School Partnerships

CRAE is honoured to work closely with a number of schools through our research partnerships.

The Pan London Autism Schools Network (PLASN) is a network of schools from across London that all specialise in autism. The PLASN-Research group is a subgroup of PLASN that provides links between these schools and autism researchers (from a range of universities).

This research-practice link enables us to identify priority topics for research that have a positive impact on the educational experiences of autistic children and young people. By working collaboratively, we ensure that schools adopt evidence-based practice. The network is chaired by CRAE’s Laura Crane, together with Lucia Santi (Head Teacher at The Grove School in Harringey). PLASN-R now has more than 15 educators and staff from 15 autism special school, and researchers from the UCL Institute of Eduaction, King’s College London, University of East London, City University and the Evelina London.

CRAE also work to produce the biannual PLASN-R newsletters, which detail the latest research projects that members are currently involved in. We have released Issues 1 - 4 to date. All are made freely available for wider dissemination to share best practice. Find them here: https://crae.ioe.ac.uk/plasn-r/