The fragilities in the English education system revealed by Covid-19, and how to put them right

Covid-19, education and educational research

Covid-19 has presented schools with a series of dilemmas since lockdown began, and continues to do so as schools seek to reopen to all their pupils. There have been few reliable sources of advice...

Closing the Covid-19 gap: Where should interventions begin?

Covid-19, education and educational research

This year coronavirus has put unprecedented pressure on our schools. It has been inspiring, as we continued to support our young people through the global pandemic, to see so many creative...

English instrumental music teaching: A model for authentic learning

Covid-19, education and educational research

At the time of writing, as we move through the Covid-19 pandemic, most children in the UK have been away from school for nearly half a year, no end-of-year public examinations have taken place,...

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...

This is not a one-year blip: If we have to have a national assessment system, it shouldn’t be this one

This is not a one-year blip: If we have to have a national assessment system, it shouldn’t be this one Although calls for root-and-branch reform of our national examinations systems aren’t...

Students’ anxiety about the allocations of grades for cancelled high-stakes public examinations

‘My main anxiety at the moment is how I am going to be graded.’

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...

Lost in translation: The translation of Article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child into educational legislation

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) (UN, 1989) includes 54 articles outlining rights and freedoms for children. The UNCRC provides formal acknowledgement of the rights...

Decolonisation of the curriculum from the sidelines? Responsibility transfer and neo-nationalism

The tragic events in Minnesota with the death of George Floyd have given rise to mass waves of protest around the world, setting at the forefront of public debate the workings of racism,...

Agility, return and recovery: Our new Covid context for schooling and teacher education?

Covid-19, education and educational research

Previously on the BERA blog (Kidd, 2020a) I have drawn attention to the work of Glade Primary School, an east-London school in the borough of Redbridge, England, and their ‘agile’ adoption of...

Identifying the potential impacts of Covid-19 on school-based sexuality education

Covid-19, education and educational research

The ideas presented in this blog were developed in dialogue with a number of English sexuality education organizations, including acetUK, It Happens, Susie March, Think for Yourself, Teaching...