‘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...

Is it still worth calculating Progress 8?

Education systems around the world increasingly monitor school performance and hold schools to account using student data from high-stakes examinations (OECD, 2008; NFER, 2018). England has been...

Digital learning within custodial education

Online learning provides a platform for collaboration where learners can share resources and learning outcomes (Kelsey & Taylor-Beswick, 2016; Stoll et al., 2006; Scott, 2018). However, prisoners...

Supporting teachers who have trained during the pandemic to thrive in their first year of teaching: A guide for secondary schools

Covid-19, education and educational research

Everyone who has worked in schools and in initial teacher education (ITE) will remember 2020–21 as one of significant disruption and challenge, and none more so than those whose professional...

We need to call race by its name in teacher education

The challenge of educating student teachers in taking an anti-racist stance is a constant one. Despite the current worldwide focus on race inequalities, there is always the danger of erasing these...

Considering teacher wellbeing and commitment to teaching in the event of a ‘firebreak’ lockdown this autumn

Covid-19, education and educational research

There are reports that an October lockdown might be used as a ‘firebreak’ if cases of the Covid-19 virus rise too high with the return of schools and universities (Mason & Davis, 2021). As...

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...

A matter of inclusion: Schools continue to navigate government advice in support of students

Covid-19, education and educational research

As the school year in England begins once again against an evolving Covid-19 backdrop, we ask what this latest set of circumstances means for issues of inclusion, including which students will...