Aims

At NRDC we aim to improve teaching practice and inform government policy through the generation of knowledge, by creating a strong research culture and by developing professional practice.

• Create and develop a coherent and reliable research resource to inform all aspects of literacy, language and numeracy policy, practice and further research 
• Exemplify good practice in the design and conduct and communication of research 
• Establish reliable and useful research evidence from major studies employing appropriate quantitative, qualitative and experimental methods 
• Create new theory, scholarship and innovative thinking in the field, encouraging interdisciplinary and multi-disciplinary work, with international and historical comparative dimensions 
• Establish a strong professional identity for teachers and other practitioners through research and development, with others, of new training and development frameworks 
• Devise new ways of transforming research and development into tools for the development of policy and practice and promote their use 
• Build research capacity and reflective practice through the systematic engagement of teachers and other practitioners in the Centre's work and supporting the career development of researchers in the field 
• Attract new sponsorship and sources of funding for research, development, evaluation and impact studies in adult literacy, language and numeracy 
• Engage the users of research, particularly employers and unions; teachers and the wider Skills for Life workforce; and agents of change in communities and wider social context