Research, Impact and Learning Framework

The Education and Training Foundation (ETF) is putting in place a Framework of Suppliers who can demonstrate excellence in the criteria stated in the invitation to tender (ITT).

The overall aim of this opportunity is to establish a framework of excellent suppliers who can work with the ETF to deliver high quality, responsive and innovative research, evaluation and learning outputs that support and fulfil the ETF’s evidence, insights and learning requirements.

ETF aims to undertake primary research to help better understand the needs and challenges faced by the FE sector and its learners, and how - as a professional membership body – ETF can best support the sector. ETF also aims to develop evidence-based responses to policy and ensure that our workforce development programmes, and our SET membership offer, are responsive to the current and future needs and trends of the FE sector. We are also committed to developing an evidence base in areas that have not yet received much attention and are important to our members and their learners.

ETF seeks to undertake secondary research in areas of FE that our members and Trustee’s prioritise, or in areas that are helpful in advancing our organisational strategy and providing new insights that inform and/or benefit the sector and its learners. For example, this might involve analysing existing primary data sources to help identify trends and differentials in FE sector funding, operations, performance, efficiency, effectiveness, and outcomes. Suppliers will be required to be familiar with government and publicly available quantitative datasets (e.g. Ofsted reports) and be aware of other potential sources of primary data which could be utilised more effectively to address some of ETF’s unanswered research questions. Additional information: This Framework aims to create a list of quality research and evaluation suppliers that ETF can call upon to support the design and delivery of different projects. The Framework Agreement will allow call-off contracts, awarded by mini-competition or direct award where appropriate, to be awarded for any projects that arise throughout the term of the Framework.