Knowledge entitlement or misguided policy? The new multiplication tables check for primary children

In 2020, the UK government will introduce a multiplication tables check for primary school children aged 8–9 in England. ‘Times tables’ are a contentious issue because they represent a lot...

Inequality of pedagogy in English schools: How significant is it?

Addressing educational inequality has been a longstanding focus for educational research as well as for English education policy, yet the attainment gap between rich and poor remains constant...

Helping teachers improve their use of computer games for student learning

Games have been used in schools since the 1970s. Currently, the games most commonly used in classrooms are ‘edutainment’ games such as Math Blaster (Boyle et al., 2016). These games are...

Our ‘science capital’ research story

The ASPIRES/2 and Enterprising Science teams are delighted to be awarded the 2018 BERA Public Engagement and Impact Award, which reflects our sociological commitment to praxis and, specifically,...

BERA Blog highlights from 2018

BERA Blog end of year highlights

A seasonal welcome to all our BERA Blog readers in the UK and around the world in this, our third end-of-year-highlights special edition. And what a year this has turned out to be. (I really will...

Integrating a parenting education programme into the primary and secondary school curriculum in Nigeria

All young children tend to misbehave from time to time, which makes it necessary for parents/guardians to step in with disciplinary measures. Although the need for child discipline is broadly...

Arresting ‘epistemic violence’: Decolonising the national curriculum for history

A renewed call to ‘decolonise’ the curriculum has marked a shift in thinking about education and what should form the canon of curriculum content (le Grange, 2016). It has been amplified...

Can biology A-levels be trusted to look after the future teaching of high quality ecological science?

‘The primary place in which to work at ecology is necessarily in the field’ Tansley (1952/1987) Most contemporary ecologists could not envisage a world without fieldwork....

Confusion, contradiction and exclusion: The problems of British values and the national curriculum in history teaching

From 2010, the Conservative–Liberal Democrat coalition began to reassess the teaching of history in schools across the key stages of the national curriculum in England and Wales. After...

Hopes and fears: The development of a new curriculum in Wales

The future of educational research in Wales

Since 2015, ‘pioneer’ schools across Wales have been contributing to the development of a new national curriculum based on Professor Graham Donaldson’s (2015) report, Successful Futures. As...

Phonics ‘first and fast’… but at what cost?

Reading is one of life’s profound joys. According to reading expert Maryanne Wolf, reading changes the very structure of our brain and neural pathways; the act allows us to go beyond our own...

A new approach to observing different learners’ interactive behavior and learning performance in cMOOCs

With the development of web 2.0 technology and social media, learners can share, collect, and edit content with peers or friends to create knowledge. In these social spaces, learning approaches...