Craft elicitation: Connecting and finding meaning through craft

'The eldest ones said that the laughter and tears are sewn right into the quilt, part and parcel, stitch by stitch. Emotions, experiences, heartbreak, mourning, pain and regret, stitched into the...

‘We are the most researched people in the world’: Professor Linda Tuhiwai Smith speaks at Cambridge on the project of decolonising education

On Thursday 3 June, Professor Linda Tuhiwai Smith addressed the University of Cambridge’s annual conference at the Faculty of Education. Smith is ending her time as professor of education and...

Researching in Covid-era schools

Covid-19, education and educational research

Paul Willis, in Learning to Labour (Willis, 1977), joins his teenage research subjects in their extracurricular trips to the pub, in the name of holistic ethnography. I used to use this anecdote...

Academic identity of early career social scientists in China: A focused ethnographic approach

I really enjoyed participating in the BERA Early Career Researcher (ECR) Network’s symposium series, which is a great platform for practitioners and researchers to get together and talk about...

Reflecting on vlogs, blogs and podcasts in education research, teaching and professional development

The ubiquitous nature of the smartphone and the internet has normalised a new approach to seeking and managing information. Vlogs, blogs and podcasts (VBP) are creating literally thousands of...

Is education a discipline?

In the most recent issue of Research Intelligence (#145), BERA president Dominic Wyse follows up his presidential address with a declaration that it is essential for education to be regarded as a...

Why we need our world history teacher to be a Martian

‘In space, race doesn’t matter, nationality doesn’t matter. In space, you see the world as a globe and you don’t see the boundaries.’ Maggie Aderin Pocock, space scientist Figure 1:...

Conducting research during the pandemic using an ‘ethics of care’

Covid-19, education and educational research

The Covid-19 pandemic has created economic and social instability for many people in Britain and around the world. As such, we might consider it an experience of ‘collective trauma’, combining...

Doing data differently

As various studies of teachers’ lives and work have explored, using attainment data in schools goes over and above what that data are designed to do. The datafication of schooling in England and...

Invest in stopping ineffective things

Schools are hotbeds of innovation. In my role supporting schools to develop more evidence-informed practice, I always admire teachers’ creativity and dedication. However, I also see colleagues...

Remote, distant but connected: Using walking and talking as PhD researchers during Covid-19

In this blog post we aim to share our experiences of the BERA Walk and Talk at a Distance event, and demonstrate how remote walking and talking events have the potential to relieve the isolation...

The BERA Blog: Highlights of 2020

BERA Blog end of year highlights

A warm and wintery ‘welcome’ to all our readers, wherever you may be. This time last year I wished all of you a seasonal ‘yo-ho-ho’, blissfully unaware of how 2020 would play out. Today,...