The BCF Curriculum Investigation Grant is intended to support research led by schools and colleges’ with a focus on curriculum inquiry and investigation. Normally, the grant is worth up to £5,000 for the winner. This prize, awarded annually, acknowledges the importance of research led by schools and colleges.

In addition to the £5,000 award, the recipient will be able to claim support to attend the BERA annual conference, if they are presenting their research.
The BCF Curriculum Investigation Grant is for applicants who are based within schools and colleges.

While it is possible that the applications will include collaborative partnerships with HE institutions we are keen to support schools and colleges led research and therefore ask the primary applicant to be based in a school or college.

Applications are scored out of 5 in each category and weighted against:

• Potential for impact on school/college curriculum
• Applicability of research to others in similar educational setting/sector
• Research quality, including rigour, transparency and validity, and conforms with BERA ethical guidelines
• (Potential) impact for policy-makers, practitioners and other research users

Applications must also include a detailed budget of how the funds will be spent.

Rigour can be defined as the accuracy and quality of research particularly in relation to the data collection tools, analysis and interpretation of findings. This might include ensuring that data collection tools are appropriate and consistent given the aim and research question/s, that data analysis methods have been used consistently and that conclusions drawn from data are reasonable.

Transparency relates to the need for clear, complete and explicit presentation of the research design, participants, data collected, findings, and of the researcher’s beliefs and role in relation to participants. Transparency enables readers to gain a clear view of the research process and how the findings were reached.

Validity assesses the extent to which the research design and study addresses the issue that the research was intended to explore. In other words, to what extent does the research design measure what it set out to, or reflect the particular phenomena it claims to represent?    

Expected outcomes of the project and of the project team are:

• An external public-facing final report detailing key findings from the research project and how these findings might be taken forward (maximum 5,000 words). (A template for this report can be found at the bottom of this page)
• A short post project evaluation detailing proceedings from the project (i.e. events, studies, meetings). The template for these reports can be found at the bottom of this page.
• An article for the BERA Blog
• Abstract submission to present the research at a BERA Conference

BERA and BCF support and opportunities:

• Complimentary BERA membership will be provided for up to 3 members of the project team working in the school or college. (Colleagues in HE institutions are not eligible for free BERA memberships)
• A member of BCF steering committee will act as a point of contact and support for the project. There is an expectation that the grant recipient will have regular meetings and updates with the assigned BCF mentor. Dates for these meetings will be outlined in an initial kick-off meeting.
• BERA will copy-edit, design, publish and market the public facing final report.
• BERA will lend events assistance for any key events led by the project team. The level of support may vary depending on discussions with the BERA events manager
• Budgetary support to present at the BERA conference, if a successful abstract is submitted

Before submitting an application, please ensure that applicants are able to meet the requirements on the following eligibility checklist:

• You must be currently employed/based at a school or college
• You can demonstrate that the research relates directly to curriculum investigation/inquiry
• You confirm you have read and will abide by the BERA ethical guidelines
• Applicants have sought the approval of their head teacher/principal.

Application Details

Application for the award should consist of

1. A submitted application on the BERA website
2. A 1200 word proposal detailing how the grant will enable applicants to do the following:
   • Identify an issue impacting on the theme
   • Design, implement and evaluate a response to the issue identified;
   • Disseminate the processes and outcomes of the inquiry/investigation within the school/college;
   • Develop a strategy to sustain curriculum investigation/inquiry within the school/college;
   • Contribute to research and scholarship in the study of the curriculum;
3. A budget detailing how the funds will be spent.

Funded Projects (see above for reports)

2022/2023

Nature connectedness through the Arts: Co creating a curriculum to support pupil wellbeing in primary schools

Towards Curriculum Design Coherence (CDC) in primary geography education for sustainability

Students as the Co-creators of the Sustainability Curriculum: Developing an Introductory Course on Climate Change, Social Justice and Sustainability

2021/22

‘Diversifying our narrative voices’ – decolonising our curriculum on three tiers

Can a whole school curriculum focus on Celebrating Diversity reduce the volume of racist incidents?

Sounding white, sounding right: interrogating language, race and curriculum in secondary education.

2020/2021

Play at the Heart of Scottish Early Years’ Family Learning

An empirical evaluation of ‘Big Questions’ as an organisational framework for interdisciplinary social studies in a Scottish high school

2018/2019 

Local language, school and community: curricular innovation towards closing the attainment gap.

Learning from Variation: How can variation theory can be applied to the use of manipulatives to support understanding of early number?

Exploring task design as an enabler of leading teaching in secondary schools

2016/2017

Diversity and Resolving the Digital Skills Crisis