Case-study visits Clause Samples

Case-study visits. The Contractor shall conduct in-depth case studies to further explore the nature of the schools’ approaches to the Year One phonics check, and their perceptions of the resulting impacts. Case-study visits shall be undertaken in a total of 20 schools: 15 shall be depth- studies, while the remaining five shall be lighter-touch case studies, minimising the overall burden for schools. At the outset of the study, schools shall be invited to take part over the three years of the study and the Contractor shall assign a ‘link evaluator’, who will maintain and encourage ongoing contact and engagement with the school as the evaluation progresses. Within the sample of case-study schools the Contractors shall represent the following: • schools across the nine government regions; • schools with a higher and lower proportion of EAL/SEN pupils; and, • schools with a higher and lower proportion of FSM-eligible pupils. When contacting schools, the Contractor shall inform the relevant LA that the school has been approached. In addition, the Contractor shall provide the LA and the school with a summary of the research project including full information about the extent of their participation, an adapted project timetable and clear privacy statements. The following table outlines the main activities that the Contractor shall undertake with depth and lighter-touch study schools: In 2012 • semi-structured face-to-face interviews with one school leader and three of: literacy coordinator and/or Year 1 or Reception classroom teachers In 2013 and 2014 • one-page pro-forma to collate data on frequency and content of phonics lessons • individual interviews with parents In 2012, 2013 and 2014 • semi-structured telephone interviews with up to three school staff, including a school leader and three of: literacy coordinator and/or Year 1 or Reception classroom teachers The Contractor shall visit the depth study schools and shall conduct telephone interviews with the lighter-touch study schools, three times throughout the course of the evaluation in order to gather longitudinal data. The visits/telephone interviews shall take place in the summer term in June-July 2012, June-July 2013 and June-July 2014. In each school the same staff (or staff with the same role if staff move on) shall be involved in the research each year. The Contractors shall therefore speak to a total of 20 school leaders and up to 40 literacy coordinators/teachers three times, equalling a total of 180 school staff int...