Special Interest Group
The Social Theory and Education SIG aims to support and develop theoretically informed educational research, to engage with and facilitate new social theory and to explore the relationships between theory-work and research. Social theory here refers to the use of theoretical frameworks to explain and analyse social action, social meanings and large-scale social structures.
The field is interdisciplinary, drawing ideas from a range of contributing disciplines but particularly from politics, philosophy and sociology. Social theory aims to develop concepts and ontologies that can provide social research with conceptual and methodological tools for analytical and interpretational work.
The SIG plans to accommodate and encourage work which applies and develops ideas and concepts from social theory to education research, as well as exploring and critiquing the contributions to education of major social theorists. Our primary focus is substantive research applications of social theory, but we will also seek to support the development of new theoretical work and reflexively consider the role of theory in relation to research and the analysis of data.
Associate Professor at Durham University
Cristina Costa is Associate Professor in the School of Education at Durham University. She has a strong interest in educational and digital practices and inequalities. She particularly interested in exploring the intersection of education and...
Professor of Education and Technology at De Montfort University
Richard Hall is Professor of Education and Technology at De Montfort University. A National Teaching Fellow, Richard directs the research and evaluation work of the Decolonising DMU project. He is the author of The Hopeless University:...
Associate Professor in Educational Leadership, Management & Governance at University of Bath
Dr Denise Mifsud is Associate Professor in Educational Leadership, Management and Governance at the University of Bath. She has many years of practitioner experience in education settings in both teaching and top-level leadership roles within the...
Welcome to the BERA Annual Conference 2023 The programme is now live online. We have a fantastic array of presentations! The mobile app will soon be launched, which will allow you to favourite...
Covid-19 has recalibrated academic experiences of their work, cultures and institutions, and enabled the entangled relationship between theory and practice to be rethought. The purpose of this...
The Social Theory and Education SIG aims to support and develop theoretically informed educational research, to engage with and facilitate new social theory and to explore the relationships...
Call for SIG Convenor The Social Theory and Education SIG aims to support and develop theoretically informed educational research, to engage with and facilitate new social theory and to explore...
Would you be willing to act as a reviewer for abstracts submitted to the BERA Annual Conference 2023? To be involved, you will need to: be a BERA Member be available to referee abstracts...
This blog post is a summary of the discussion that took place during the recent BERA event dedicated to Ukraine: ‘The voice of Ukrainian Educational Research Association across borders or is...
Continue reading blog postJoin the Social Theory and Education SIG annual meeting to network with colleagues, learn about the activities of the SIG over the last year and plans for 2023. This meeting will be hosted...
BERA is funding six new small grants in 2022/23 under the title “Learning for all”. These grants support projects which examine educational provision in its widest sense that seeks to provide...
