The Document Summary Service (DSS) was established in 1989 in response to the major changes in education flowing from the 1988 Education Reform Act. The service provided ten two-page summaries of education reports per month (excluding August), from a range of resources incuding the Department of Education, Ofsted, Sutton Trust and Ofqual. The summaries were packaged in boxes and sent to a range of subscribers including universities, schools, governors, local authorities and many others involved with education and schooling.
Around 2010, it became a hybrid service with subscribers either receiving a DSS box per month, or via a monthly email where each listing had a web link to the full report. Previous reports began to become viewable by subscribers on the University of Bristol School of Education website. The service became fully online around 2013.
In April 2020, in response to the global pandemic and the fast-changing advice around education, a weekly update was sent to subscribers and now forms part of the service.
In September 2020, a toolkit was developed for CPD and as a learning resource for subscribers.
In 2021, over 67,000 individuals have access to this service and there is now 10 years of archived summaries available to subscribers.
The service has come a long way since the days of packing boxes monthly and the team felt that a new name would better reflect the services now offered so on the 6th September it was officially renamed as the Education Policy and Research Service (EPRS).
Subscribers to the full EPRS service and student subscription receive:
- 10 education reports summarised and sent to their inbox monthly (exluding August)
- A weekly email round-up of education news during term time
- 10 years of arichved reports searchable by keywords
- A toolkit to maximise the service
The EPRS have also launched two additional subscription types; a student subscription and the EPRS Light.