BERA ECR Network symposium: A personal reflection on constructive feedback

Framing research: Theories, concepts and reflexivity in educational research

In October 2019 I travelled to the US to explore the benefits of oracy-centred teaching strategies and expeditionary learning for the development of the speaking, listening, reading and writing...

Framing research: Participatory research approaches in early years education

Framing research: Theories, concepts and reflexivity in educational research

On 14 February 2020, at the BERA ECR Network Symposium, my presentation focussed on participatory research in early childhood education. Having worked for a number of years in an early childhood...

Adapting to the new normal in survey research

Covid-19, education and educational research

Covid-19 has greatly impacted ongoing projects by causing disruption to the research process and delays in data collection, and in some cases research funding has been reduced or withdrawn to...

Relationality as a way of rethinking makerspace research methodologies

In our recent article in the British Journal of Educational Technology, ‘Intra‐active entanglements: What posthuman and new materialist frameworks can offer the learning sciences’, we expand...

Ethics-in-practice in fragile contexts: The value of the CERD ethical appraisal framework

Educational research in fragile contexts At a time when unprecedented numbers of people across the world are experiencing forced migration, there is an urgent and critical imperative to develop...

Exploring the application of Pierre Bourdieu’s capital(s) in survey research: Student participation in further education in England

Following engagement with Savage et al’s (2013) Great British Class Survey (GBCS), and subsequent criticisms of it – for instance, the selectivity of indicators of each capital (Bradley, 2014)...

Researching the world in uncertain times: The role of bricolage

Covid-19, education and educational research

‘Man finds himself living in an aleatory world; his existence involves, to put it baldly, a gamble. The world is a scene of risk; it is uncertain, unstable, uncannily unstable.’ (Dewey, 1929,...

The 10 books that made me a sociologist of education

Over a period of 45 years working in higher education I have accumulated a lot of books. I am now sorting through that accumulation and trying to decide which I will keep and which I will pass on...

Teacher identity in a performative age: Coming to research through autoethnography

What is it to be a teacher? In 2014, five years into my career as a primary school teacher, I would have answered that question with a story of early promise as a trainee and professional success...

Going beyond the evidence: Research and the media

Covid-19, education and educational research

In a previous blog (published yesterday) I reflected on the danger of researchers going beyond the evidence in presenting policy-relevant findings: putting forward empirical conclusions as cogent...

Is educational research evidence-based?

One issue raised in the debate over evidence-based policymaking and practice has been what should count as evidence. I was prompted to think further about this by a recent paper in the British...

How do educational technology developers ensure that their products have positive impact, and don’t cause harm?

Whether they’re driven by commercial interests or not, most developers and companies care about positive impact. Of course, impact helps in selling products, but it’s also a key motivation in...