Ellen Greaves

This presentation was used at The cost and benefits of different initial teacher training routes event.

This article suggests that the unequal presence at good schools between advantaged and less-advantaged households is driven more by proximity based admissions criteria than differences in parents' preferences for particular school characteristics.

This paper was presented at the EEA-ESEM conference in Toulouse (24th August 2014).

This presentation was given at the NCRM research methods conference on 10 July 2014.

This presentation was given at the PLUG conference (NPD users) on 17 June 2014.

From September, state-funded infant and primary schools in England will have a legal duty to offer free meals at lunchtime to all pupils in reception, year 1 and year 2. Claire Crawford and Ellen Greaves examine this policy.

In new work published today, IFS researchers analyse the impact of offering higher teacher salaries on pupil attainment. We examine salary scales and pupil attainment in primary schools in and around London. For these schools, and for the salary differences of just under 5% that we observe, we do not find evidence that higher salary scales for teachers have much impact on pupil attainment. This suggests that if individual schools offered salary differentials on this scale across-the-board, they would not necessarily attract more effective teachers.

In a time of continuing fiscal austerity, policymakers increasingly want to know ‘what works’ and for whom, in order to target scarce resources on those who will benefit most and to ensure that policy has the desired impact upon those it is designed for. Basing policy decisions on evidence is undoubtedly a good thing - but only if the evidence used is robust, unbiased and methodologically sound. This observation uses recent IFS work on the link between parents’ marital status and relationship stability and child development to illustrate the challenges of using research to inform policymaking.