Identifying tensions between school readiness policy and teacher beliefs, knowledge and practice in early childhood education

This blog post is based on my recent article published in the British Educational Research Journal (Kay, 2023). Using data from semi-structured interviews with two teachers, the paper addresses...

Towards a new understanding of leadership in early childhood education and care

BERA Conference 2023

The aspiration for a transformed early childhood education and care (ECEC) sector, providing vital development for children before school in England, characterised by effective leadership and...

Spring 2024

Research Intelligence issue 158: Unheard voices: Language education outside the mainstream

Expert Panel on Educational Research Funding

BERA Council has agreed to establish an expert panel to investigate the situation regarding funding for educational research in the UK. David James (Cardiff University, and chair of the REF 2021...

Researching gender and sexuality

Gender and sexualities research carries unique sensitivities and challenges that can create a range of barriers for postgraduate and early career educational researchers. The event Researching...

Editorial: Researching gender and sexuality

Gender and sexualities research carries unique sensitivities and challenges that can create a range of barriers for postgraduate and early career educational researchers. Our event ‘Researching...

How do concepts of gender emerge in the early childhood education and care environment? Thinking with furniture?

When one thinks of a nursery or preschool, the memory of sensory experiences such as sounds, smells and colours spring to mind. Although early childhood education and care (ECEC) spaces are...

The Forest School ‘facilitator’ identity: Dilemmas of helping or hindering learners’ agency?

The Forest School (FS) approach emphasises learner-centredness, play-based learning and long-term and repeated experiences, set within a woodland context. Adults facilitate, rather than direct,...

Unearthing resilience in early childhood education: The case of a private school in rural Peru

BERA Conference 2023

Without doubt the Covid-19 pandemic caused unprecedented disruption to early childhood education (ECE) across the globe, and many communities are still dealing with the consequences of school...

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...

What are we educating for in early childhood education?

The overall question of this BERA Blog special issue can be understood in two different ways: what is being done now at the current time by educators (what are we educating for), and it can also...

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...