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Echoes, mirrors and the need for dissenting voices to challenge closed-door policymaking

A recent blog post in Times Higher Education warned against the harmful effects of academics retreating into ‘echo chambers’ of their own making (Brooks, 2023). It argued that educationalists...

Under surveillance?

On 30 September 2023 the Observer newspaper reported that the UK government has been keeping files on the social media activity of ‘education critics’ and ‘at least nine experts’ have been...

Engaging low-income families in education research: An interdisciplinary exploratory study

BERA Conference 2023

Our comparative research project considered the challenges encountered when engaging low-income families in education research in the UK and China. In this blog post we highlight the context,...

Mobile phone bans in schools: Impact on achievement

Initial analysis of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) suggests that mobile phone bans might help with...

House of cards: The marketisation of school leadership qualifications in England

In 2017 the Department for Education (DfE) launched National Professional Qualifications (NPQs) in middle, senior and executive leadership, as well as a revamped NPQH for headteachers, to train...

Opportunity to help address the challenging histories of UK education’s past

BERA is supporting the British Psychological Society (BPS) in creating a pilot teaching resource for secondary school students on the history of IQ testing in the UK education system. The resource...

Expert Panel on Educational Research Funding

Expert Panel update BERA’s Expert Panel on educational research funding is continuing its work. After some initial meetings, the panel revised its aims and also engaged a RA who worked with the...

British Educational Research Journal: Call for special issues (2024)

This opportunity is now closed. The incoming editors of the British Educational Research Journal (BERJ) intend to publish a number of special issues during their tenure, which commences in...

Towards a mechanism for expert policy advice in education

There is a growing consensus that existing arrangements for policy making in education are far from optimal. Based on a recent article published in British Educational Research Journal, this...

BERA’s 50th Anniversary

In 2024, we marked the significant milestone of our 50th anniversary. This occasion gave us an opportunity to honour our history while looking ahead to the future. Together, BERA made exciting...

Teaching ‘policy analysis’ through a case-based approach in higher education: Context of Pakistan

Teaching a course on ‘policy analysis’ remains challenging for several reasons: drawing from multiple theoretical threads (Heck, 2004); relying mainly on ‘desk reviews’ of policies as...

Editorial: What are we educating for? Introducing the BERA Blog Special Issue

This BERA Blog special issue started out as a seminar series in which we brought together policymakers, educational practitioners and researchers to discuss what we are educating for across the...