Between a hard place and a hard place: A study of ethical dilemmas experienced by student teachers while on practicum

Drawing attention to the types of ethical challenges faced by experienced teachers has been an internationally common teaching approach in pre-service teacher education when exploring the ethical...

Changing culture, changing early childhood curriculum in China

School-based curriculum development (SBCD) has been advocated in order to enhance the quality of early childhood education within the context of modernisation and globalisation (Li, 2005)....

The ambiguities of knowledge, expertise and purpose

In a recent BERA blog, ‘The neglect of practice’ (14 December 2018; see also Hordern 2018), Jim Hordern argued that we need to consider not just what teachers do when they teach, but what...

Global Perspectives: Re-imagining Education

Thank you for your interest in this event. There is planned website maintenance this week so unfortunately we cannot take registrations online. Please call the BERA office on 0207 331 5217 to...

Can Swedish images of engineering help UK universities widen participation in engineering degrees?

Although recruitment to undergraduate degrees in engineering in the UK has risen slightly in recent years, concerns remain. Last year, Engineering UK predicted an ongoing 20,000+ shortfall in...

BERA Blog highlights from 2018

BERA Blog end of year highlights

A seasonal welcome to all our BERA Blog readers in the UK and around the world in this, our third end-of-year-highlights special edition. And what a year this has turned out to be. (I really will...

Integrating a parenting education programme into the primary and secondary school curriculum in Nigeria

All young children tend to misbehave from time to time, which makes it necessary for parents/guardians to step in with disciplinary measures. Although the need for child discipline is broadly...

Second language programmes in international schools

Spending a lifetime in the same career is becoming rare. However, it is what I chose – my career being teaching English as a second language. After spells teaching in universities, British...

Does bias in secondary school track recommendations change over time?

Tracked educational systems, such as many European systems for secondary education, are frequently associated with higher levels of educational inequity compared with comprehensive systems....

Young children’s perceptions of due process in schools’ disciplinary procedures

‘It’s not fair!’ is a common phrase heard in schools. But what is ‘fair’ in the eyes of pupils? Our recently published study in the British Educational Research Journal explored how...

A response to Komatsu and Rappleye: What if east Asia’s high achievement is not the result of long hours of study, cram schools, and exam pressure?

In their recent BERA Blog article (10 August), Komatsu and Rappleye raise the idea that the high achievement of Asian education systems – and specifically Japan’s educational achievements –...

What if east Asia’s high achievement is not the result of longer hours of study, cram schools, and exam pressure?

Since the inception of international comparative tests in the 1960s, Japanese students, like most students around east Asia, have consistently outscored their Anglo-American peers (that is, the...