Relative age and the early years foundation stage profile

Who is attributed a ‘good level of development’ – and what might this tell us about how ‘good’ the EYFSP is?

Playful creativity

‘Intelligence is what you use when you don’t know what to do.’ (Attributed to Jean Piaget) Learning is often compromised by competitiveness (Brown & Vaughan, 2009). Bred from the...

New series of the BERA podcast

This autumn we have launched a new series of the BERA podcast. Over the next few weeks we will continue to feature emerging research which connects to policy and practice.  Already we have...

Covid-19 school closures, working from home and family challenges: A novel solution

Covid-19 presented a set of challenges for UK universities, and where ‘business as usual’ was expected, staff working practices intensified. The impact of this has not been equal, with the...

Contemporary curriculum debates in early childhood education and care

With the revised Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) becoming statutory, the Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) special interest group arranged a webinar series to provide space for wider...

Highlights from the first 1,000 BERA Blog posts

This series celebrates our one-thousandth BERA Blog post by republishing some of our favourites from among the posts that have proven most popular since the blog began in 2015. The collection both...

BERA Blog post #1,000

Highlights from the first 1,000 BERA Blog posts

It hardly seems possible, six years after its creation of the BERA Blog, that this is its one-thousandth post. The brainchild of BERA CEO Nick Johnson, in 2015 the BB set out to provide...

BERA funds over £40,000 of research on race and ethnicity

We are delighted to announce new funding looking at aspects of race and ethnicity across the education sector. There are five recipients of the new round of small grant funding: Melissa Jogie...

How can books hit the sweet spot between the reader and the story character?

Why do some stories resonate with readers more than others? It is probably because they minimise the distance between the reader and the story character. The classic reader-response theory...

Examining the impact of Covid-19 on children’s centres in Bristol

Education & Covid-19: BERA Small Grants Fund research reports

Lessons for policy, practice & promoting life chances in the early years

High standards, not high stakes

An alternative to SATs that will transform England’s testing & school accountability system in primary education & beyond

The impact of Covid-19 on early years settings & their staffing decisions

Education & Covid-19: BERA Small Grants Fund research reports

This report shares insights into how Covid-19 impacted upon on the early years workforce in England, Wales and Scotland during the first year of the pandemic, focusing on how pre-existing issues...