School accountability by Progress 8: A critique of Conservative and Labour proposals

The Conservatives and Labour hold different views on the future of England’s system of school accountability by Progress 8. However, both parties’ thinking is at odds with the research...

‘Me, my selfie and I’: An exploration of children’s perceptions of social media – a PhD pilot study

Numbers of users of social media has increased dramatically in recent years with children and young people recognised as heavy adopters of this virtual social network (Richards, Caldwell, & Go,...

Children’s awareness and understanding of conflict-related groups in divided education systems

Over 420 million children live in conflict-affected areas (Save the Children, 2019). Conflict greatly disrupts education, with long-lasting negative effects even after peace agreements are signed...

Wellbeing by acronym: Simplifying the complex?

Among the few shared understandings of the concept of wellbeing are that it is complex, multidimensional and eludes easy definition and measurement. As research and policy attention have gathered...

Escape from the Skinner box

Now that artificial intelligence (AI) is very much in the public eye, the issue of its use in education has attracted much attention, both good and bad. Within the context of education, one...

The ethics of using pedagogical agents in intelligent tutoring systems

Recognising that learning is a social activity, intelligent tutoring systems enable learners to engage in (virtual) face-to-face social interactions with autonomous animated software characters,...

Tackling educational inequality

The questions, ‘What does the empirical evidence tell us about the achievement gap?’ and ‘What is proven good practice for closing the gap in educational inequality?’, are the subject of...

The use of technology in education and its potential to heal liberated Iraq

While information and communication technology (ICT) has been integrated into education for the last three decades in many parts of the world, this has not been the case in Iraq. ICT was...

The experiences of teachers who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer (LGBTQ+)

The recent protests in England outside primary schools about teaching children about the full spectrum of relationships are a significant concern (Kotecha, 2019). Schools have a duty to promote...

Editorial: Practitioner research and commentary in a networked society

Practitioner research and commentary in a networked society

Over the past decade, self-published polemic on education topics has become widely disseminated through a burgeoning culture of social media, and has increasingly challenged the products of...

BERA Conference 2019 to hear of new interdisciplinary study exploring the virtues underpinning ‘British values’

Much has been written, since the introduction of the duty on schools to promote ‘fundamental British values’ in the 2014 Ofsted inspection handbook, on the rights and wrongs of using education...

Is pupil premium funding the answer to a worldwide problem?

Worldwide, socioeconomically disadvantaged students have lower average attainment outcomes at school, and poorer opportunities once they have left school. In England, poorer pupils are also...