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,...

Rethinking class size: The complex story of impact on teaching and learning

The enduring argument over class size is one of the most contested in education. The argument is between many teachers and practitioners who feel that class size makes a big difference to teaching...

Reimaging mentoring and coaching for teacher trainees and newly qualified teachers post-Covid-19

The Covid-19 pandemic affected the development of initial teacher trainees (ITT) and newly qualified teachers (NQTs) in a variety of different ways. Teacher educators had to think of new ways to...

Reflections on building rapport with university students in an online context

Uncharted terrain: Teaching and learning in higher education for times of uncertainty

As with other educators, the rapid shift to online delivery during lockdown has led to self-reflection on my teaching skills, how they transfer online, and my ability to use online tools...

Is placing beginning teachers into challenging schools actually supporting school improvement, or is it jeopardising our future teachers?

The University of Exeter was selected to take part in the ‘Expanding ITE’ project, in which the Department for Education’s (DfE) aim was to ‘support our best teacher trainer providers ......

The uncomfortable and destabilising realities for Black, Asian and minority ethnic students on an initial teacher education course

Education, #BlackLivesMatter and racial justice in the UK and beyond

As a major provider of teacher education in the north west of England, we want to develop inclusive and anti-racist practices that will allow us to provide the best possible quality of experience...

Anti-racist mathematics teacher education

Education, #BlackLivesMatter and racial justice in the UK and beyond

On 28 August 2020 thousands marched through Washington DC to mark the 57th anniversary of the famous ‘I have a dream’ speech by Martin Luther King Jr. My research interests include anti-racism...

Situated professionalism and its influence on the university–school divide within initial teacher education

‘Would you do that in school?’ A question familiar to anyone who trains new teachers, but one without an easy answer. There often appears to be a divide between what trainees view as...

How can action research in teacher training help you become a reflective practitioner?

As a teacher education lecturer in post compulsory education (PCE), I regularly look back on my own Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) experience as a student and think about how much it...

Storying identities, experiences and agency of graduate teaching assistants

Framing research: Theories, concepts and reflexivity in educational research

‘Have you thought about including recordings of these stories as part of your thesis? It’s just that reading them out loud was really powerful for those of us listening.’ I stopped. To be...

Online education: What will we keep as lockdown ends?

Covid-19, education and educational research

Teachers across the world have never had to work so hard or so creatively. As a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, professional development that would otherwise have taken years has been crammed...

2020 typology of free web-based learning technologies

It is critical that educators have a comprehensive understanding of technologies if they are to effectively integrate technology into their teaching (Koehler, Mishra, Kereluik, Shin, & Graham,...