Policy for an imaginary school: a call to break the spell

The initial motivation for my doctoral thesis emerged from my involvement in a programme for the implementation of Assessment for Learning (AfL) with Chilean teachers in partnership with the...

Pakistani boys’ education in Birmingham schools

Pakistani children make-up a quarter of Birmingham’s school population and will soon become its largest pupil ethnic group. A large number of them leave the local schools each year without the...

Gaining insight through student voice

As I spend my last days of summer vacation in my classroom preparing for the start of my 25th new school year, I find myself reflecting on past classes, curriculum changes and my beliefs about...

De-professionalising or re-professionalising the Early Childhood Workforce in England

This blog is based on the papers presented in the BERA 2015 Conference Symposium ‘De-professionalising or re-professionalising the Early Childhood Workforce in England?’ Elizabeth Wood, Jo...

Developing the role of the teaching assistant: Centralisation as a way forward?

Highlights from the first 1,000 BERA Blog posts

The teaching assistants (TAs) that I meet are enthusiastic, keen to improve their practice, and valued by the teachers and senior leaders that they work with. However, research on the national...

Socially mixed schools but limited social mixing? Children’s and Adults’ Friendships Across Social Class and Ethnic Difference

I had such a homogenous schooling [in a private school] and I think that gave me a terribly blinkered view of society which I’m hoping that I’ve shrugged off some of it, but I don't think you...

Fy Ardal/My Neighbourhood: Pupils’ perceptions of place — a pedagogy for living in Wales

For the past three years, the Wales Institute of Social & Economic Research Data & Methods (WISERD) has been conducting research with pupils, teachers and parents in 29 primary and secondary...

EAL Learners’ Mother Tongues: To include or Exclude. A Randomized Comparison of Alternative Approaches

In 1684 Charles Hoole, Latin teacher and celebrated educationalist, published a collection of Latin colloquies, presented side-by-side with English translations. Hoole included the translations so...

‘We’re still here!’ Higher aspirations for young people with life limiting impairments

There are now many more young people living across the UK with life limiting impairments than ever before. An example of this is Duchenne Muscular dystrophy (DMD), a genetic muscle wasting...

An opportunity for change?

the benchmarks of what is deemed acceptable in terms of school improvement are apparently edged up each year Nationally, the speed of change involving education policy is rapid and much of...

‘Turning Schools Inside Out’: Developing Curriculum with Community Partners

In this blog I will be arguing that it would be extremely beneficial for many schools to engage in community curriculum making (CCM) whereby some of the curriculum is developed with community...

How could MOOCs help us to think differently about learning and teaching in the 21st century?

Many are sceptical about the impact of MOOCs on the higher education landscape while others argue that we need to wait before we evaluate the experiment. Regardless of which side of the...