Writing and iPads in the early years classroom

In a recent research project I was involved in, ‘Mobile Devices in Early Learning’ (Gray et al 2017), a teacher, when discussing children’s writing, told me,   ‘The iPad has...

Challenging the evidence on the new baseline test in reception

In this blog, the authors of the BERA report A baseline without basis: The validity and utility of the proposed reception baseline assessment in England preview the findings of their research....

Child-friendly research in the early years

Highlights from the first 1,000 BERA Blog posts

This article is part of the BERA Blog special issue ‘Researching the Curriculum in schools and colleges: Practice, Professionalism and Innovation’ (read more). How can the curriculum be...

The making of the RE-searchers approach: Close-to-practice theorisation and conceptualisation

This article is part of the BERA Blog special issue ‘Researching the Curriculum in schools and colleges: Practice, Professionalism and Innovation’ (read more). This is the tale of two...

‘The Talk’ – a play to get adults talking about relationship and sex education

A child puts a question in an anonymous box. What happens next? In 2017, Justine Greening, former secretary of state for education, announced that relationships and sex education (RSE) would be...

Bold beginnings or black holes? The encroachment of summative assessment into the reception curriculum

Black holes themselves are invisible against the backdrop of space. We only become aware of their presence as they begin to drag in objects around them, warping the very fabric of the universe....

Effectively deploying teaching assistants to support pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND)

This blog draws on an important piece of research published by the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) in England in 2015: Making the Best use of Teaching Assistants (Sharples, Webster and...

Rethinking reasons behind lower educational outcomes of looked after children

The lower educational attainment of looked after children compared with their peers not in care has long been the subject of interest and research. The dominant position is that the reason behind...

Close-to-practice research project

BERA has identified close-to-practice research as an area of interest for the Association, and many BERA members are also committed to such work in the context of teacher education and...

Is a shared understanding the key to effective learning?

A child starts learning in the womb, but real learning is perceived to start much later and is certainly not often associated with the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS).  Real learning is often...

The value of Literacy as a Social Practice approach to exploring young children’s experience of being taught to read and write in school

Over the last thirty years in English and Welsh State primary education, successive governments have placed increasing emphasis on ‘raising standards’ in literacy. Children’s attainment or...

Hyper-governance and datafication in early years education: children as ‘abilities-machines’ or ‘like sausages in a factory’

The growing use of data in education has both been lauded as a revolution and criticized as detrimental to teachers and children; no wonder then that it is increasingly a focus for educational...