Sam Sims
Biographic Data
| ID | 5010937 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Sam Sims |
| GIVEN NAMES | Sam |
| FAMILY NAME | Sims |
| SIGNATURE | SIMS S |
| AFFILIATIONS | University College London |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-5585-8202 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 24 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 47 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 24 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2019 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
Challenges and validation in estimating teacher value-added in English secondary schools
Researchers in the United States have frequently used non-experimental data, including annual student test scores, to estimate teacher value-added (TVA). Experimental studies have largely validated this approach within the US context. Similar data are increasingly available in England. However, differences in the school systems, the way in which students are allocated to schools and teachers, and assessment practices present distinctive challenge…
Interpersonal relationships and organisational commitment. Longitudinal evidence from school staff in England
The relationship an individual has with their co-workers is a key component of employee engagement. Previous research has suggested that—when these relationships are poor—individuals are more likely to intend to leave their jobs. Yet the existing evidence within education settings is limited by the small scale, cross-sectional nature of most studies, making it difficult to untangle this relationship from potential confounding factors. This paper …
Modelling evidence-based practice in initial teacher training: Effects on teachers’ skills, knowledge and self-efficacy
Teacher training often incorporates observable examples of focal teaching practices – models. Yet there is currently little empirical evidence on the effects of modelling. We tested the effects of video models on trainees’ skills, knowledge, and self-efficacy in relation to using an evidence-based teaching technique: retrieval practice. We recruited 89 first-year trainee teachers, gave them a document containing evidence-based guidance on how to …
Testing for sequential bias in school inspections
Inspectors are tasked with judging the quality of provision based on visits to schools. They conduct these inspections sequentially, completing one before moving on to the next. However, empirical research in a range of settings outside education suggests that prior judgements in a sequence can influence subsequent judgements, despite being logically irrelevant. We investigate whether school inspectors in England display such sequential bias by t…
Decomposition and recomposition: Effects on early-career teachers’ enactment and adaptive transfer of behaviour management practices
Breaking down sequences of teaching into constituent practices is thought to make learning to teach more manageable. However, it also divorces teaching practices from context, which risks leaving teachers unsure as to when or why to use a specific practice. Theorists have suggested that decomposing authentic sequences of teaching into their constituent parts and then recomposing them in new, meaningful sequences combines the benefits of both mana…
Effective Teacher Professional Development: New Theory and a Meta-Analytic Test
Multiple meta-analyses have now documented small positive effects of teacher professional development (PD) on pupil test scores. However, the field lacks any validated explanatory account of what differentiates more from less effective in-service training. As a result, researchers have little in the way of advice for those tasked with designing or commissioning better PD. We set out to remedy this by developing a new theory of effective PD based …
Why do people choose to enter and exit the teaching profession? An interdisciplinary quantitative synthesis
Many nations experience recurring shortages of teachers in particular subjects, prompting concerns that pupils' education is suffering as a result. Researchers have responded by generating a sizable literature on the reasons for which people enter and exit the teaching profession. This paper provides a conceptual synthesis, distilling what we know into a single interdisciplinary model capturing influences on the decision (not) to teach. We then t…
Initial estimates of teacher value‐added in English primary schools
A sizeable literature investigating teacher test score value‐added—the extent to which pupils make different rates of progress under different teachers—has emerged in the United States. While there is much interest in estimating teacher value‐added in other countries such as England, progress has been limited by the lack of datasets linking teachers and pupils. We overcome this issue by drawing on internal assessment data from primary schools acr…
How did the Covid-19 pandemic affect the anxiety of teachers at work
This paper explores teachers’ anxiety about work at 75 timepoints between October 2019 and July 2022, covering the period before, during and towards the end of the COVID-19 pandemic in England. We find the work-related anxiety of headteachers increased substantially throughout the pandemic – much more so than amongst more junior staff. Female teachers experienced a greater impact than men, particularly amongst those with young children. Differenc…
Do schools that employ an inspector get better inspection grades
In England, a substantial proportion of school inspections are conducted by current school leaders. This may lead to concerns that this gives their school (about 2% of schools) an advantage in the inspection process when it is their turn to be inspected. Yet scant evidence exists on this issue. This paper thus presents the first evidence on this matter, using data obtained via a freedom of information request and linking this with other publicly …
The Delta variant wave in Tunisia: Genetic diversity, spatio-temporal distribution and evidence of the spread of a divergent AY.122 sub-lineage
Introduction: The Delta variant posed an increased risk to global public health and rapidly replaced the pre-existent variants worldwide. In this study, the genetic diversity and the spatio-temporal dynamics of 662 SARS-CoV2 genomes obtained during the Delta wave across Tunisia were investigated. Methods: Viral whole genome and partial S-segment sequencing was performed using Illumina and Sanger platforms, respectively and lineage assignemnt was …
Teacher self-efficacy and pupil achievement: Much ado about nothing? International evidence from TIMSS
Bandura’s influential theory has been used to argue that teachers with high self-efficacy will be more effective at increasing pupil achievement—and a voluminous empirical literature has repeatedly documented associations consistent with this claim. However, few studies have considered whether these correlations reflect an underlying causal relationship. In this paper we utilise across-subject, within-pupil variation in teacher self-efficacy in t…
Teacher autonomy: Good for pupils? Good for teachers
Should teachers have complete autonomy over teaching methods and practices, or should some aspects of their practice be determined by school or government policy? We address this question using repeated (value‐added) maths test scores linked to rich survey data from the TALIS video study. With the possible exception of inexperienced teachers, we generally find no relationship between teacher autonomy and pupil outcomes (test scores, maths self‐ef…
Is teaching bad for your health? New evidence from biomarker data
Teaching is a demanding job and research suggests that prolonged exposure to stress can affect physical health. While some studies have found that teachers do indeed report relatively poor physical health, the existing literature has important methodological limitations. In particular, no research exists comparing teachers to other occupations using objective biomarker data to measure health. We provide such evidence using two datasets: a represe…
Identifying the characteristics of effective teacher professional development: A critical review
Several influential reviews and two meta-reviews have converged on the position that teacher professional development (PD) is more effective when it is sustained, collaborative, subject specific, draws on external expertise, has buy-in from teachers, and is practice based. This consensus view has now been incorporated in government policy and official guidance in several countries. This paper reassesses the evidence underpinning the consensus, ar…
Has the mental health and wellbeing of teachers in England changed over time? New evidence from three datasets
This paper presents the first empirical evidence on long-run trends in teacher mental health and wellbeing in England. We find that, although there has been a recent rise in mental health problems reported by teachers in England, this is mirrored by workers in other professions–with little evidence of a simultaneous change in levels of personal wellbeing. Our conclusion is therefore that the mental health and personal wellbeing of teachers in Eng…
When is high workload bad for teacher wellbeing? Accounting for the non-linear contribution of specific teaching tasks
New evidence on teachers’ working hours in England. An empirical analysis of four datasets
Surveys have revealed that teachers in England work far longer hours than their international counterparts, causing serious concern amongst both policymakers and the profession. Despite this, surprisingly little is known about the structure of and changes to teachers’ working hours. We address this gap in the evidence base by analysing four different datasets. Working hours remain high: a quarter of teachers work more than 60 hours per week durin…
I quit! Is there an association between leaving teaching and improvements in mental health
The mental health and well‐being of teachers is an issue of great policy concern. This is particularly true in England, where high workload and the associated stress is thought to be leading to a recruitment and retention crisis within the education profession. But do individuals who decide to leave teaching for another career actually see their well‐being and mental health improve? We provide new evidence on this matter for individuals aged betw…
Informing Better Trial Design: A Technical Comment on Lortie-Forgues and Inglis (2019)
Lortie-Forgues and Inglis (2019) convincingly demonstrate that 40% of rigorous, large-scale education trials are uninformative about impact. However, they and others dismiss the value of larger trials for solving this problem, based on a miscalculation. Contrary to this, I argue that making trials larger is a feasible and affordable way of making them more informative
Modelling the relationships between teacher working conditions, job satisfaction and workplace mobility
Teacher shortages are a recurring problem in publicly funded schools, in part because of poor retention. Working conditions in schools are an important predictor of teacher job satisfaction and retention, yet research has so far made limited headway in identifying the specific aspects of the working environment which matter. This research uses representative data on state secondary school teachers in England in 2013 to derive an unusually rich se…
The Association Between Attending a Grammar School and Children’s Socio-Emotional Outcomes. New Evidence From the Millennium Cohort Study
Several areas in the UK allocate children to secondary schools based on exam results at age 11. While many studies have investigated how attending academically selective schools affects pupils’ subsequent educational attainment, we know very little about how grammar attendance affects other outcomes, such as pupils’ self-confidence, academic self-esteem and aspirations. We investigate this by applying propensity score matching techniques to rich …
Why do so few low‐ and middle‐income children attend a grammar school? New evidence from the Millennium Cohort Study
Proponents argue that grammar schools enhance social mobility by allowing high‐attaining pupils to attend elite schools, no matter what their social background. However, disadvantaged pupils cannot benefit from grammar schools unless they gain access to them. In this article, we use rich cohort data to investigate the strength of, and reasons for, the socio‐economic gradient in grammar school entrance rates. Presenting new evidence for England an…
How Do Academically Selective School Systems Affect Pupils’ Social-Emotional Competencies? New Evidence From the Millennium Cohort Study
An extensive literature has investigated the link between living in an area with an academically selective schooling system and young people’s educational outcomes. In contrast, evidence on the link between selective education and young people’s wider outcomes is relatively sparse. This article uses rich survey data to test whether young people living in selective education areas in England have better academic, social, and emotional outcomes tha…
When is high workload bad for teacher wellbeing? Accounting for the non-linear contribution of specific teaching tasks
Modelling the relationships between teacher working conditions, job satisfaction and workplace mobility
Teacher shortages are a recurring problem in publicly funded schools, in part because of poor retention. Working conditions in schools are an important predictor of teacher job satisfaction and retention, yet research has so far made limited headway in identifying the specific aspects of the working environment which matter. This research uses representative data on state secondary school teachers in England in 2013 to derive an unusually rich se…
New evidence on teachers’ working hours in England. An empirical analysis of four datasets
Surveys have revealed that teachers in England work far longer hours than their international counterparts, causing serious concern amongst both policymakers and the profession. Despite this, surprisingly little is known about the structure of and changes to teachers’ working hours. We address this gap in the evidence base by analysing four different datasets. Working hours remain high: a quarter of teachers work more than 60 hours per week durin…
Why do so few low‐ and middle‐income children attend a grammar school? New evidence from the Millennium Cohort Study
Proponents argue that grammar schools enhance social mobility by allowing high‐attaining pupils to attend elite schools, no matter what their social background. However, disadvantaged pupils cannot benefit from grammar schools unless they gain access to them. In this article, we use rich cohort data to investigate the strength of, and reasons for, the socio‐economic gradient in grammar school entrance rates. Presenting new evidence for England an…
The Association Between Attending a Grammar School and Children’s Socio-Emotional Outcomes. New Evidence From the Millennium Cohort Study
Several areas in the UK allocate children to secondary schools based on exam results at age 11. While many studies have investigated how attending academically selective schools affects pupils’ subsequent educational attainment, we know very little about how grammar attendance affects other outcomes, such as pupils’ self-confidence, academic self-esteem and aspirations. We investigate this by applying propensity score matching techniques to rich …
I quit! Is there an association between leaving teaching and improvements in mental health
The mental health and well‐being of teachers is an issue of great policy concern. This is particularly true in England, where high workload and the associated stress is thought to be leading to a recruitment and retention crisis within the education profession. But do individuals who decide to leave teaching for another career actually see their well‐being and mental health improve? We provide new evidence on this matter for individuals aged betw…
How Do Academically Selective School Systems Affect Pupils’ Social-Emotional Competencies? New Evidence From the Millennium Cohort Study
An extensive literature has investigated the link between living in an area with an academically selective schooling system and young people’s educational outcomes. In contrast, evidence on the link between selective education and young people’s wider outcomes is relatively sparse. This article uses rich survey data to test whether young people living in selective education areas in England have better academic, social, and emotional outcomes tha…
Initial estimates of teacher value‐added in English primary schools
A sizeable literature investigating teacher test score value‐added—the extent to which pupils make different rates of progress under different teachers—has emerged in the United States. While there is much interest in estimating teacher value‐added in other countries such as England, progress has been limited by the lack of datasets linking teachers and pupils. We overcome this issue by drawing on internal assessment data from primary schools acr…
Do schools that employ an inspector get better inspection grades
In England, a substantial proportion of school inspections are conducted by current school leaders. This may lead to concerns that this gives their school (about 2% of schools) an advantage in the inspection process when it is their turn to be inspected. Yet scant evidence exists on this issue. This paper thus presents the first evidence on this matter, using data obtained via a freedom of information request and linking this with other publicly …
Teacher autonomy: Good for pupils? Good for teachers
Should teachers have complete autonomy over teaching methods and practices, or should some aspects of their practice be determined by school or government policy? We address this question using repeated (value‐added) maths test scores linked to rich survey data from the TALIS video study. With the possible exception of inexperienced teachers, we generally find no relationship between teacher autonomy and pupil outcomes (test scores, maths self‐ef…
Informing Better Trial Design: A Technical Comment on Lortie-Forgues and Inglis (2019)
Lortie-Forgues and Inglis (2019) convincingly demonstrate that 40% of rigorous, large-scale education trials are uninformative about impact. However, they and others dismiss the value of larger trials for solving this problem, based on a miscalculation. Contrary to this, I argue that making trials larger is a feasible and affordable way of making them more informative
Why do so few low‐ and middle‐income children attend a grammar school? New evidence from the Millennium Cohort Study
Proponents argue that grammar schools enhance social mobility by allowing high‐attaining pupils to attend elite schools, no matter what their social background. However, disadvantaged pupils cannot benefit from grammar schools unless they gain access to them. In this article, we use rich cohort data to investigate the strength of, and reasons for, the socio‐economic gradient in grammar school entrance rates. Presenting new evidence for England an…
How Do Academically Selective School Systems Affect Pupils’ Social-Emotional Competencies? New Evidence From the Millennium Cohort Study
An extensive literature has investigated the link between living in an area with an academically selective schooling system and young people’s educational outcomes. In contrast, evidence on the link between selective education and young people’s wider outcomes is relatively sparse. This article uses rich survey data to test whether young people living in selective education areas in England have better academic, social, and emotional outcomes tha…
Informing Better Trial Design: A Technical Comment on Lortie-Forgues and Inglis (2019)
Lortie-Forgues and Inglis (2019) convincingly demonstrate that 40% of rigorous, large-scale education trials are uninformative about impact. However, they and others dismiss the value of larger trials for solving this problem, based on a miscalculation. Contrary to this, I argue that making trials larger is a feasible and affordable way of making them more informative
Modelling the relationships between teacher working conditions, job satisfaction and workplace mobility
Teacher shortages are a recurring problem in publicly funded schools, in part because of poor retention. Working conditions in schools are an important predictor of teacher job satisfaction and retention, yet research has so far made limited headway in identifying the specific aspects of the working environment which matter. This research uses representative data on state secondary school teachers in England in 2013 to derive an unusually rich se…
The Association Between Attending a Grammar School and Children’s Socio-Emotional Outcomes. New Evidence From the Millennium Cohort Study
Several areas in the UK allocate children to secondary schools based on exam results at age 11. While many studies have investigated how attending academically selective schools affects pupils’ subsequent educational attainment, we know very little about how grammar attendance affects other outcomes, such as pupils’ self-confidence, academic self-esteem and aspirations. We investigate this by applying propensity score matching techniques to rich …
Identifying the characteristics of effective teacher professional development: A critical review
Several influential reviews and two meta-reviews have converged on the position that teacher professional development (PD) is more effective when it is sustained, collaborative, subject specific, draws on external expertise, has buy-in from teachers, and is practice based. This consensus view has now been incorporated in government policy and official guidance in several countries. This paper reassesses the evidence underpinning the consensus, ar…
Has the mental health and wellbeing of teachers in England changed over time? New evidence from three datasets
This paper presents the first empirical evidence on long-run trends in teacher mental health and wellbeing in England. We find that, although there has been a recent rise in mental health problems reported by teachers in England, this is mirrored by workers in other professions–with little evidence of a simultaneous change in levels of personal wellbeing. Our conclusion is therefore that the mental health and personal wellbeing of teachers in Eng…
When is high workload bad for teacher wellbeing? Accounting for the non-linear contribution of specific teaching tasks
New evidence on teachers’ working hours in England. An empirical analysis of four datasets
Surveys have revealed that teachers in England work far longer hours than their international counterparts, causing serious concern amongst both policymakers and the profession. Despite this, surprisingly little is known about the structure of and changes to teachers’ working hours. We address this gap in the evidence base by analysing four different datasets. Working hours remain high: a quarter of teachers work more than 60 hours per week durin…
I quit! Is there an association between leaving teaching and improvements in mental health
The mental health and well‐being of teachers is an issue of great policy concern. This is particularly true in England, where high workload and the associated stress is thought to be leading to a recruitment and retention crisis within the education profession. But do individuals who decide to leave teaching for another career actually see their well‐being and mental health improve? We provide new evidence on this matter for individuals aged betw…
Is teaching bad for your health? New evidence from biomarker data
Teaching is a demanding job and research suggests that prolonged exposure to stress can affect physical health. While some studies have found that teachers do indeed report relatively poor physical health, the existing literature has important methodological limitations. In particular, no research exists comparing teachers to other occupations using objective biomarker data to measure health. We provide such evidence using two datasets: a represe…
The Delta variant wave in Tunisia: Genetic diversity, spatio-temporal distribution and evidence of the spread of a divergent AY.122 sub-lineage
Introduction: The Delta variant posed an increased risk to global public health and rapidly replaced the pre-existent variants worldwide. In this study, the genetic diversity and the spatio-temporal dynamics of 662 SARS-CoV2 genomes obtained during the Delta wave across Tunisia were investigated. Methods: Viral whole genome and partial S-segment sequencing was performed using Illumina and Sanger platforms, respectively and lineage assignemnt was …
Teacher self-efficacy and pupil achievement: Much ado about nothing? International evidence from TIMSS
Bandura’s influential theory has been used to argue that teachers with high self-efficacy will be more effective at increasing pupil achievement—and a voluminous empirical literature has repeatedly documented associations consistent with this claim. However, few studies have considered whether these correlations reflect an underlying causal relationship. In this paper we utilise across-subject, within-pupil variation in teacher self-efficacy in t…
Teacher autonomy: Good for pupils? Good for teachers
Should teachers have complete autonomy over teaching methods and practices, or should some aspects of their practice be determined by school or government policy? We address this question using repeated (value‐added) maths test scores linked to rich survey data from the TALIS video study. With the possible exception of inexperienced teachers, we generally find no relationship between teacher autonomy and pupil outcomes (test scores, maths self‐ef…
How did the Covid-19 pandemic affect the anxiety of teachers at work
This paper explores teachers’ anxiety about work at 75 timepoints between October 2019 and July 2022, covering the period before, during and towards the end of the COVID-19 pandemic in England. We find the work-related anxiety of headteachers increased substantially throughout the pandemic – much more so than amongst more junior staff. Female teachers experienced a greater impact than men, particularly amongst those with young children. Differenc…
Do schools that employ an inspector get better inspection grades
In England, a substantial proportion of school inspections are conducted by current school leaders. This may lead to concerns that this gives their school (about 2% of schools) an advantage in the inspection process when it is their turn to be inspected. Yet scant evidence exists on this issue. This paper thus presents the first evidence on this matter, using data obtained via a freedom of information request and linking this with other publicly …
Testing for sequential bias in school inspections
Inspectors are tasked with judging the quality of provision based on visits to schools. They conduct these inspections sequentially, completing one before moving on to the next. However, empirical research in a range of settings outside education suggests that prior judgements in a sequence can influence subsequent judgements, despite being logically irrelevant. We investigate whether school inspectors in England display such sequential bias by t…
Decomposition and recomposition: Effects on early-career teachers’ enactment and adaptive transfer of behaviour management practices
Breaking down sequences of teaching into constituent practices is thought to make learning to teach more manageable. However, it also divorces teaching practices from context, which risks leaving teachers unsure as to when or why to use a specific practice. Theorists have suggested that decomposing authentic sequences of teaching into their constituent parts and then recomposing them in new, meaningful sequences combines the benefits of both mana…
Effective Teacher Professional Development: New Theory and a Meta-Analytic Test
Multiple meta-analyses have now documented small positive effects of teacher professional development (PD) on pupil test scores. However, the field lacks any validated explanatory account of what differentiates more from less effective in-service training. As a result, researchers have little in the way of advice for those tasked with designing or commissioning better PD. We set out to remedy this by developing a new theory of effective PD based …
Why do people choose to enter and exit the teaching profession? An interdisciplinary quantitative synthesis
Many nations experience recurring shortages of teachers in particular subjects, prompting concerns that pupils' education is suffering as a result. Researchers have responded by generating a sizable literature on the reasons for which people enter and exit the teaching profession. This paper provides a conceptual synthesis, distilling what we know into a single interdisciplinary model capturing influences on the decision (not) to teach. We then t…
Initial estimates of teacher value‐added in English primary schools
A sizeable literature investigating teacher test score value‐added—the extent to which pupils make different rates of progress under different teachers—has emerged in the United States. While there is much interest in estimating teacher value‐added in other countries such as England, progress has been limited by the lack of datasets linking teachers and pupils. We overcome this issue by drawing on internal assessment data from primary schools acr…
Challenges and validation in estimating teacher value-added in English secondary schools
Researchers in the United States have frequently used non-experimental data, including annual student test scores, to estimate teacher value-added (TVA). Experimental studies have largely validated this approach within the US context. Similar data are increasingly available in England. However, differences in the school systems, the way in which students are allocated to schools and teachers, and assessment practices present distinctive challenge…
Interpersonal relationships and organisational commitment. Longitudinal evidence from school staff in England
The relationship an individual has with their co-workers is a key component of employee engagement. Previous research has suggested that—when these relationships are poor—individuals are more likely to intend to leave their jobs. Yet the existing evidence within education settings is limited by the small scale, cross-sectional nature of most studies, making it difficult to untangle this relationship from potential confounding factors. This paper …
Modelling evidence-based practice in initial teacher training: Effects on teachers’ skills, knowledge and self-efficacy
Teacher training often incorporates observable examples of focal teaching practices – models. Yet there is currently little empirical evidence on the effects of modelling. We tested the effects of video models on trainees’ skills, knowledge, and self-efficacy in relation to using an evidence-based teaching technique: retrieval practice. We recruited 89 first-year trainee teachers, gave them a document containing evidence-based guidance on how to …
Psychology (19 works) · Mathematics education (12 works) · Medicine (10 works) · Pedagogy (10 works) · Political science (7 works) · School Choice and Performance (7 works) · Sociology (7 works) · Teacher Education and Leadership Studies (7 works) · Mathematics (6 works) · Computer Science (5 works)