Our research
Rees Centre, Department of Education, University of Oxford
Browse our researchWe aim to improve the education, wellbeing and life outcomes of those who are, or have been supported by children’s social care services, with a focus on children in need (including those in care), adoptive and special guardianship families and care experienced adults.
We are pleased to announce the appointment of Professor Leon Feinstein to the role of Director of the Rees Centre. He will take up this post from 18 January 2021....
Monday, January 18, 2021
Wednesday, January 13, 2021
Wednesday, November 25, 2020
Monday, October 19, 2020
Dr Neil Harrison, Deputy Director of the Rees Centre The team in the Department for Education (DfE) that produces statistics on progression to higher education have really upped their game...
Tuesday, September 1, 2020
Tuesday, July 21, 2020
By Celine Gross, associate at Social Finance. Part of a series published by the Rees Centre on data (see below for related posts). As a data scientist focusing on Children’s...
Thursday, July 2, 2020
Monday, June 22, 2020
By Ellie Suh (Research Officer, Rees Centre, Department of Education) The Cost Calculator for Children’s Services (CCfCS, or Cost Calculator) is a research-based purpose-built tool that helps local authorities to...
Thursday, June 11, 2020
The team at NeuroLove introduce their new online platform, created to help young people stay emotionally and physically well. This guest post is published by the Rees Centre during the...
Thursday, May 14, 2020
The team behind the Oxfordshire Kindness Wave explain how the idea of a kindness parcel was born, each containing a message of hope, creativity for comfort, kindness with chocolate and...
Wednesday, May 13, 2020
Thursday, May 7, 2020
Nikki Luke of the Rees Centre explains why the group of children known as 'Children in Need' should receive more attention in policy and research. This is one of the...
Monday, April 27, 2020
Monday, April 27, 2020
Thursday, February 20, 2020
Thursday, January 30, 2020
By Aneesha Wadhwa, Executive Director, Udayan Care India and Chevening Fellow, Dept of Politics and International Relations, University of Oxford. The International Care Leavers Convention in India 2020 is a path breaking, first of its kind in...
Thursday, January 30, 2020
Thursday, January 23, 2020
Monday, December 16, 2019
What pathways do care experienced students take after graduation? asks Neil Harrison...getting care experienced students into higher education is only part of the story. Read more
Friday, December 13, 2019
Wednesday, December 11, 2019
The inaugural Rees Centre Annual Lecture 2019 was delivered by a panel of speakers on the topic of school exclusions and issues for looked after and adopted children. Harry Daniels,...
Thursday, December 5, 2019
Wednesday, December 4, 2019
Tuesday, November 26, 2019
Monday, November 25, 2019
Lisa Holmes, Associate Professor and Director of the Rees Centre comments on the use of algorithms in children's social care
Thursday, November 21, 2019
Wednesday, October 30, 2019
Professor Judy Sebba Children in need are half as likely to achieve strong passes in English and Maths GCSE, when controlling for SEN, low income, ethnicity, EAL and school moves,...
Monday, October 21, 2019
Monday, October 21, 2019
Monday, October 14, 2019
The educational outcomes of children in care continue to be a concern in all countries in which relevant data are collected. In this special edition of the Oxford Review of...
Monday, October 14, 2019
This special edition (open access until Feb 2020) presents a range of research reported at the ESRC Seminar Series on Fostering Teenagers, co-hosted by the Rees Centre. Each paper is followed by...
Monday, October 14, 2019
Tuesday, August 13, 2019
Wednesday, July 31, 2019
A snapshot of our activities over the last 2 months. Rees Centre newsletter for July: Including launch of outcomes framework funded by the Nuffied Foundation.
Wednesday, July 24, 2019
How do we know if children's social care services make a difference? The development of an Outcomes Framework based on the views of those who plan, deliver and use these services,...
Friday, July 12, 2019
This article was first published on The Conversation on 24 May 2019. Author: Dr Neil Harrison, Rees Centre. After years of decline, school exclusions are on the rise again, according...
Thursday, June 20, 2019
Theconversation.com Article by Neil Harrison (Deputy Director of the Rees Centre and Associate Professor, University of Oxford) Read Now
Friday, June 14, 2019
Friday, May 31, 2019
Sunday, May 26, 2019
Thursday, May 23, 2019
Tuesday, May 21, 2019
Wednesday, May 15, 2019
Wednesday, May 15, 2019
The Rees Centre and The Alan Turing Institute will be partnering with the What Works Centre for Children’s Social Care for the ethics review of machine learning in children’s social care. The What Works...
Sunday, May 12, 2019
Care leavers’ transition into the labour market in England This new study, led by the Rees Centre with the University of York and funded by the Nuffield Foundation, will be...
Saturday, May 11, 2019
Thursday, May 9, 2019
Neil Harrison and Julie Selwyn We have primarily focused in the past on the education of children within the social care system – and mainly those who are being fostered. We will...
Tuesday, April 16, 2019
Wednesday, April 3, 2019
Richard Glenny is the Deputy Head of Priestlands School in the New Forest, a large secondary school with 1250 students and more than 150 staff. Richard gave a Rees Centre webinar...
Wednesday, January 30, 2019
Do care leavers enter higher education with the same propensity as other young people? Neil Harrison (Deputy Director of Rees Centre for Fostering and Education) explains why the data we currently use...
Wednesday, January 16, 2019
Wednesday, January 16, 2019
wonkhe.com Opinion piece co-authored by Neil Harrison (Deputy Director of the Rees Centre for Fostering and Education). Read now.
Friday, January 11, 2019
The department is delighted to welcome Neil Harrison as Senior Researcher in Education and Children’s Social Care and Deputy Director of the Rees Centre for Fostering and Education. Neil joins...
Monday, November 12, 2018
Times Higher Education Neil Harrison (Deputy Director of the Rees Centre and Senior Researcher) quoted in a THE article on social mobility in HE. Read now.
Thursday, September 27, 2018
Sir John Timpson led an online webinar on 27 June 2018. He explained his personal experiences with his late wife Alex of fostering 90 children and adopting two and their lightbulb moment...
Thursday, July 5, 2018
Thursday, May 3, 2018
Duncan Roberts, head teacher of Maple Cross Primary School, Hertfordshire, presented a webinar on 26 March 2018 outlining his school’s involvement in attachment training. Context Duncan outlined his schools’ context and leadership...
Thursday, April 19, 2018
Saturday, March 10, 2018
Wednesday, January 10, 2018
Monday, July 10, 2017
A feasibility study of STrAWB, funded by NIHR, following on from pilot testing, STrAWB aims to support the well-being of looked-after children.
The project will examine and explore specialist and therapeutic fostering and assess its effectiveness for adolescents, alongside addressing professionalisation in respect to fostering relationships.
A landmark research project into the outcomes of open adoption from out- of-home care in Australia.
This project will devise and test an evidence-informed guideline designed to inform practice when the State intervenes to protect infants at birth through care proceedings.
This evaluation assesses the impact on policies and practice for looked after children when local authorities take part in the Bright Spots Programme.
An evaluation of new models of providing adoption services in England
An action research project that aims to help local authorities better understand the needs of the children they look after through an anonymous online survey for looked after children aged 4-18yrs.
Study led by the Open University investigates how separated child migrants and those involved in their care make sense of care relationships and care practices.
A software tool that can be used to explore the relationship between needs, costs and outcomes of services provided to looked after children.
This five year research programme is evaluating the impact of 'whole school' attachment and trauma awareness training on experiences and outcomes for vulnerable young people
This large-scale study explores in detail what factors, including earlier education and training, contribute to whether care leavers are in employment at age 21.
This study investigates the educational trajectories, attainments and experiences of Children In Care and In Need, including the perspectives of parents, pupils and professionals.
A reading programme, co-designed with Queen’s University Belfast for children aged 7-9 in foster care using an approach called 'paired reading'.
We are developing and delivering evaluations for seven of the UK-based projects funded by the UK government's DfE Children’s Social Care Innovation Programme.
The Rees Centre is part of the Department of Education, University of Oxford, 15 Norham Gardens OX2 6PY
Tel: 01865 274050
For general enquiries, please email us: rees.centre@education.ox.ac.uk