March 2008 and explored issues arising from the Review’s now considerable body of evidence. The National Soundings helped the team to clarify matters which were particularly problematic or contested in preparation for the writing of the final report.

Surveys. Several months before the launch of the Review, 30 (now 28) surveys of published research relating to the Review’s ten themes were commissioned from 70 academic consultants in universities in Britain and other countries. Taken together, these surveys provide the most comprehensive review of research relating to English primary education yet undertaken. The research reports and their accompanying briefings were published in thematic groups over several months, starting in autumn 2007. They provoked considerable media, public and political interest, and provided the top UK news story on several occasions. All the research report briefings may be downloaded from the Review website: 
Click here for a full list of the research surveys, and to download copies of the briefing documents.
The survey reports themselves have now been withdrawn pending their revision for publication in autumn 2009.

Searches and policy mapping. With the co-operation of DfES/DCSF, QCA, Ofsted, TDA and OECD, the Review tracked recent policy and re-assessed a range of official data bearing on the primary phase. This provided the necessary legal, demographic, financial and statistical background to the Review and will be an important resource for its later consideration of policy options.


The four evidential strands sought to balance opinion-seeking with empirical data; non-interactive expressions of opinion with face-to-face discussion; official data with independent research; and material from England with that from other parts of the UK and from international sources. This enquiry, unlike some of its predecessors, looks outwards from primary schools to the wider society, and sought to make full but judicious use of international data and ideas from other countries.

Other meetings. In addition to the formal evidence-gathering procedures, the Review team has met members of national and regional bodies for the exchange of information and ideas. To date there have been over 150 such meetings apart from the 94 community and national soundings, including two dedicated sessions of the House of Commons Children, Schools and Families Committee.


Next steps

The Cambridge Primary Review final report was published by Routledge and released on October 16, 2009:

Children, their World, their Education: final report and recommendations of the Cambridge Primary Review.

This contains the report proper, presenting evidence and analysis together with conclusions and recommendations for policy and practice.

As a companion volume, we published, updated and re-edited, the 28 research surveys which were released between October 2007 and May 2008:

The Cambridge Primary Review Research Surveys.

Download the briefing document to the final report here.

The final report drew on the various strands of evidence outlined above to address the ten structural themes and attendant questions. It combined findings, analysis, reflection and conclusions, and recommendations for both policy and practice. When taken together with the companion volume, it is hoped that this material will both provoke immediate responses from stakeholders and provide a significant empirical and reflective resource for the longer term.

Click here to see details of the interim reports published by the Cambridge Primary Review.


TIMETABLE

Phase 1: Preparation (January 2004 – October 2006)

Phase 2: Implementation (October 2006 – summer 2008)
     • Submissions (October 2006 – April 2007)
     • Community Soundings (January – March 2007)
     • National Soundings (January – March 2008)
     • Research Surveys (July 2006 – May 2008)
     • Searches (November 2006 – summer 2008) 
     • Other meetings (government, opposition, Select Committee, DCSF, national agencies, teaching unions etc (October 2006 – October 2009).

Phase 3: Dissemination (October 2007 – late 2009)
     • Research surveys and other interim reports and briefings (from October 2007)
     • Final report and associated dissemination events (from early 2009)

Phase 4: Follow-up (from early 2009)
     • Programme to be agreed.

Submissions are the most familiar face of any national enquiry. They provided a means whereby anyone who wished to contribute to the Cambridge Primary Review was able to do so. It was vital that we received a good volume and range of such submissions.

The Cambridge Primary Review is confronted by a dauntingly large canvas. It is national, so it raises questions about national values and priorities, national identity, and the condition of England and the lives of those who live there.  Breadth of coverage in a national educational review is essential. At the same time, we couldn't cover everything, and choices had to be made. The coverage of the Primary Review is therefore expressed as a hierarchy of ‘perspectives’, ‘themes’ and ‘questions’.

When the Review was launched, we invited written and electronic submissions on any or all of the themes from all who are interested in primary education, including parents, teachers, local authorities, political parties, employers, community organisations, faith groups, and members of the public. 

The closing date for submissions was 31 March 2007.  We are pleased to report an excellent response to our invitation. By June 2007, 550 submissions had been received and more were arriving daily. The submissions range from brief single-issue expressions of opinion to substantial documents of up to 300 pages covering several or all of the themes and comprising both detailed evidence and recommendations for the future. By spring 2009, the Review had received 1052 submissions.

This strand had two parts. Soundings were taken from a number of witnesses from both inside and outside education who were considered likely to offer thought-provoking perspectives on the enquiry’s themes.

The soundings differed from the submissions in two crucial respects.  First, while the submissions were open to all, the soundings were by invitation.  Second, the soundings involved face-to-face discussion and debate, whereas the submissions were received and considered as they stood.

The Community Soundings were a series of nine regionally-based one- to two-day events, each comprising a sequence of meetings with representatives from schools and the communities they serve. The Community Soundings took place between January and March 2007, and entailed 87 witness sessions with groups of pupils, parents, governors, teachers, teaching assistants and heads, and with educational and community representatives from the areas in which the soundings took place. The interim report on these meetings, Community Soundings: the Primary Review regional witness sessions, was published 12 October 2007.

The National Soundings were a programme of more formal meetings with national organisations both inside and outside education. Some of these, with government, statutory agencies, public bodies and unions, took the form of regular consultations throughout the Review’s duration. Others, which included seminars with a specially-convened group of teachers and sessions with representatives of major non-statutory organisations, took place between January and March 2008 and explored issues arising from the Review’s now considerable body of evidence. The National Soundings helped the team to clarify matters which were particularly problematic or contested in preparation for the writing of the final report.

Further information on the Community Soundings

Further information on the National Soundings

Several months before the launch of the Review, 30 (now 28) surveys of published research relating to the Review’s ten themes were commissioned from 70 academic consultants in universities in Britain and other countries. The consultants were selected on the basis of competitive bidding from top-rated research departments. Taken together, these surveys provide the most comprehensive review of research relating to English primary education yet undertaken.

Research consultants were invited to summarise and assess published national and international research on specific topics derived from the Review’s ten themes, and to suggest options for policy and practice which attend to the problems and needs that have been identified. The research reports and their accompanying briefings were published in thematic groups over several months, starting in autumn 2007. They provoked considerable media, public and political interest, and provided the top UK news story on several occasions. Some press coverage following the interim report releases can be found here.


The research consultants involved are listed here.  

The research reports and accompanying briefings have now all been released, and were published on this site as they became available. Each report was accompanied by a press release. While the survey reports themselves have now been withdrawn pending their revision for publication in autumn 2009,  click here to see the research report briefings and press releases.

With the co-operation of DfES/DCSF, QCA, Ofsted, TDA and OECD, the Review tracked recent policy and re-assessed a range of official data bearing on the primary phase. This provided the necessary legal, demographic, financial and statistical background to the Review and an important resource for its later consideration of policy options.

This strand used the policy-makers’ own evidence on how the national system of primary education operates and performs, and on how it compares with the systems in other countries.

We are pleased to report that all the organisations referred to here co-operated fully with the Review by making their material freely available and by providing guidance on how it could be assessed and interpreted.

In addition, though it is not placed within a separate category and is perhaps best seen as an extension of the ‘soundings’ strand, the debate generated by our interim reports and media coverage of the Review was itself treated as evidence and fed back into our deliberations. In this we were also helped by media colleagues who offered to commission articles on the Review’s themes.