Through adversity comes strength: Educational policy reform and developing research capacity in Wales

The future of educational research in Wales

Introducing a special issue of the BERA Blog on education in Wales, to mark the conference, ‘The future of educational research in Wales’, held in Cardiff on 14 November 2018. Education...

Struggles surrounding prison radicalisation research

Since the 9/11 attack, terrorism studies have received a great volume of attention from academics. Terrorism is not a field that is easily researched, at least at first glance, and as such it...

Phonics ‘first and fast’… but at what cost?

Reading is one of life’s profound joys. According to reading expert Maryanne Wolf, reading changes the very structure of our brain and neural pathways; the act allows us to go beyond our own...

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...

Performative education policy and the challenges for teachers with specific learning differences

Presently there are gaps in the body of research on teachers with specific learning differences (SpLDs). Where research on the matter does exist, it tends to focus on resilience strategies in...

National curriculum in England: The first 30 years, part 2

This is the second in a two-part series on the development of the national curriculum; read part 1 here. The work of the expert panel, for the most recent review of the national curriculum...

National curriculum in England: The first 30 years, part 1

For the whole of the 1970s I taught in secondary schools. (I am that old!) At that time there was no national curriculum (NC), so teachers usually decided what to teach as well as how to teach....

BERA Bites: A resource for teachers, lecturers and students from the BERA Blog

The BERA Blog editors are pleased to announce the launch of a new series of publications: BERA Bites, edited collections of selected articles on key topics in education published on the BERA Blog....

DfE and NFER on baseline testing: Do they know what they do?

On 4 July 2018, the British Educational Research Association (BERA) expert panel on assessment published the report A baseline without basis (Goldstein et al 2018), in response to the Department...

The future of educational research in Wales

If you would like to view this in Welsh, please click here. The education system in Wales is currently on an ambitious and innovative reform journey and research and evidence informed practices...

BERA Research Commission 2018/2020 – Competing Discourses of Early Childhood Education and Care

Following the recent call for proposals, we are delighted to announce the first award for a Research Commission to run in 2019. Competing Discourses of Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC):...

Closing the gap in access to free ‘universal’ early education: What affects participation among low-income families?

For over a decade, all children in England have been entitled to free government-funded early education and care from the term after they turn three. One of the aims of this policy is to close the...