Published date: 28 September 2020

This notice was replaced on 8 October 2020

This notice does not contain the most up-to-date information about this procurement. The most recent notice is:

Awarded contract (published 25 June 2021, last edited 22 February 2022)

Closed future opportunity - This means that a potential contract has passed its approach to market date. A buyer can choose to consider any supplier interest or convert this notice into an opportunity ready for live procurement.


Contract summary

Industry

  • Research and development services and related consultancy services - 73000000

Location of contract

United Kingdom

Value of contract

£200,000 to £350,000

Procurement reference

DFERPPU 2019/007

Published date

28 September 2020

Approach to market date

7 October 2020

Contract start date

1 February 2021

Contract end date

31 March 2025

Procedure type

Open procedure (below threshold)

Any interested supplier may submit a tender in response to an opportunity notice.

This procedure can be used for procurements below the relevant contract value threshold.

Contract is suitable for SMEs?

Yes

Contract is suitable for VCSEs?

Yes

Description

The purpose of this Prior Information Notice is to notify bidders of our intention to tender for the evaluation of the behaviour hubs programme.

This notice is for information only and is not a call for competition.

The Department reserves the right not to enter a formal procurement process and not proceed with contract award. Accordingly, the Dept. will not be liable for any bid cost, expenditure, work or effort incurred by any organisation in acting on the basis of this PIN.

All information included in this notice is indicative and subject to change.

Background:
Good behaviour in schools is crucial if children are to learn and reach their full potential. As well as delivering excellent teaching, schools must create positive environments where pupils are respectful of one another and are free from low-level disruption that stops them from learning. Schools also need to be safe and respectful workplaces to attract and retain teachers. However, the national picture of behaviour in schools is complex and behaviour remains a significant challenge for many schools. Schools vary enormously in intake and context and their challenges are similarly varied but evidence suggests behaviour can be improved. The government made a commitment to invest £10m in the behaviour hubs programme to improve behaviour in schools by supporting schools to share good practice and knowledge on behaviour management.

The behaviour hubs (BH) programme*SEE LINK* will launch in Spring 2021 and run for an initial period of three years. The strategic aims of the programme are to improve the behaviour culture and practices of schools involved and reduce incidents of challenging behaviour and low-level classroom disruption. BH will enable exemplary schools ('lead schools') to work closely with schools that need and want to turn around their behaviour culture and practices ('partner schools'). The programme is centred around equipping senior leaders (school headteachers, deputy heads and executive teams at Multi-Academy Trusts) to improve their whole school approach to behaviour management through access to facilitated peer-training and resources.

The programme will be based on the principles and ideas outlined in Tom Bennett's 2017 review of behaviour in schools, Creating a Culture: how school leaders can optimise behaviour*SEE LINK*. This review identified the core principles of successful schools, which include:
• having a clear understanding of what the school culture is
• high expectations of pupils and a belief that all pupils matter
• consistency and attention to detail in the execution of school routines, norms and values.

Partner schools/MATs will receive bespoke one-to-one mentoring and action planning support from lead schools/MATs as well as access to behaviour adviser-led training events, school open days, hub networking events and online good practice resources and training.

See 'Attachments' for key elements of BH, & 'Additional Text' for further info.

More information

Spend profile

This table displays the spend profile of the notice
Financial year Budget
2020/2021 £10,000
2021/2022 £80,000

Attachments

Links

Additional text

Evaluation of the programme:
The aim is for the evaluation to assess how effective it has been in achieving improved behaviour, including fostering continuous improvement of the hubs programme. The evaluator will deliver a process, outcomes and impact evaluation, built around a theory of change, to:
• assess whether the programme is effective in meeting strategic aims, objectives and expected outcomes
• assess, test and refine the programme theory of change to understand why the intervention has worked (or not), what the change mechanisms linking activities to outcomes are, and how they vary across school and pupil contexts.
• evidence the outcomes and emerging / potential for impact for schools, teachers, pupils, including use of bespoke data collection
• assess impact for pupils, teachers and schools, relative to a matched-comparison group of schools using secondary analysis of administrative data.
• capture formative learning and real-time insights to understand operational and contextual challenges / successes, and ways to exploit or overcome these
• provide feedback to the department to inform delivery of the programme and disseminate learning across and outside the programme
• explore and evidence (actual and reported) costs, benefits and sustainability, to explain whether (and which parts of) the programme represents good value for money

We will expect suppliers to demonstrate their experience of delivery in this area, with particular (but not exclusive) reference to:
• Relevant expertise and experience of undertaking theory-based evaluation and using approaches to handle complexity in policy evaluation*SEE LINK* (for example realist evaluation, contribution analysis, qualitative comparative analysis), and impact assessment using secondary analysis of administrative data
• Survey design and methodology, e.g. sampling, achieving high response rates, estimated power of survey
• Relevant research experience, e.g. qualitative and quantitative research with teachers, leaders, parents and pupils; use of creative or user / market research methods to explore experience and outcomes e.g. observation, diary, online
• Subject knowledge regarding teacher CPD, coaching and mentoring / expert networks and, critically, of pupil behaviour and behaviour management
• Technical /professional ability and capacity to undertake the work
• Demonstration of communication of evidence and insights to inform policy and practice in real-time e.g. evidence dashboard, operational / what works papers / webinars

Indicative timeline:
EOI advert placed w/b 5 October 2020
ITT issued w/b 2 November 2020
Contract Award February 2021

Note: Expected Financial Year spend shown in this PIN is indicative for 20/21 & 21/22 only. The remaining value of the project would be spread over remaining FY of the contract e.g. 22/23, 23/24 & 24/25.

About the buyer

Contact name

BAEA (Behaviour, Attendance, Exclusions & Alternative Provision) Research Team

Address

St Paul's Place
125 Norfolk Street
SHEFFIELD
S1 2FJ
England

Email

Research.BAEA@education.gov.uk