Are LGBT+ people underrepresented in academia?

Higher education institutions (HEIs) rightly seek to be diverse and inclusive. Many initiatives focus on LGBT+ people as a group which is presumed to be underrepresented. Now, for the first time,...

Degrees of difference: Exploring degree-award gaps

At the BERA Conference 2023 our symposium was the first to examine attainment disparities in racially minoritised university students. Four papers showed how interpersonal relationships,...

Understanding and improving the wellbeing of postgraduate taught students: A longitudinal study

Research from around the globe has highlighted that university student wellbeing is lower than that of the general adult population (see for example Adlaf et al., 2001; Larcombe et al., 2014), and...

Playing with Playmobil: Supporting undergraduate conceptual understanding in environmental and sustainability education

Playful approaches to learning are well established when teaching children, especially those in early childhood. But there is mounting research evidence about the value of playful learning in...

The role of language models in student learning and assessment

Artificial intelligence in educational research and practice

Language models, such as ChatGPT, Google Bard, claude.ai and pi.ai, are artificial intelligence-powered chatbots that generate intelligent-sounding text when responding to user prompts. Students...

Women in higher education leadership in Nigeria, South Africa and the UK: Barriers and challenges

Numerous studies in higher education have examined women’s leadership in academic institutions both within specific countries and from an international perspective (Barnard et al., 2022;...

Re-examining SDG 4 through decoloniality: The case of Adivasis, India’s indigenous people

Decolonisation is a continuous struggle for many countries in the Global South, yet it is often overlooked within the context of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Among other ambitions,...

A global goal but local challenges: Perspectives on education in the Global South

This BERA Blog special issue highlights educational topics in the Global South that require urgent attention if we want to reach the goal of quality education for all. The contributions illustrate...

Twitter’s contributions to the neurodivergent educator

Introduction In this blog post, I share my research journey, blending my pursuit of a Doctorate in Education (EdD) with being a neurodivergent researcher. I focus on a study exploring how...

AI is the answer: What was the question?

Artificial intelligence in educational research and practice

As we navigate through a significant technological paradigm shift, particularly in the education and healthcare sectors, my new book (Krumsvik, 2023) delves into the intricacies of artificial...

Presenting at an e-festival: Experiences of an early career researcher

In this blog post, I share my experiences of presenting at the National Centre for Research Methods (NCRM) e-Festival. After outlining the initial application, the run-up to the event and the...

BERA Bites, issue 9: What are we educating for?

BERA Bites

This BERA Bites collection started out as a seminar series in which policymakers, educational practitioners and researchers came together to discuss what we are educating for across the English...