National Foundation for Educational Research
The National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) was founded in 1946 as a centre for educational research and development in England and Wales. NFER's head office is located at 'The Mere' in Slough, Berkshire, England. The foundation also has offices in Swansea and York.
The foundation's work includes educational research, evaluation of education and training programmes, and the development of assessments and specialist information services. The NFER also sponsors the CERUKplus (Current Educational Research in the UK) database, which contains details of current or on-going research in education and related disciplines, and hosts the EURYDICE Unit for England, Wales and Northern Ireland, in EURYDICE, the information network on education in Europe (www.nfer.ac.uk/eurydice).
The NFER founded nferNelson, which they sold to the Granada Learning/GL assessments for the 11+ and other common entrance exams Group in 2000.
Departments
There are five main departments that carry out research and a variety of other services;
- Department for Research in Assessment and Measurement
- Research, Evaluation and Information Department
- Research and Product Operations (RPO)
- Statistics Research and Analysis Group
- Communications, Marketing and Information Services