Department For Education
Our social research aims to provide high-quality evidence to inform policy development and delivery.
Fieldwork for growing up in the 2020s
Were running a study on secondary school students and their families in England. The study explores how young peoples school, home life and relationships shape their future education and development outcomes. The resultswill inform government policies on how schools will work in the future and how to support young people and their families.
The National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) are conducting the study. Find out more on their Growing up in the 2020s website, send enquiries to gu2020s@natcen.ac.uk or call on freephone 0207 549 8595, Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm.
Research runs from summer 2023 until summer 2028, following young people from year 8 to year 12.
Areas of research interest
DfEs areas of research interest sets out the topics we would like to engage external researchers with. We expect to release further areas of research prompted by the challenges posed by coronavirus (COVID-19) shortly.
DfE data for research
Read our guidance on accessing DfE data extracts from the National Pupil Database (NPD), School Workforce, Individualised Learner Record and Higher Education Statistics Agency.
Research projects
Routes to market for social and economic research
All new projects are being procured via 2 Crown Commercial Service dynamic purchasing systems:
- Low Value Purchase System - provides public sector buyers with a new route to market for their below threshold common goods and services (under 120,000)
- Research and Insights Marketplace - enables central government and the wider public sector to commission social, market and economic research expertise and services
If you want to be invited to tender for research commissioned by DfE, you should register as a supplier on both systems.
Registration is free and there is no limit to the number of suppliers who can join.
Jaggaer: theDfEe-tendering portal
Jaggaer is an e-tendering system used byDfEand its executive agencies. It is a password-protected online service.
As a potential supplier, you should register with Jaggaer so that you can:
- view opportunities to tender
- submit tender responses
For help with registration, use the support links on the Jaggaer portal.
Publications
Use the style guide and template to write your research publications.
You can find our research reports published since May 2010 in GOV.UKs publications section.
Research published before May 2010 is available from the UK Government Web Archive.
Quality assurance framework
The framework sets out a standardised approach to quality assurance to ensure that analysis is:
- fit for purpose
- reliable
- accurate
- transparent
- accountable
Read the .