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Competing, complementary and missing discourses of social justice in early childhood education and care in England

Earlier this year the University of Manchester’s Institute of Education hosted the first of four events to support BERA’s research commission into competing discourses in early childhood...

Is pupil premium funding the answer to a worldwide problem?

Worldwide, socioeconomically disadvantaged students have lower average attainment outcomes at school, and poorer opportunities once they have left school. In England, poorer pupils are also...

Research Ethics Case Studies: 1. Twitter, data collection & informed consent

Research Ethics Case Studies 2019

BERA’s Research Ethics Case Studies series begins by looking at the ethical issues that can arise when using social media as a means to recruit participants or gather data. To what extent are...

BERA Research Ethics Case Studies: 3. Anticipating the application & unintended consequences of practitioner research

Research Ethics Case Studies 2019

This third entry in BERA’s Research Ethics Case Studies series considers the unintended consequences of practitioner research – or, by extension, any research project that involves multiple...

Informed consent and assent, and the ethical review process, with/for research with the very young

This post introduces the challenges associated with gaining ethical review board approval, and securing the informed consent and assent of participant families, in educational research. It draws...

What is ‘variation’ in early years mathematics?

As we near the end of our year-long project into what effects five- and six-year-olds’ ability to count-on when adding, here we reflect upon our journey. What led us to this topic was the recent...

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...

Practical and useful research? First, sort out the theory

Researchers need to begin by examining their theories to enable them to control their research, and avoid the risk of being misled by unexamined beliefs.

Frances Gallannaugh

Self Employed Research Associate

Frances Gallannaugh is currently a SIG Convenor of the Independent Researchers’ Forum.

Carrie Birch

As an independent researcher/practitioner Carrie’s work in community and school settings with adults, under-fives, families, and organisations supports her interests in social justice, and...

Summer 2019

How inclusive of children are our educational research methods? Research Intelligence issue 139: Marking 30 years of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child This special issue of Research...

Having a secure and safe place to conduct the fieldwork: Further anecdotal tales in pursuit of the elusive doctorate

In this blog we consider the more logistical aspects of completing a PhD – namely, ensuring that you have a secure and safe place in which to conduct the fieldwork. We both feel strongly about...