Pam Sammons
Biographic Data
| ID | 2748223 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Pam Sammons |
| GIVEN NAMES | Pam |
| FAMILY NAME | Sammons |
| SIGNATURE | SAMMONS P |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Oxford |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-6988-6784 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 45 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 249 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 44 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1983 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 9 |
Boundary-Spanning Beyond Widening Participation
Widening participation policy in England is increasingly collaborative. Since 2018, higher education (HE) institutions charging above the basic tuition fee limit are required to set out strategies to mitigate ‘risks to equality of opportunity’ for people from more disadvantaged backgrounds and their ability to access and progress through and from higher education’. Universities are encouraged to work with schools to implement outreach initiatives…
Exploring teacher identity tensions and coping strategies in a comparative case study of primary school teachers’ narratives
Teacher professional identities are considered crucial to link teachers’ personal experiences with the social and professional changes needed for improved learning in schools. In this research study, we aim to investigate teachers’ identity tensions and coping strategies in four different school contexts in Nanqi (a pseudonym) County in China. A constructivist perspective guided the choice of a qualitative approach to inquiry in this study. Ambig…
Drivers of the socio-economic disadvantage gap in England
BackgroundSocio-economic status (SES) is a powerful predictor of attainment. Research has identified multiple mechanisms that underpin the effect of SES on attainment. For example, self-regulation (processes through which individuals direct and control their attention, emotion and behaviour) has been identified as one mechanism mediating the SES attainment gap. However, previous studies have not directly tested the statistical pathways by which c…
Challenges facing interventions to promote equity in the early years
This paper discusses the challenges facing a national evaluation of an early years intervention programme, Sure Start Children’s Centres (SSCCs), that was implemented across England in the first decade of the 21st century. The paper describes the rationale for the evaluation’s mixed methods research design and the ecological theoretical approach adopted. It investigates the SSCC policy aim of combatting the ‘impact’ of multiple disadvantage on ou…
La mejora diferencial de las escuelas causando preocupación en Inglaterra
Escuelas causando preocupación en Inglaterra se identifican sistemáticamente a través de la inspección externa. Los cambios posteriores en el rendimiento de la mayoría de estas escuelas iluminan los problemas de la eficacia y el mejoramiento escolar. Durante más de diez años, la efectividad relativa de todas las escuelas en Inglaterra ha sido evaluada y reportada públicamente (ver www.ofsted.gov.uk/publications). Esto se ha logrado a través de in…
The art of ‘being positive’
Marketisation has brought complex changes to the education sector that have become a concern both in the literature and among the public. However, few studies have empirically investigated how private school teachers’ professional identities might differ from those of state school teachers. This study compares how 16 teachers in two state schools and two private schools negotiate their professional identities in County Nanqi (a pseudonym) in Chin…
Investigating the reliability and validity of the Toddler Home Learning Environment (THLE) scale
Home learning environments prior to school are well-known predictors of educational trajectories but research has neglected children aged under three. The new Toddler Home Learning Environment (THLE) scale is one response and this paper investigates its reliability and validity. The THLE is an adaptation of the Preschool HLE (PHLE) measure developed by the Effective Pre-School Primary and Secondary Education (EPPSE) investigation in the 1990s. Th…
Working more collaboratively to better understand teaching and its quality
Conceptualizing and exploring the quality of teaching using generic frameworks
Integrating data in a complex mixed‐methods classroom interaction study
Mixed‐methods (MM) designs have gained increasing interest in educational research. Still, many studies collect quantitative and qualitative data but report these data separately and do not attempt to integrate them in practice. The aim of this article is to discuss the purposes and processes of integrating qualitative and quantitative data in an MM classroom interaction study. Issues regarding mixing and integration, including how to overcome in…
Developing 21st century skills in early childhood
Hybrid content-specific and generic approaches to lesson observation
An international perspective on teacher self-efficacy
The drivers of academic success for ‘bright’ but disadvantaged students
The Impact of Leadership on Student Outcomes
Purpose: This article illustrates how successful leaders combine the too often dichotomized practices of transformational and instructional leadership in different ways across different phases of their schools’ development in order to progressively shape and “layer” the improvement culture in improving students’ outcomes. Research Methods: Empirical data were drawn from a 3-year mixed-methods national study (“Impact Study”) that investigated asso…
The long-term role of the home learning environment in shaping students’ academic attainment in secondary school
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationships between the characteristics of the home learning environment (HLE) and students’ academic attainments in secondary school in England at age 14 and 16. Design/methodology/approach – This research study uses multilevel statistical models to investigate the strength and significance of relationships between various measures of the HLE at ages three, six, 11 and 14, and students’ aca…
Educational effectiveness research (EER)
Research and scholarship into educational effectiveness research (EER) is comprehensively reviewed from the UK, The Netherlands, the US, Cyprus, Belgium, Sweden, France, Germany, New Zealand, Australia, and other societies, dating from the field’s origins in the 1970s. Issues include its history, methodological and theoretical advances, scientific properties of school effects, processes at school and classroom level behind these effects, the some…
Teachers’ constructs of effective classroom practice
This paper outlines a theoretical framework which offers an explanation of the complexity of how teachers define their effectiveness in relation to their classroom practice. The research from which this framework emerged was a two-year, mixed method study of 81 primary and secondary school teachers. The use of repertory grid interviews combined with a number of other methods is unique in a study of teachers’ practice and, from the elicited constr…
Development of social relationships, interactions and behaviours in early education settings
Recent research and policy regarding the advantages of early years provision has focused largely on the enhancement and development of cognitive skills for preschoolers. This study, based in the United Kingdom, focuses on a range of cognitive and social skills and identifies beneficial characteristics of a government pilot scheme for 2-year-olds in areas of social disadvantage. Data were collected from nursery managers and parents across six earl…
Stories and Statistics
The Effective Classroom Practice project aimed to identify key factors that contribute to effective teaching in primary and secondary phases of schooling in different socioeconomic contexts. This article addresses the ways in which qualitative and quantitative approaches were combined within an integrated design to provide a comprehensive methodology for the research purposes. Strategies for the study are discussed, followed by the challenges of …
Pre-school quality and educational outcomes at age 11
This article reports the effects of pre-school quality on children’s cognitive and behavioural outcomes at age 11 using a large-scale longitudinal study of 3000+ children in England (EPPE/EPPSE). The ECERS-R and a curricular extension to it (ECERS-E) were used to assess the quality of provision in 141 pre-school settings attended by the children. The quality measures were derived from observations throughout the day of interactions and resources …
The influence of child, family, home factors and pre‐school education on the identification of special educational needs at age 10
The early identification of young children's special educational needs (SEN), as well as the development of specific strategies to support those children identified with special needs, are increasingly recognised as crucial to facilitating good adjustment to school and to ensuring that such children are helped to reach their full potential in education. Using a large national sample of young children in England whose developmental progress was fo…
Early Childhood Matters
Book synopsis: Early Childhood Matters documents the rapid development of early years education and care from the late 1990s into the new millennium. It chronicles the unique contribution of the EPPE research to our understanding of the importance of pre-school. The Effective Pre-school and Primary Education (EPPE) project is the largest European study of the impact of early years education and care on children’s developmental outcomes. Through t…
Effects of the Home Learning Environment and Preschool Center Experience upon Literacy and Numeracy Development in Early Primary School
This study investigates the influence of aspects of home and preschool environments upon literacy and numeracy achievement at school entry and at the end of the 3rd year of school. Individuals with unexpected performance pathways (by forming demographically adjusted groups: overachieving, average, and underachieving) were identified in order to explore the effects of the home learning environment and preschool variables on child development. Mult…
Combining Qualitative and Quantitative Methodologies in Research on Teachers’ Lives, Work, and Effectiveness
The authors of this article discuss how a mixed-methods research team designed and conducted a 4-year study (Variations in Teachers’ Work and Lives and Their Effects on Pupils) that tracked 300 teachers in 100 schools in England over a 3-year fieldwork period. The authors discuss processes that led to new knowledge. Although mixed methods are becoming more popular, few published accounts describe in detail how researchers have moved beyond the us…
Effects of the Home Learning Environment and Preschool Center Experience upon Literacy and Numeracy Development in Early Primary School
This study investigates the influence of aspects of home and preschool environments upon literacy and numeracy achievement at school entry and at the end of the 3rd year of school. Individuals with unexpected performance pathways (by forming demographically adjusted groups: overachieving, average, and underachieving) were identified in order to explore the effects of the home learning environment and preschool variables on child development. Mult…
The personal and professional selves of teachers
In much educational literature it is recognised that the broader social conditions in which teachers live and work, and the personal and professional elements of teachers' lives, experiences, beliefs and practices are integral to one another, and that there are often tensions between these which impact to a greater or lesser extent upon teachers' sense of self or identity. If identity is a key influencing factor on teachers' sense of purpose, sel…
Gender, Ethnic and Socio‐economic Differences in Attainment and Progress
The size and stability of gender, ethnic and socio‐economic differences in students' educational achievement are examined over a 9 year period. Both absolute differences in cognitive attainment and relative differences in progress are considered. The study, which is part of a follow up of an age cohort originally included in the ‘School Matters’ research, utilises multilevel modelling techniques. Attainment in reading and mathematics is reported …
Capturing quality in early childhood through environmental rating scales
Exploring variations in teachers' work, lives and their effects on pupils
This article outlines the research design of a large‐scale, longitudinal research study in England intended to describe and explore variations in teachers' work, lives and their effects on pupils' educational outcomes. The study, funded by the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) and incorporated into the Teaching and Learning Research Programme (TLRP) as an ‘Associate Project’, used an innovative mixed‐methods research design to create cas…
Differential School Effectiveness
The paper reports the results of a reanalysis of data from a major longitudinal data base (the Inner London Education Authority's (ILEA) Junior School Project). Multilevel models are used to examine the extent of differential school effectiveness for reading and mathematics at entry (year 3) and at year 5, and the impact of pupil background characteristics. Differential school effectiveness is investigated for prior attainment in the two areas an…
The impact of pre‐school on young children's cognitive attainments at entry to reception
This article explores the impact of pre‐school experience on young children's cognitive attainments at entry to primary school and analyses data collected as part of a wider longitudinal study, the Effective Provision of Pre‐school Education (EPPE) project, which followed a large sample of young children attending 141 pre‐school centres drawn from six types of provider in five English regions. The article compares the characteristics and attainme…
Combining Qualitative and Quantitative Methodologies in Research on Teachers’ Lives, Work, and Effectiveness
The authors of this article discuss how a mixed-methods research team designed and conducted a 4-year study (Variations in Teachers’ Work and Lives and Their Effects on Pupils) that tracked 300 teachers in 100 schools in England over a 3-year fieldwork period. The authors discuss processes that led to new knowledge. Although mixed methods are becoming more popular, few published accounts describe in detail how researchers have moved beyond the us…
Investigating educational change
Investigating the Effects of Pre‐school Provision
The Effective Provision of Pre‐school Education (EPPE) project is a longitudinal study of young children between the ages of 3 and 7 years. Research began in 1997 and both quantitative and qualitative methods were used to explore the effects of pre‐school education on children’s attainment and social/behavioural development at entry to school, and of any continuing effects on such outcomes at the end of Key Stage 1 (age 7). The sample included ov…
Differential Secondary School Effectiveness
This article reports the results of an Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) funded study which focuses on the differential academic achievement of different groups of pupils. The paper describes the findings on the size and extent of school effects across 3 years (1990, 1991, 1992) for different groups of pupils (classified by gender, eligibility for free school means [FSM], ethnic group and by prior attainment). Pupils’ overall General Ce…
Accounting for Variations in Pupil Attainment at the End of Key Stage 1
This article analyses pupil national assessment results at Key Stage 1 (KS1) in the three core curriculum areas (English, mathematics and science) and in terms of an overall measure of performance across these areas for a sample of over 2400 pupils drawn from 62 inner London primary schools. It explores the influence of pupil background characteristics and school attended on attainment at KS1 and provides a contextualised analysis of schools’ per…
Stories and Statistics
The Effective Classroom Practice project aimed to identify key factors that contribute to effective teaching in primary and secondary phases of schooling in different socioeconomic contexts. This article addresses the ways in which qualitative and quantitative approaches were combined within an integrated design to provide a comprehensive methodology for the research purposes. Strategies for the study are discussed, followed by the challenges of …
The influence of child, family, home factors and pre‐school education on the identification of special educational needs at age 10
The early identification of young children's special educational needs (SEN), as well as the development of specific strategies to support those children identified with special needs, are increasingly recognised as crucial to facilitating good adjustment to school and to ensuring that such children are helped to reach their full potential in education. Using a large national sample of young children in England whose developmental progress was fo…
Educational Priority Indices
Criticisms of the concept of educational priority indices and reasons for the continued use of a school‐based policy are outlined with reference to the educational priority indices employed by the ILEA over the last decade. During 1981 a major review of the methods and measures used to construct the ILEA indices was undertaken. Details of criticisms of the data and methodology used in the past are provided. A new method of constructing the indice…
The long-term role of the home learning environment in shaping students’ academic attainment in secondary school
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationships between the characteristics of the home learning environment (HLE) and students’ academic attainments in secondary school in England at age 14 and 16. Design/methodology/approach – This research study uses multilevel statistical models to investigate the strength and significance of relationships between various measures of the HLE at ages three, six, 11 and 14, and students’ aca…
An international perspective on teacher self-efficacy
Pre-school quality and educational outcomes at age 11
This article reports the effects of pre-school quality on children’s cognitive and behavioural outcomes at age 11 using a large-scale longitudinal study of 3000+ children in England (EPPE/EPPSE). The ECERS-R and a curricular extension to it (ECERS-E) were used to assess the quality of provision in 141 pre-school settings attended by the children. The quality measures were derived from observations throughout the day of interactions and resources …
The effects of school membership on pupils’ educational outcomes
The article reports some of the major findings of a large‐scale longitudinal study of the progress and development of an age cohort of pupils during the junior years of education. The pupils attended a stratified random sample of 50 Inner London Education Authority (ILEA) primary schools during the period 1980‐84. The focus of the paper is an investigation of the existence and size of the effects of school membership upon these pupils’ progress i…
Development of a cadre of teacher educators
The Standard Assessment Tasks and the boycott at Key Stage 1
This study examined headteachers’ perspectives on the 1993 teachers’ boycott of standard assessment tasks (SATs) together with the teachers’ attitudes towards the tasks, their management and the boycott of the SATs. Headteachers were generally sympathetic to the boycott, but the response of governors was more varied. In only one school was there reported to be any reaction at all to the boycott by parents, and this was before the decision to boyc…
Drivers of the socio-economic disadvantage gap in England
BackgroundSocio-economic status (SES) is a powerful predictor of attainment. Research has identified multiple mechanisms that underpin the effect of SES on attainment. For example, self-regulation (processes through which individuals direct and control their attention, emotion and behaviour) has been identified as one mechanism mediating the SES attainment gap. However, previous studies have not directly tested the statistical pathways by which c…
Changing models of research to inform educational policy
This contribution explores changes in the way that educational researchers engage with policy‐makers in England. The traditional relationship between research and policy was linear, with funders supporting the efforts of researchers, who carried out research and then disseminated it to those responsible for shaping and implementing policy. This model of ‘knowledge transfer’ is fast being supplemented and sometimes replaced by one of ‘knowledge ex…
Children With and Without ‘Additional Educational Needs’ at Key Stage 1 in Six Inner City Schools—teaching and learning processes and policy implications
This paper is based on case‐studies of six English inner‐city infant schools and focuses on teaching and learning processes in Year 2 classes. It is concerned in particular with children with ‘additional educational needs'—operationalised here in terms of those with special educational needs (not necessarily statemented) and English language needs. Teachers’ aims are examined, as are their grouping strategies. In terms of provision made, teachers…
Integrating data in a complex mixed‐methods classroom interaction study
Mixed‐methods (MM) designs have gained increasing interest in educational research. Still, many studies collect quantitative and qualitative data but report these data separately and do not attempt to integrate them in practice. The aim of this article is to discuss the purposes and processes of integrating qualitative and quantitative data in an MM classroom interaction study. Issues regarding mixing and integration, including how to overcome in…
Educational Priority Indices
Criticisms of the concept of educational priority indices and reasons for the continued use of a school‐based policy are outlined with reference to the educational priority indices employed by the ILEA over the last decade. During 1981 a major review of the methods and measures used to construct the ILEA indices was undertaken. Details of criticisms of the data and methodology used in the past are provided. A new method of constructing the indice…
School Matters
The effects of school membership on pupils’ educational outcomes
The article reports some of the major findings of a large‐scale longitudinal study of the progress and development of an age cohort of pupils during the junior years of education. The pupils attended a stratified random sample of 50 Inner London Education Authority (ILEA) primary schools during the period 1980‐84. The focus of the paper is an investigation of the existence and size of the effects of school membership upon these pupils’ progress i…
School Matters
If Schools Matter, Can They Be Improved
Differential School Effectiveness
The paper reports the results of a reanalysis of data from a major longitudinal data base (the Inner London Education Authority's (ILEA) Junior School Project). Multilevel models are used to examine the extent of differential school effectiveness for reading and mathematics at entry (year 3) and at year 5, and the impact of pupil background characteristics. Differential school effectiveness is investigated for prior attainment in the two areas an…
The Standard Assessment Tasks and the boycott at Key Stage 1
This study examined headteachers’ perspectives on the 1993 teachers’ boycott of standard assessment tasks (SATs) together with the teachers’ attitudes towards the tasks, their management and the boycott of the SATs. Headteachers were generally sympathetic to the boycott, but the response of governors was more varied. In only one school was there reported to be any reaction at all to the boycott by parents, and this was before the decision to boyc…
Gender, Ethnic and Socio‐economic Differences in Attainment and Progress
The size and stability of gender, ethnic and socio‐economic differences in students' educational achievement are examined over a 9 year period. Both absolute differences in cognitive attainment and relative differences in progress are considered. The study, which is part of a follow up of an age cohort originally included in the ‘School Matters’ research, utilises multilevel modelling techniques. Attainment in reading and mathematics is reported …
Children With and Without ‘Additional Educational Needs’ at Key Stage 1 in Six Inner City Schools—teaching and learning processes and policy implications
This paper is based on case‐studies of six English inner‐city infant schools and focuses on teaching and learning processes in Year 2 classes. It is concerned in particular with children with ‘additional educational needs'—operationalised here in terms of those with special educational needs (not necessarily statemented) and English language needs. Teachers’ aims are examined, as are their grouping strategies. In terms of provision made, teachers…
Children's Attitudes to the National Curriculum at Key Stage 1
An investigation of the attitudes of children aged 6‐7 (Year 2) from a variety of different backgrounds towards specific curricular areas is reported. The quantitative analysis revealed that using the computer was the most positively rated of all the activities examined. It was also found that girls had more positive attitudes than boys in a number of areas, particularly in relation to English and ‘coming to school’. Children from ethnic minority…
Differential Secondary School Effectiveness
This article reports the results of an Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) funded study which focuses on the differential academic achievement of different groups of pupils. The paper describes the findings on the size and extent of school effects across 3 years (1990, 1991, 1992) for different groups of pupils (classified by gender, eligibility for free school means [FSM], ethnic group and by prior attainment). Pupils’ overall General Ce…
Accounting for Variations in Pupil Attainment at the End of Key Stage 1
This article analyses pupil national assessment results at Key Stage 1 (KS1) in the three core curriculum areas (English, mathematics and science) and in terms of an overall measure of performance across these areas for a sample of over 2400 pupils drawn from 62 inner London primary schools. It explores the influence of pupil background characteristics and school attended on attainment at KS1 and provides a contextualised analysis of schools’ per…
Development of a cadre of teacher educators
The impact of pre‐school on young children's cognitive attainments at entry to reception
This article explores the impact of pre‐school experience on young children's cognitive attainments at entry to primary school and analyses data collected as part of a wider longitudinal study, the Effective Provision of Pre‐school Education (EPPE) project, which followed a large sample of young children attending 141 pre‐school centres drawn from six types of provider in five English regions. The article compares the characteristics and attainme…
Investigating the Effects of Pre‐school Provision
The Effective Provision of Pre‐school Education (EPPE) project is a longitudinal study of young children between the ages of 3 and 7 years. Research began in 1997 and both quantitative and qualitative methods were used to explore the effects of pre‐school education on children’s attainment and social/behavioural development at entry to school, and of any continuing effects on such outcomes at the end of Key Stage 1 (age 7). The sample included ov…
Capturing quality in early childhood through environmental rating scales
The personal and professional selves of teachers
In much educational literature it is recognised that the broader social conditions in which teachers live and work, and the personal and professional elements of teachers' lives, experiences, beliefs and practices are integral to one another, and that there are often tensions between these which impact to a greater or lesser extent upon teachers' sense of self or identity. If identity is a key influencing factor on teachers' sense of purpose, sel…
Investigating educational change
Changing models of research to inform educational policy
This contribution explores changes in the way that educational researchers engage with policy‐makers in England. The traditional relationship between research and policy was linear, with funders supporting the efforts of researchers, who carried out research and then disseminated it to those responsible for shaping and implementing policy. This model of ‘knowledge transfer’ is fast being supplemented and sometimes replaced by one of ‘knowledge ex…
Exploring variations in teachers' work, lives and their effects on pupils
This article outlines the research design of a large‐scale, longitudinal research study in England intended to describe and explore variations in teachers' work, lives and their effects on pupils' educational outcomes. The study, funded by the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) and incorporated into the Teaching and Learning Research Programme (TLRP) as an ‘Associate Project’, used an innovative mixed‐methods research design to create cas…
Effects of the Home Learning Environment and Preschool Center Experience upon Literacy and Numeracy Development in Early Primary School
This study investigates the influence of aspects of home and preschool environments upon literacy and numeracy achievement at school entry and at the end of the 3rd year of school. Individuals with unexpected performance pathways (by forming demographically adjusted groups: overachieving, average, and underachieving) were identified in order to explore the effects of the home learning environment and preschool variables on child development. Mult…
Combining Qualitative and Quantitative Methodologies in Research on Teachers’ Lives, Work, and Effectiveness
The authors of this article discuss how a mixed-methods research team designed and conducted a 4-year study (Variations in Teachers’ Work and Lives and Their Effects on Pupils) that tracked 300 teachers in 100 schools in England over a 3-year fieldwork period. The authors discuss processes that led to new knowledge. Although mixed methods are becoming more popular, few published accounts describe in detail how researchers have moved beyond the us…
Early Childhood Matters
Book synopsis: Early Childhood Matters documents the rapid development of early years education and care from the late 1990s into the new millennium. It chronicles the unique contribution of the EPPE research to our understanding of the importance of pre-school. The Effective Pre-school and Primary Education (EPPE) project is the largest European study of the impact of early years education and care on children’s developmental outcomes. Through t…
Stories and Statistics
The Effective Classroom Practice project aimed to identify key factors that contribute to effective teaching in primary and secondary phases of schooling in different socioeconomic contexts. This article addresses the ways in which qualitative and quantitative approaches were combined within an integrated design to provide a comprehensive methodology for the research purposes. Strategies for the study are discussed, followed by the challenges of …
Pre-school quality and educational outcomes at age 11
This article reports the effects of pre-school quality on children’s cognitive and behavioural outcomes at age 11 using a large-scale longitudinal study of 3000+ children in England (EPPE/EPPSE). The ECERS-R and a curricular extension to it (ECERS-E) were used to assess the quality of provision in 141 pre-school settings attended by the children. The quality measures were derived from observations throughout the day of interactions and resources …
Psychology (41 works) · Mathematics education (24 works) · Pedagogy (21 works) · Political science (21 works) · Early Childhood Education and Development (20 works) · Sociology (19 works) · Parental Involvement in Education (18 works) · Teacher Education and Leadership Studies (17 works) · Developmental psychology (15 works) · Medicine (12 works)