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Within and beyond the mainstream: realising alternative possibilities across educational stages

Online registration has now closed, to register please email events@bera.ac.uk   #BERA_AlternativeEducation Online event - pre-registration essential Across the global context of disrupted...

Harnessing young people’s interest to boost learning and belonging in flexi schools

For young people in flexi schools, being interested in their school learning is often a novel experience, and one they value highly. Having been disengaged from and by conventional education,...

A case study of Self Directed Education

The role of self motivation (Gopalan et al, 2017)and self direction (Biesta, 2010) has long been recognised in children’s learning.  However, in tightly managed and timetabled state run...

Intergenerational Learning and Challenge in Informal Places

Intergenerational practice has seen a growth in popularity in recent years due to societal changes and in an aim to reconnect the generations (Vanderven, 2011; Vieira and Sousa, 2016). Although...

Within and beyond the mainstream: realising alternative possibilities across educational stages

https://youtu.be/u2yEoiAF2bs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOtc4Ofrpfw&t=3467s   Across the global context of disrupted schooling during the pandemic, interest in alternative methods,...

Finding a new path: Building affective online learning spaces for creative writing and arts practice

While we have seen a justified focus upon schools during the Covid-19 crisis, relatively little attention has been paid to how teacher-educators are adjusting their practice. In the UK in...

Covid-19 and schooling for uncertainty

Covid-19 reveals an urgent need to focus on an area of worldwide educational significance: the importance for schools of engaging with uncertainty as a key facet of education. In recent decades, a...

Alternative Education & Arts Based Educational Research SIG Event

This event has now been postponed. To be kept updated on when this will be reschedule for, please email events@bera.ac.uk.

Video art as digital play for young children

In the 21st century, it seems that digital play is an inevitable experience for young children. Studies have claimed that digital devices can support children’s learning (Falloon, 2013) in...

Should arts learning be ‘left to the community’? How the experiences of homeschoolers are shining a light on classroom arts learning

Although there exists a significant body of empirical evidence that demonstrates the value of the arts in education (Bamford, 2006; Ewing, 2010; Unesco, 2010), they nevertheless continue to be...

Pedagogies for the ‘dis-engaged’: Who gets what from arts education?

Not all young people get to access arts programmes. For those who do, the benefits have been widely recognised (de Roeper & Savelsberg, 2009; Catterall, 2012). However not all young people...

Amber Fensham-Smith

Lecturer in Childhood and Youth Studies

Amber is a Senior Lecturer in Childhood and Youth Studies at the Open University in the School of Education, Childhood, Youth and Sport. Her research contributes to understanding learner...