The Foundation’s
Research, Development and Innovation Fund
September 2014
Guidance for Applicants
Table of contents
1.
The Education and Training Foundation ......................................3
2.
Overview of the Fund ................................................................4
3.
Application Process ..................................................................6
4.
Assessment Criteria ..................................................................6
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1.
The Education and Training Foundation
For a general overview of the work of The Foundation please visit the website at:
www.etfoundation.co.uk/
1.1 Background and Context
The Education and Training Foundation was established on 1st August 2013 with an overarching
remit to improve professionalism and standards in the Education and Training Sector. The
Foundation’s central responsibility is to ensure learners benefit from the development of a wellqualified, effective and up-to-date workforce supported by good leadership, management and
governance.
One of the outcomes of the national consultation on the development of The Foundation was that
it should ‘foster and promote professionalism to support the development of best practice through research,
innovation and excellence in teaching, learning and assessment’.
The government White Paper, ‘Rigour and Responsiveness in Skills’, April 20131, highlighted the
important responsibility The Foundation has ‘for professionalism of the sector’ in order to ‘give the
profession itself the power to raise teaching quality’ leading to the continuous improvement of
standards, reputation and learner outcomes.
The Foundation has been given responsibility for taking forward the recommendations from the
Commission on Adult Vocational Teaching and Learning (CAVTL) report ‘It’s all about work
…’2
1.2 Foundation Principles
The work of The Foundation is sector led and informed by a set of principles to ensure it meets
the needs and priorities of the workforce through its delivery model and operations:
 driven by the intended impact on the learner and learning outcomes;
 likely to enhance the reputation of the sector and contribute to making it a more attractive
place to work;
 serves all parts of the sector and all types of provider;
 widely available across the country (England);
 retains and builds on existing good practices and resources;
 embodying equality and diversity considerations;
 secures best value for money;
 has evaluation and impact measures designed in from inception.
Department Business Innovation and Skills and Department for Education, (2013), ‘Rigour and
Responsiveness in Skills, ’ http://tinyurl.com/mfg5p6f
2 http://repository.excellencegateway.org.uk/fedora/objects/eg:5937/datastreams/DOC/content
1
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The Foundation’s Operational Plan 3 describes our strategic goals as follows:
The Education and Training Foundation aims to raise the quality and professionalism of the
education and training system in order to achieve consistently excellent outcomes for learners and
employers. We will do this by getting behind colleges and training providers of all types and
supporting them to achieve their own improvement objectives. We will also identify where the
strategic challenges lie for sector improvement and lead action to address those challenges.
Our top priorities in 2014 to 2016 are improving maths and English; leadership and governance;
and creating a Vocational Education and Training (VET) system based on collaboration between
employers and providers.
Our broader agenda is to promote the effectiveness of the education and training system to employers
and national influencers, and to ensure that high professional standards are set and maintained,
using a sound evidence base of what works best in vocational education for learners and employers.
The achievement of our goals is underpinned by a commitment to promoting and supporting
evidence based practice and improvement in the sector and in our own work.
Much of the work of The Foundation is procured through competitive tendering. The purpose of
this fund, therefore, is to provide a complementary mechanism whereby The Foundation can
encourage and support new thinking and innovative approaches to delivering its remit, and which
might not emerge through our mainstream procurement route.
2.
Overview of the Fund
The Foundation currently has a small amount of funding available to support one or more suitable
projects, and is inviting applications to its 2014 Research, Development and Innovation Fund
from organisations with project and programme proposals that meet the following criteria:
 are able to demonstrate a positive impact on outcomes and/or learning in support of one or
more of our priorities, and including the embedding of equality and diversity in our sector;
 have an ambitious and financially sustainable strategy (post our funding support);
 are supported by a competent management team who are open to challenge and support;
 incorporate our requirement for evidence-based improvement and practice;
 are from partnerships, involving more than one individual or organisation, and through
which collaborative learning and development can take place;
 reflect our commitment to improvement through joint practice development or similar
models of collaborative, research-based improvement (see Annex A);
 apply, where relevant, the 2014 professional standards for teachers and trainers 4;
http://www.et-foundation.co.uk/our-organisation/documents/
Available here http://www.et-foundation.co.uk/supporting/programmes/professionalstandards/
3
4
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 rigorously measure their on-going performance and progress against our evaluation
strategy’s criteria of reach, quality assurance and impact;
 have incorporated an external individual or organisation as an External Validator.
2.1 Timeline
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The projects must be completed by March 2015.
Final reports from the Projects will be required by March 2015.
2.2 Eligibility
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The Innovation Fund is able to support Education and Training Providers, Higher
Education Institutions, public services, charities, social enterprises and for profit
businesses provided they can demonstrate that their projects will meet the requirements
listed in this guidance note.
Any number of organisations and individuals can apply together, but one must act as lead
and take responsibility for the others. There should be previous experience within the team of
successfully managing and delivering projects of a similar nature.
While applicants can be established in any part of the UK, the benefits of their proposals
should focus primarily on England.
Where the lead organisation is not a College or provider operating within the Education
and Training Sector, the proposal should include at least one such organisation as part of
their collaborative partnership.
The primary objective of the project should be to deliver innovation and new learning
which is directly applicable or transferable to the Education and Training Sector in
England.
The organisations named in the proposal may already be engaged in collaborative
development but the proposed project should be a new activity.
The proposed project should not already be funded by public or other external
organisations. The funds cannot be used for capital spending, to purchase staff training or
qualifications, or to hire a consultant.
An external organisation or individual identified as External Validator and included in the
project plan and costing (see below for further information on this role).
The project team and all the partner organisations agree to collaborate with one of The
Foundation’s independent Programme Assessors for ongoing progress reviewing and final
impact assessment.
Any conflicts of interest should be declared.
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2.3 Validation and support
Applicants must identify an external, independent organisation or individual as External
Validator.
Applications are required to build this role into their proposal and costing.
The External Validator will support the project and its participants as a critical friend. This is
likely to
include activities such as ensuring that the project draws on existing evidence and research;
generates
and records its own evidence and learning in a systematic and cumulative way, suitable for sharing
and
publication and wider adoption/replication; and supporting the partners to work together as an
effective community of practice/action learning set (or however the project wishes to describe
itself).
The External Validator will contribute to the final project report, commenting on the completed
project and the learning, scope for wider adoption, value for money, and confirming the outcomes.
The role could be fulfilled by organisations or individuals connected to a professional body, a
university or an independent research company, or a sector membership body. We would not
expect the fee for this role to be more than 10% of the value of the project. If helpful, The
Foundation can provide a long list of suitable individuals and organisations, with the relevant
skills and experience, for consideration.
2.4 Funding
Each project will be funded up to a maximum of £25,000 payable in 2 stages:
 50% on project approval by The Foundation, to support the setting up of the project
 50% on project completion and final reporting to The Foundation.
Should more suitable projects be received than there is currently funding to support, The
Foundation
will keep those proposals on a long list, in case more funding becomes available at a later date.
3.
Application Process
Projects should complete the application form which can be found here http://www.etfoundation.co.uk/supporting/research/rdi-fund
THE CLOSING DATE FOR APPLICATIONS IS 31 OCTOBER 2014.
Completed applications should be emailed to innovationfund@etfoundation.co.uk
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4.
Assessment Criteria
All applications will be assessed against the following criteria and scoring system:
Assessment Criteria
Maximum
Score
Pass/Fail
1. Eligibility Criteria
Describe how your project meets each one of the eligibility criteria set
out in 2.2 above. This includes listing all the partners, identifying the
lead partner and also the External Validator.
2. Project Summary –
Give a short summary of the project, including background to its
5
development, primary objectives and approach.
3. Alignment with Foundation Strategic Goals and Priorities
5
Describe how the project will help us deliver against these as set out in
section 1 above. Our Equality and Diversity focus should also be
reflected in your response along with, where relevant, how the project
will promote/apply the 2014 professional standards for teachers and
trainers.
4. Potential for New Learning
5
Identify why this is new work and what new learning and innovation
the project is designed to deliver. How will it support of The
Foundation’s goals and priorities and the Education and Training
Sector’s improvement and development needs?
5. Collaborative Learning, Wider Adoption and Application
5
Describe how the project will be designed and delivered so as to apply
a collaborative, research-based, model and support wider sharing and
application of the learning.
6. Outputs, Reach, Impact, Quality Assurance, Sustainability
5
Identify the intended outputs and impacts and the likely reach into the
sector (i.e. number of providers and practitioners). Also describe how
the project will be quality assured and evaluated, and its reach and
impacts captured. What is the strategy for sustainability, including
financial sustainability?
7. Timetable and Costing –
5
Supply a project timetable, with key milestones including progress and
final reporting to The Foundation. Identify what funding is sought
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from The Foundation, and how it will be used, and whether any
matched funding being provided from elsewhere.
Total
30
5. Legal Terms & Conditions
The contract associated with this tender will be subject to The Foundations standard terms and
conditions. The Standard Contract is available through mytenders and tenderers should confirm
that they are in agreement with the terms in the contract in their application.
Conclusion
Every endeavour has been made to give applicants an accurate description of our requirements.
However, applicants should make their own assessments of the methods and resources needed to
meet the requirements of this opportunity.
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Annex A
Joint Practice Development (JPD), a brief introduction
JPD was defined by Michael Fielding and colleagues 5 as ‘learning new ways of working through
mutual engagement that opens up and shares practices with others’. It captures a process that is
truly collaborative, not one-way, and the practice is being improved not just moved from one
person or place to another.
Traditional approaches to CPD are largely based on transferring knowledge or ‘best practices’
from an expert to his or her audience. Research shows that this is rarely effective. By contrast,
joint practice development is a process by which individuals and/or organisations learn from one
another. It has three key characteristics; it:


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involves interaction and mutual development related to practice
recognises that each partner in the interaction has something to offer and, as such, is
based on the assumption of mutually beneficial learning
is research-informed, often involving collaborative enquiry.
Applicants can access good examples of using Joint Practice Development, for CPD, selfimprovement and organisational improvement, in the education and training sector here:
http://www.excellencegateway.org.uk/node/634
and
http://www.excellencegateway.org.uk/node/23561
The application of JPD is also illustrated in recent work by the RSA to support professional
development in Academies 6 and similarly by the National College for Teaching and Leadership 7.
Fielding M et al, ‘Factors Influencing the Transfer of Good Practice’, University of Sussex, 2005
available here:
http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20130401151715/https://www.education.gov.uk/pub
lications/eOrderingDownload/RR615.pdf.pdf
5
see page 36
http://www.thersa.org/__data/assets/pdf_file/0020/1008038/Unleashing-greatness.pdf
6
http://www.sec-ed.co.uk/best-practice/replacing-cpd-with-jpd
and
http://www.nationalcollege.org.uk/joint-practice-development
7
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157-197 Buckingham Palace Road, London, SW1W 9SP t: 0203 740 8280
www.etfoundation.co.uk
The Education and Training Foundation is a company registered in England
Registered address: 157 -197 Buckingham Palace Road, London, SW1W 9SP
Company registration number: 08540597
Registered Charity Number 1153859
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