The National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) is an

educational research Educational research refers to the systematic collection and analysis of data related to the field of education. Research may involve a variety of methods and various aspects of education including student learning, teaching methods, teacher trai ...

organisation which gathers evidence and research to inform educational policy and school services. The foundation is not an

examination board An examination board (or exam board) is small board organization that sets examinations, is responsible for marking them, and distributes results. Some are run by governmental entities; some are run as not-for-profit organizations. List of nati ...

, however they provide paper-based end of year assessments (NFER tests) for

primary schools A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ed ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

and

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

. Originally founded in 1946 as the centre for educational research and development in England and Wales, the NFER's head office is located at 'The Mere' in

Slough Slough () is a town and unparished area in the unitary authority of the same name in Berkshire, England, bordering west London. It lies in the Thames Valley, west of central London and north-east of Reading, at the intersection of the M4 ...

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Berk ...

, England. The foundation also has an office in

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

. The foundation's work includes educational research, evaluation of education and training programmes, and the development of assessments and specialist information services. The NFER also sponsors the CERUKplus (Current Educational Research in the UK) database, which contains details of current or on-going research in education and related disciplines, and hosts the EURYDICE Unit for England, Wales and Northern Ireland, in EURYDICE, the information network on education in Europe (www.nfer.ac.uk/eurydice). The NFER founded

nferNelson nferNelson is the former name of GL Assessment, a leading independent provider of tests and other assessment services for education in the United Kingdom. Their products, which include assessments for the 0–19 age group, have a national reputat ...

, which they sold to the Granada Learning/GL assessments for the 11+ and other common entrance exams Group in 2000.

Departments

There are six centres within the research department that carry out a variety of independent work; * Centre for Assessment * Centre for Policy and Practice: Programmes * Centre for Policy and Practice: Development * Centre for Research Planning and Knowledge Management * Centre for International Education * Centre for Statistics

External links

NFER website
Official Website
NFER Publications
1946 establishments in England Educational charities based in the United Kingdom Educational research Organizations established in 1946 Organisations based in Slough Education in England Education in Wales

References

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