Does supporting pupils to positively impact their classmates' behaviour improve attendance?

A new trial will find out if empowering well-connected pupils to positively impact their fellow pupils’ attitudes and behaviours can have an impact on attendance rates and bullying, the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) and Youth Endowment Fund (YEF) announced today.

Secondary schools in England can sign-up to take part in the randomised controlled trial of Grassroots, which will be delivered by the Behavioural Insights Team (BIT) and independently evaluated by researchers from UCL’s Faculty of Education and Society (IOE).

In the programme, BIT will select a ​‘seed group’ of around 30 pupils in each school. Trained research assistants will work with the groups of pupils through fortnightly sessions. Together, they’ll identify how student interactions in their school could be improved, think about what they might do to encourage their peers to have positive interactions, and make sure their initiatives are visible to others, for example, through posters and social media content.

In a trial in schools in the USA, the Grassroots programme was found to reduce disciplinary events related to conflict and bullying by 25% over one year. The independent evaluators of this trial will find out if taking part in the programme improves attendance levels in participating schools, as well as reducing bullying and behavioural problems.