What ‘building back better’ really means for our children: Anne Longfield’s final speech as the children’s commissioner for England

Covid-19, education and educational research

On February 17 2021, Anne Longfield OBE gave her final speech as the children’s commissioner for England. Her words were a clarion cry for the UK’s children, who for the past 12 months have...

BERA Bites, issue 6: Researching education & mental health: From ‘Where are we now?’ to ‘What next?’

The mental health and wellbeing of learners and teaching staff rank among some of the most pressing issues facing education in the coming decade. Even before the Covid-19 crisis hit, there was...

The BERA Blog: Highlights of 2020

BERA Blog end of year highlights

A warm and wintery ‘welcome’ to all our readers, wherever you may be. This time last year I wished all of you a seasonal ‘yo-ho-ho’, blissfully unaware of how 2020 would play out. Today,...

Exploring early years degrees and graduate employment outcomes

Degree-qualified practitioners contribute to the quality of early years education and improve children’s outcomes. However, little is known about the content and structure of early years...

Reading during lockdown: Supporting vulnerable learners

Covid-19, education and educational research

Learning to read is perhaps the most important thing we learn to do. There is significant evidence that being a reader impacts on future social, emotional, economic and academic success. A failure...

Supporting quiet, shy or anxious Black, Asian and minority ethnic children with English as an additional language in the early years

Education, #BlackLivesMatter and racial justice in the UK and beyond

Many articles that have been written in relation to the Black Lives Matter agenda, state that education is key to improving Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) children’s life chances...

Post Covid-19: A ‘brave new world’?

Covid-19, education and educational research

Globally, the impact of Covid-19 has been truly unprecedented and unforeseen. In all sectors of society, in all nations, the almost immediate, total suspension of everything we know has left many...

The increasing need to educate children about their rights: An outcome of lockdown measures

Covid-19, education and educational research

Many children in the United Kingdom, and elsewhere in the world, have been away from their regular school and early year settings, spending lengthy periods of time at home since the beginning of...

Children’s reflections on home education during the Covid-19 pandemic: Implications for the return to school

Covid-19, education and educational research

As school leaders plan the return to school following the global pandemic, it is crucial that their educational decisions are informed by research into the everyday realities of enforced home...

Deaf children and social wellbeing: The evolution of the special school for the deaf

Research has shown that deaf children experience disadvantage in the education system (Berry, 2017). This disadvantage is associated with a lack of tailored pedagogy, being educated in...

Activism, autonomy and identities: Stories from early childhood educators

In pre-Covid England, early childhood education and care (ECEC) was already in a state of uncertainty. A maelstrom of structural conditions and an onslaught of initiatives had manifested as...

Birth to three matters for schools: Attachment theory and readiness to learn

The role of attachment theory in education has frequently been questioned, as typified in the recent Twitter exchange on ‘edutwitter’ below. Figure 1: Anonymised screenshot of a tweet and...