What are we educating for?

Although it has always been significant, the question of what we are educating for is now particularly important. There is growing consensus that the educational challenges we face require...

Editorial: What are we educating for? Introducing the BERA Blog Special Issue

What are we educating for?

This BERA Blog special issue started out as a seminar series in which we brought together policymakers, educational practitioners and researchers to discuss what we are educating for across the...

What could we be educating for in primary education?

What are we educating for?

We know that the primary timetable is overcrowded, testing is embedded in almost every year of a child’s primary schooling (Wyse et al., 2022), and expectations of what teachers must cover grow...

The complexity of the relations between policy, research and practice in primary education

What are we educating for?

I would like to believe that our national policymakers for primary school education seek out the relationship between policy, research and practice. I’d like to think that to achieve this they...

Creating an inclusive learning environment for autistic pupils at primary school

When you think of a typical primary school classroom, what comes to mind? Most likely it’s a brightly lit, stimulating space full of colour and sound – all designed to engage curious young...

Winter 2023/24

Research Intelligence issue 157: Research & practice on migration & education across the four nations of the UK

Towards curriculum design coherence in primary geography education for sustainability

BCF Curriculum Investigation Grant Research Reports

This report shares the work of four primary teachers from the West Midlands of England involved in a curriculum investigation project funded by the British Curriculum Forum. The project aimed to...

Nature connectedness through the arts

BCF Curriculum Investigation Grant Research Reports

Co-creating a curriculum to support pupil wellbeing in primary schools

‘Just say something!’

As schools and colleges resume after the summer holiday, one issue is certain. With a child bereaved of a parent every 22 minutes in the UK, many teachers will be faced with supporting a grieving...

Primary school exclusion: The erosion of care in a performance-focused education system

Up until the Covid-19 pandemic, the number of children being excluded from primary school had been steadily rising (DfE, 2022). Now that schools are again operating as ‘normal’, those...

Fostering curiosity and inclusivity through early years creative encounters in a museum

Arts for All: Exploring inclusivity in arts education

Young children relish the opportunity to explore new spaces, especially when unusual and unexpected. A growing body of literature about the value of museums and art to the youngest members of the...

Dyslexia and artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence in educational research and practice

Most readers will now most probably have heard of ChatGPT. For some this word may fill us with hope and anticipation. Others may tremble. Before we describe the potential applications of ChatGPT...