The place of education in the government’s draft sustainability and climate change strategy

Recent research on climate change education in England indicates an absence of policy and pro-environmental ambition, and obstruction in relation to both environmental sustainability in general,...

What is the purpose of school and who should control it?

We all learned at school Churchill’s comment that ‘democracy is the worst form of government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time’ (quoted in Langworth,...

Rethinking how we can improve the diversity of the teaching workforce in England

The lack of black and minority ethnic (BAME) teachers and headteachers in English schools is a growing concern facing policymakers in England. In a recent conference of school leaders, Nadhim...

The BERA Blog: Highlights of 2021

BERA Blog end of year highlights

Yuletide greetings and festive cheer to all our readers and authors, wherever you may be. In these challenging times we thank all of you for your continued support of and engagement with the BERA...

Rent strikes and the continuing relevance of Paulo Freire at 100

Against the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic, student rent strikes took place in many universities in England. Lockdowns and moves to online learning meant that students were at times required to...

Winter 2021/22

Education: Mapping the discipline Research Intelligence issue 149 This issue presents a variety of perspectives on the present and future of education as a discipline, responding in part to a...

Does money motivate teachers?

Labour economists have long been interested in investigating how wages affect worker productivity. Specifically, does paying a worker a higher wage make them work harder, or more productively, in...

‘To fit in at school, you have to be a robot’: Do care farms offer a viable alternative?

In a recent and yet-to-be-published qualitative study, I explored the possible contribution of care farming (the therapeutic use of farming practices) to young people’s engagement with learning....

Music teachers are curriculum designers

It is fair to say that the model music curriculum has caused quite a stir in music classrooms in England. A national curriculum already exists for music, and while it is only statutory for around...

Call for papers: Decolonial and anti-racist perspectives in teacher training and education curricula in the UK

A special issue of the Curriculum Journal

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, education and educational research

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...