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...

Research Ethics Case Studies: 2. Researcher wellbeing & international fieldwork

Research Ethics Case Studies

Focussing on an early-career researcher embarking on her first academic role, this second entry in BERA’s  Research Ethics Case Studies series considers the ethical issues that arise not only...

Informed consent and assent, and the ethical review process, with/for research with the very young

The challenges and solutions for qualitative researchers in gaining ethical approval and consent

This post introduces the challenges associated with gaining ethical review board approval, and securing the informed consent and assent of participant families, in educational research. It draws...

You don’t understand us!

The challenges and solutions for qualitative researchers in gaining ethical approval and consent

'You don’t understand us or the subject!’ This is a frequent cry heard by me, as a university research ethics chair, from educational researchers trying to get ethics approval for research...

Research Ethics Case Studies

BERA’s Research Ethics Case Studies series, edited by Jodie Pennacchia, presents illustrative case studies designed to complement BERA’s Ethical Guidelines for Educational Research, fourth...

Is written informed consent always required for educational research?

The challenges and solutions for qualitative researchers in gaining ethical approval and consent

While informed consent is important, obtaining written consent from participants can be problematic.

Practical and useful research? First, sort out the theory

Researchers need to begin by examining their theories to enable them to control their research, and avoid the risk of being misled by unexamined beliefs.

We need to talk about language: The researcher view

Coming from a background in community learning and development, my work in partnership with Banff Academy as part of my PhD research has been an interesting and rewarding experience. I find myself...

Lifelong learning ecologies: The challenge of capturing emergent forms of learning

Why does a powerful metaphor of learning in our contemporary society poorly convey empirical research, research transfer and applications? This appears to be true of the concept of ‘learning...

Shifting power in children’s literature: Story Makers Press

Literary criticism of children’s literature focusses on the power relations between the adult writer and the child reader. At one end of the spectrum, this relationship is described as...

Where is the ‘theory’ within the field of educational technology research?

We know that research in the field of educational technology has grown substantially in importance over the last decade or so – mainly due to the huge investment by many governments in...

Exploring learning entanglement

Learning spaces are changing. Classrooms, once filled with uniform furnishings and distinct ‘teacher’ and ‘student’ territories, are being reimagined to provide learning spaces that...