ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book emerges from a major innovative project carried out in England during 2013–2015. It concerns a scheme designed to introduce a major set of interventions across hundreds of Teaching Schools. The book seeks to identify the 'policy origins' of the entire scheme, and to identify the agenda and motivations of those who originally conceived the scheme. It explores the extent to which the overall methodology can indeed be described as a randomised controlled trial (RCT). The book considers the role of randomised trials in education as a necessary but not sufficient design for drawing conclusions about effective educational practice. It examines more closely the role of teachers in RCTs. The book also considers the various aspects of research ethics in randomised controlled trials in education.
