The Scottish Council for Research in Education (SCRE) was set up by the Scottish teachers’ union (The Educational Institute of Scotland, EIS) and the Association of Directors of Education in 1928. At that time, there were no similar organisations anywhere in the world. The Council itself consisted of some 60 members drawn from a wide range of bodies with an interest in education. This Council appointed a director and arranged for some basic funding to come from government local authorities, but the EIS provided free accommodation and secretarial assistance. For more than 20 years, most of the work was carried out by groups of teachers on a voluntary basis.