Grammar and creativity in the English national curriculum

In November 2017 the Times Educational Supplement (TES) published an article under the headline ‘Teaching grammar does not improve children's writing ability, research finds’ (Bloom 2017)....

Investigating classroom contexts for learning for pupils with special educational needs: Class size, groupings and interactions

Many countries follow policies of inclusion in which pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) are, as far as possible, educated in mainstream settings. For the most part this...

A response to Komatsu and Rappleye: What if east Asia’s high achievement is not the result of long hours of study, cram schools, and exam pressure?

In their recent BERA Blog article (10 August), Komatsu and Rappleye raise the idea that the high achievement of Asian education systems – and specifically Japan’s educational achievements –...

What if east Asia’s high achievement is not the result of longer hours of study, cram schools, and exam pressure?

Since the inception of international comparative tests in the 1960s, Japanese students, like most students around east Asia, have consistently outscored their Anglo-American peers (that is, the...

Open resources and accessibility

Open educational resources (OERs) are:   ‘[A]ny type of educational materials that are in the public domain or introduced with an open license. The nature of these open materials...

Encouraging inclusion of at-risk students through co-op video games

Every day, teachers face challenges with including students who are inactive participants in the classroom. Such challenges may involve social difficulties – such as shyness, disruptive...

Globalisation and individualism: Implications for the inclusion agenda

Highlights from the first 1,000 BERA Blog posts

It is known that, over recent decades, societies around the world have witnessed drastic transformations that have affected various facets of people’s lives. These changes have created...

The gap year for social, emotional and vocational learning in Irish secondary education

The Irish education system includes a quasi-gap year, known as transition year (TY), midway through secondary school. Students may choose to complete six years of secondary education (including TY...

The power of literature: Why literature teaching is about emancipation and social justice

This blog considers something that we all share – memories of reading literature – but its purpose is to promote and defend the place of egalitarian approaches to literature teaching in...

Escape from the exam factory

Like so many of us, I became a teacher because I love my subject and wanted to inspire the same love in my students (a sentiment repeated every year in advertising for teacher training). I most...

Using evidence-informed resources to accelerate learning

Research in the field of cognitive sciences is constantly unveiling ways that enhance memory and learning. Nevertheless, as previously mentioned in the BERA blog (Younie 2017), findings from...

What might a self-extending school system with research evidence at its heart look like?

This article is part of the BERA Blog special issue ‘Researching the Curriculum in schools and colleges: Practice, Professionalism and Innovation’ (read more). In 2010, David Hargreaves,...