The 10 books that made me a sociologist of education

Over a period of 45 years working in higher education I have accumulated a lot of books. I am now sorting through that accumulation and trying to decide which I will keep and which I will pass on...

Is there a tension between teaching and assessing critical-thinking skills?

The widely varying quality of responses to the global Coronavirus pandemic presents yet another example of the importance of critical-thinking skills among leaders and the public dealing with...

Social constructivism and participative learning beyond bricks and mortar

Covid-19, education and educational research

As the world grapples with the short-to-longer-term imperative to identify distance- and remote-learning alternatives to previously face-to-face instruction, I am struck that some of the key...

Rethinking the ‘digital’ curriculum: What else should we be aiming for?

After years of excitement and enthusiasm about all things digital, recent times have seen us collectively becoming more sceptical about the relationship between technology and society. We are now...

Time for educational researchers to take their place in the sun?

Covid-19, education and educational research

As recent posts on the BERA Blog have demonstrated, in the quiet chaos of lockdown a range of taken-for-granted assumptions (Courtney et al., 2020), competencies (Zhou & Wolstencroft, 2020) and...

Tensions in current curriculum reform and the development of teachers’ professional autonomy

Current curriculum reform in Wales offers the chance for teachers to have greater freedom in developing pedagogical approaches that meet the needs of their pupils. The Successful Futures report...

COVID-19: Online teaching and learning

A new virtual issue of BJET Online learning and teaching has necessarily come to the fore over the past few weeks and months as we adapt to Covid-19. In a new virtual issue of the British Journal...

Making post-GCSE decisions during the Covid-19 crisis: The need for action

Covid-19, education and educational research

In the public debate about the impacts of the Covid-19 lockdown on education, much attention has understandably been given to concerns about disadvantaged children falling behind at school, and to...

Re‐educating the nation? A Curriculum Journal special issue on the new curriculum for Wales

A new special issue of the Curriculum Journal, published simultaneously in English and Welsh, explores the many issues that arise when a country decides to rewrite the school curriculum –...

The art of connecting: How primary and secondary teachers are building a framework for expressive arts

Curriculum reform in Wales is heralding a raft of changes for schools, one of which is the rise in significance of the expressive arts. The new Welsh curriculum for learners aged 3-to-16, which...

Tackling the languages ‘crisis’: Supporting multilingualism in the new curriculum for Wales

What can be done to inspire an uplift for modern foreign languages across Wales in the future?

Learning progression in the humanities: Identifying tensions in articulating progression in the humanities in Wales

The current curriculum reforms in Wales (Welsh Government, 2020) represent a significant shift in thinking and organisation. As well as the introduction of the ‘four purposes’ to drive...