History and Scotland’s Curriculum for Excellence

Scotland’s Curriculum for Excellence treats the subject of history (or People, Past Events and Societies, as it is known) as a ‘social subject’ alongside geography and modern studies.  It...

Can We Stop It? Yes We Can! Stamping Out English Cultural “imperialism”

I subscribe to The London Review of Books (LRB). The main article on May 7th 2015 was about free schools and academies. It provoked a vigorous debate (on 21/5. 4/6 and 18/6) with serious...

Teacher agency: What is it and why does it matter?

Highlights from the first 1,000 BERA Blog posts

The concept of ‘teacher agency’ has elicited a fair amount of attention recently, including a special edition of Teachers and Teaching: Theory and Practice. And yet, it remains an elusive...

Post 2015 general election thoughts…

In the post 2015 general election period there are a range of issues that we as researchers need to think about when we are writing about education policy. Let me illuminate these with one...

A Learning Odyssey – The Rise of the Educational Institute of Scotland’s Learning Representatives

For the past decade, I have been observing, researching and reporting on a group of Scottish teachers and lecturers, who through their trade union activities, have had a significant impact on...

Teachers, researchers … and teacher researchers

Call it what you like - practitioner enquiry, classroom-based research, reflective analysis, clinical practice, evidence-informed leadership - the need for teachers and school leaders to look...

Prospects for Education Research in Education Departments in Higher Education Institutions in the UK

Final report of the BERA–UCET Working Group on Education Research

Research and Teacher Education

Research and the Teaching Profession: Building the Capacity for a Self-Improving Education System concludes that teachers across the UK should be supported to become research literate. This...