Playing for Success: An Evaluation of Its Long Term Impact
25 April 2007
Research report available to download from DfE
Research brief available to download from DfE
This study investigated whether there was evidence of longer term changes in pupils' performance in maths and English associated with attending Playing for Success (PfS). It also gathered information on the strategies adopted by PfS Centres to encourage schools to capitalise on the learning gains achieved by pupils.
The qualitative analysis of 'more effective' Centres indicated that: Centres and partner schools were focusing on the details of liaison and good practice that provided a well targeted, high quality learning experience during the course and facilitated transfer of learning after the pupils had left.
Key Findings
- at key stages 2, 3 and 4, low attainers who attended PfS Centres did better than expected and higher attainers did less well than expected (except in key stage 4 English, where no statistically significant difference was found)
- at key stage 4, pupils who had attended PfS made greater progress in maths when compared to similar pupils who did not attend
- at key stage 2, pupils who attended PfS made less progress in English
- eight PfS Centres had performed significantly better than the others on at least two of six outcome measures.