Spring 2021

Research Intelligence issue 146: Contemporary issues in mental health and wellbeing in education

England’s teaching school ‘super-hub’ policy: Policy meets practice

On 10 February 2021, the Department for Education (DfE) announced the creation of 81 ‘super-hubs’, properly known as teaching school hubs (TSHs). These, in addition to the six ‘test and...

How has Covid-19 affected the way in which teacher educators engage their students with learning?

Highlights from the first 1,000 BERA Blog posts

In this blog we seek to understand the impact that the sudden and enforced move to online teaching due to the Covid-19 pandemic has had on the perceptions of teacher educators in initial teacher...

Doing data differently

As various studies of teachers’ lives and work have explored, using attainment data in schools goes over and above what that data are designed to do. The datafication of schooling in England and...

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

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

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

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...