The problems with resilience thinking

Covid-19, education and educational research

The Covid-19 pandemic has given new currency to the idea of resilience, in terms of adapting to and recovering from adversity. However, in recent years the discourse of resilience has become...

We need an evidence-based expert approach to the post-pandemic recovery of young people

Covid-19, education and educational research

In December 2020, the Westminster government promised to set up an expert group to consider solutions to the huge variability of the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on pupils’ educational...

Not CRED-ible

On 31 March, the government published the report from its Commission for Race and Ethnic Disparity. It had briefed the headlines the day before and did a full media round before journalists, let...

Children have a right to be involved in decisions about their future education, health and wellbeing

Covid-19, education and educational research

Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, children across the world have experienced significant changes to their lives. Save the Children (2020, p. 4) report that an estimated 99 per cent of...

Bubble, toil and trouble: School leadership as Shakespearean tragedy in and after Covid-19

Covid-19, education and educational research

In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, the witches exacerbate divisions, push ambition through brute force, hierarchy and power; their interventions end in the wicked destruction of leadership potential and...

England’s teaching school ‘super-hub’ policy: Policy meets practice

On 10 February 2021, the Department for Education (DfE) announced the creation of 81 ‘super-hubs’, properly known as teaching school hubs (TSHs). These, in addition to the six ‘test and...

Children’s agency: What is it, and what should be done?

'Oh my God. The Principal came in today and chose a child to read. I knew what I had to do: I knew I had to remind the child to say "p. 35 chapter 4"; I had to remind the child to hold the book in...

The £350 billion home-schooling question

Covid-19, education and educational research

Education research hit the headlines recently. The BBC reported research claiming that time spent out of school due to coronavirus could cost each child £40,000 in lifetime earnings. By the time...

BERA Research Commission 2021/22 – A teacher and youth co-created manifesto for Education for Environmental Sustainability (EfES) from the four jurisdictions of the UK

The primary objective of this commission is to co-create a manifesto for Education for Environmental Sustainability (EfES) in secondary education in the UK.  To achieve this, it will design and...

BERA Bites, issue 6: Researching education & mental health: From ‘Where are we now?’ to ‘What next?’

The mental health and wellbeing of learners and teaching staff rank among some of the most pressing issues facing education in the coming decade. Even before the Covid-19 crisis hit, there was...

Access denied: Education in rural India during Covid-19

Covid-19, education and educational research

The disruptive effects of the Covid-19 pandemic are borne disproportionately by already disadvantaged social groups. When all educational institutions across India shifted to online and distance...

Education during a pandemic: Lessons from the United Arab Emirates

Covid-19, education and educational research

Even before the start of the Covid-19 pandemic I was wondering, as a teacher and researcher, whether technology and digital platforms would replace teachers and traditional classrooms in the short...